By 
An interesting new phone has found its way out of the shadows and into the light. It’s called the Blackphone, and its creators — a joint effort between Geeksphone and Silent Circle — hopes it’ll change mobile privacy for the better. Blackphone aims to “prioritizes the user’s privacy and control, without any hooks to carriers or vendors.”
They’ll do it using a custom version of Android that they call PrivatOS, which will apparently have a framework built-in for securing everything about your mobile communications. Here’s a quick summary of things it’ll be able to do for you:
You can make and receive secure phone calls; exchange secure texts; exchange and store secure files; have secure video chat; browse privately; and anonymize your activity through a VPN.
Blackphone vows to give power back to the user. While they aren’t specific on how any of this will be done, we’re told we should be learning more about it at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month. For what it’s worth, they say the phone will be just as powerful and capable as the top smartphones from major manufacturers. We won’t take their word for it just yet, but they definitely have our attention from this point forward.
Blackphone is something that is sure to turn the heads of many in a time where more and more folks are conscious about their basic rights to privacy. With the likes of the NSA potentially monitoring communications using backdoor protocols and advanced surveillance techniques, privacy buffs everywhere will have to seriously consider the proposition Blackphone is making. They’re hoping the video you see above will convince you, so go ahead and give it a quick viewing and see how you feel about it.
[via Blackphone]
Order now and get a free tinfoil hat! :D
Yeah, because nobody’s actually tracking us, monitoring us, and listening in on us.
I personally don’t think this’ll work, but I’m not ragging on them for the attempt. Something needs to be done to shore up our devices’ security seeing as how we’re now being watched under general warrants.
Hey, I like them listening in, makes for loads of fun, misinformation.
Heh… I like you.
Trolling
Level – public counter-intelligence
Trolling
Level – civilian counter-intelligence
Oooo! Looks like we struck a nerve. :P
Yep. You pushed my “stupid commenter button”
Well you did a good job at being a stupid commenter. Congrats. Job well done. Your button works. :D
Yes yes…. I’m sure you think you’re a smart little ape. But you aren’t even smart FOR and ape. Later chimpo. Enjoy licking all those windows.
“smart FOR and ape”
I love it when people like you try to make yourselves look smart and end up looking stupid in the end. Again, good job! ;)
It’s such a double edge sword when it comes to making serious attempts at maintain your privacy online. On one hand you can achieve some respectable privacy by using products like this or TOR but then on the other that may make you more of a target for surveillance by the government because you are taking such deliberate measures to conceal yourself.
This isn’t paranoia. It’s a reasonable outlook especially after what we’re still learning from the Snowden leaks. Now, after the world has seen what types of programs and operations the NSA and other governments agencies have been running will terrorist and other serious criminals continue to use the net as their primary means of communication?
At the end of the day there seems to be one question that sort of stares at you in big bold letters on your computer and mobile device screen:
“PRIVACY OR CONVENIENCE? WHAT’S MORE IMPORTANT TO YOU?”
Agreed. Privacy/convenience is always a balancing act.
TOR is good for certain use-cases, but if you think for a second that it keeps you clear of the gub’ment , you’re in for a rude awakening. Esp. since they can see both ends of the path, so they’ll be able to figure it out if you’re worth the effort.
BTW: Every time I see your user avatar, I think: Spock just posted. :D
Live long and prosper…
Dammit, I had a thought along those lines! Haha, well done! Futurama fans unite!
Does it come in white?
Blackphone in white… Stay classy.
stay classy San Diego
White is just the absence of black.
I hope their framework can be used on cyangenmod
seriously consider something from a company we’ve never heard about? yeah right.
Your fault. I’ve heard of the companies that make of Blackphone. LoL!!
LoL. yup, my fault. I should catch up to your knowledge!
*floats in the air from superiority*
=.P
The only reason why I seen them was because I was looking for my device under CM and saw the company. LoL!!
Silent Circle is run by Phil Zimmerman, the creator of PGP.
They’ve been in the news before. They’re far from unknown. http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/02/silent_circle_s_latest_app_democratizes_encryption_governments_won_t_be.single.html
They’re far from unknown. http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/02/silent_circle_s_latest_app_democratizes_encryption_governments_won_t_be.single.html
I feel like with all the possible encryption, things will be running quite slow. I would love to see how well the user experience works out on this phone.
imagine if Google bought this and incorporated it into aosp. I wonder what the NSA would think of that
All it would take is an order from fIsc and NSA and they have to comply no such thing as secure
That sexy hot girl in the video were to ask me for my passwords I am afraid nothing of mine would be secure anymore. ;-)
This is ridiculous for most people. Its only really viable for the Corporate network.
You still need to be paying the SilentCircle subscription fees and they don’t alk about what level of encryption either.
I am guessing that this is a suite of TLS, AES128 enabled applications *maybe also TwoFish?* (SIP phone, MMS, Keyed email *PGP*?). It also appears that all of the network traffic is still directed through the “Silent Circle” network. I can also surmise that you would have to use a VPN client that they specify because not all VPN’s use the /dev/tun interface (which does enable you to “stack” VPN’s). There is likely an embedded VPN which takes over the global INET interface for data at boot time, listening for when ServiceState flags “connected”.
So…. a built in VPN + TLS apps that don’t allow you to use the normal VOICE lines in the Phone.
Android 4.3 with SELinux enabled, few frameworks/permissions removed/faked, only charging and mtp enabled.
How close am I? I am betting I am pretty close to their implementation and THEY ARE NOT THE ONLY ONES MAKING THESE KINDS OF DEVICES, but maybe the cheapest if its under $1200.
You want peer to peer privacy? Get Redphone. Its Open Source, Peer-reviewed.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcrime.redphone
Encrypted Email – Tons of apps
MMS – Tons of apps
RUN AOSP BASED ROMS! Very few backdoors, very well documented.
Bazinga!
Buying a Blackphone will probably automatically make you a target for advanced surveillance by the NSA. What saves us all is that we don’t look suspicious.
It’ll never see an update.
But in all seriousness, if you wanna play hunter and prey with the NSA, you’ll lose.
мʏ вɛѕт ғʀιɛɴɖ’ѕ ѕтɛք-мօтнɛʀ мαĸɛѕ $72 ɛʋɛʀʏ нօυʀ օɴ тнɛ ʟαքтօք. ѕнɛ нαѕ вɛɛɴ աιтнօυт աօʀĸ ғօʀ тɛɴ мօɴтнѕ вυт ʟαѕт мօɴтн нɛʀ քαʏ աαѕ $16зз8 ʝυѕт աօʀĸιɴɢ օɴ тнɛ ʟαքтօք ғօʀ α ғɛա нօυʀѕ. աɛвքαɢɛ http://makesupto60dollarsperhour.qr.net/nHBl
looks pretty sweet. think I’ll keep an eye on this one.
When a product showcase video shows more development center interior than the product itself, it’s very likely to be a flop.