Lavabit and Silent Circle form Dark Mail Alliance to kill off email snooping

Two firms at the sharp end of privacy have joined forces to build an email system that provides end-to-end encryption that will hopefully prove impossible for service providers to eavesdrop and crack – even if forced to do so.

“As founding partners of the Dark Mail Alliance, both Silent Circle and Lavabit will work to bring other members into the alliance, assist them in implementing the new protocol and work jointly to proliferate the world’s first end-to-end encrypted Email 3.0 across email software developers and service providers globally,” the pair said in a statement.

“Our goal is to open source the protocol and architecture and help others implement this new technology to address the privacy concerns over surveillance and back door threats of any kind.”

Both firms have had a lot of experience in the field. Lavabit was the encrypted email service used by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, and the outfit shut down in August rather than “become complicit in crimes against the American people,” as founder Ladar Levinson said at the time.

SOURCE: theregister.co.uk