14 DAY TRIAL // All the NSA leaks of the past few months haven't done much to reform the US spy apparatus, but they've at least made it clear to the world that the Internet isn't secure and that almost anything you do online can be spied upon. This, in turn, has spurred many to come up with better tools to protect your privacy.
BitTorrent, the company behind the popular file sharing technology, has come up with BitTorrent Chat, a server-less chat tool which uses the peer-2-peer protocol. The goal is to have a tool that answers to no central authority and that is secure, via strong encryption, and free.
However, while messages aren't stored on any server, users first need to connect to one, which acts like a BitTorrent tracker, before they can switch to a P2P mode.
For now, Chat is very much an early experiment, and BitTorrent labels it as "pre-Alpha." It's also a private alpha so you need to sign up to the BitTorrent mailing list for a chance to test the software for yourself. If you're already signed up, you need to update your preferences to include BitTorrent Chat.
BitTorrent isn't providing too many details on the new tool, not even which platforms the company is targeting first. You can expect a Windows client and possibly a Mac one during the alpha phase, at most.
The company does have big plans for the tool. It's hiring people with experience in encrypted communications and wants to eventually make it interoperable with other chat protocols and even SIP standards.
BitTorrent is hardly the only company working on secure chat. Former Pirate Bay spokesperson Peter Sunde has announced plans for a secure chat tool and Kim Dotcom has said that encrypted chat has become a priority for Mega, which has had plans to include the feature since launch.