14 DAY TRIAL // Following reports that the NSA can spy on everyone, the Tor Foundation announced back in July that they would be launching an Instant Messenger tool that will provide utter protection for users. It looks like the plans are still a go and the project is not far from completion.
Called the TOR Instant Messaging Bundle, the app will allow people to communicate in real time, preserving their anonymity by using chat servers concealed in the hidden network Tor runs.
An experimental build of the messaging tool should become available to users by the end of March, according to the Foundation’s plans.
The project is funded by an anonymous donor organization. Tor Instant Messaging Bundle will work with the open-source InstantBird messenger client and will provide end-to-end encryption. Before InstaBird was chosen, the team considered to base the product on other open-source messengers such as Pidgin or Libpurple, mainly because of how much effort they’d have to put into auditing and maintaining the library.
Before it goes public, independent security contractors will audit the software to test it out. This should at the very least give Tor an idea about whether the likes of NSA will be able to intercept communications and decrypt them or if the service is entirely safe to use.
The Tor Instant Messaging Bundle will most likely become the go-to messenger for Tor users, a network that has been stepping on the nerves of intelligence agencies for a while.
This is just another step in an expansive effort to make the Internet anonymous again and to add more security for those who want to protect their privacy from the prying eyes of spy agencies and companies.
As a reminder, in the past eight months, various programs were revealed based on Edward Snowden’s files obtained from the National Security Agency. While the NSA is the main actor in these stories, other agencies are also involved, including the British GCHQ, the Australian ASD and more.
These entities collaborate, but also work on their own and share their findings among each other. Files reported on thus far paint a terrifying picture as they seek to eliminate all type of privacy from the Internet, including by weakening encryption. Metadata from phone calls and emails has been collected, phones locations tracked with the help of cell towers, and webcam conversations intruded on. In the last instance, pictures have been collected, including many where the users were naked.