{"id":630,"date":"2015-11-04T01:05:55","date_gmt":"2015-11-04T01:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/?p=630"},"modified":"2024-12-23T07:58:32","modified_gmt":"2024-12-23T07:58:32","slug":"this-snowden-approved-encrypted-communication-app-is-coming-to-android","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/this-snowden-approved-encrypted-communication-app-is-coming-to-android-630\/","title":{"rendered":"This Snowden-Approved Encrypted-Communication App Is Coming to Android"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"This<\/a><\/p>\n

Since it first appeared in Apple\u2019s App Store last year, the free encrypted calling and texting app Signal has become the darling of the privacy community, recommended\u2014and apparently used daily\u2014by no less than Edward Snowden himself. Now its creator is bringing that same form of ultra-simple smartphone encryption to Android.<\/p>\n

On Monday the privacy-focused nonprofit software group Open Whisper Systems announced the release of Signal for Android, the first version of its combined calling and texting encryption app to hit Google\u2019s Play store. It\u2019s not actually the first time Open Whisper Systems has enabled those features on Android phones; Open Whisper Systems launched an encrypted voice app called RedPhone and an encrypted texting program called TextSecure for Android back in 2010. But now the two have been combined into a Signal\u2019s single, simple app, just as they are on the iPhone. \u201cMostly this was just about complexity. It\u2019s easier to get people to install one app than two,\u201d says Moxie Marlinspike, Open Whisper Systems\u2019 founder. \u201cWe\u2019re taking some existing things and merging them together to make the experience a little nicer.\u201d<\/p>\n

That streamlining of RedPhone and TextSecure into a single app, in other words, doesn\u2019t actually make Open Whisper System\u2019s encryption tools available to anyone who couldn\u2019t already access them. But it does represent a milestone in those privacy programs\u2019 idiot-proof interface, which in Signal is just as straightforward as normal calling and texting. As Marlinspike noted when he spoke to Wired about Signal\u2019s initial release last year, that usability is just as important to him as the strength of Signal\u2019s privacy protections. \u201cIn many ways the crypto is the easy part,\u201d Marlinspike said at the time. \u201cThe hard part is developing a product that people are actually going to use and want to use. That\u2019s where most of our effort goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open Whisper Systems\u2019 encryption tools already have a wide footprint: According to Google Play\u2019s stats, TextSecure had been downloaded to at least a million Android phones, all of which will now receive the Signal app in a coming update. Since 2013, TextSecure has also been integrated by default in the popular CyanogenMod version of Android. And last year WhatsApp gave it an enormous boost by integrating it by default into its Android app for Android-to-Android communications\u2014a move that put Open Whisper Systems\u2019 code on at least a half-billion Android users\u2019 devices.<\/p>\n

The security of those apps has been widely applauded by cryptographers who have audited them: As Johns Hopkin professor Matthew Green wrote in a 2013 blog post, \u201cAfter reading Moxie\u2019s RedPhone code the first time, I literally discovered a line of drool running down my face. It\u2019s really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open Whisper Systems, which is funded by a combination of personal donations and grants from groups like the U.S. government\u2019s Open Technology Fund, likely doesn\u2019t enjoy the same popularity among law enforcement agencies. FBI Director James Comey has repeatedly warned Congress over the last year of the dangers of consumer encryption programs, and British Prime Minister David Cameron even threatened to ban WhatsApp this summer based on its use of TextSecure.<\/p>\n

All of that enmity has only bolstered Signal\u2019s reputation within the privacy community\u2014an affection that\u2019s now been extended to its new Android app, too. \u201cEvery time someone downloads Signal and makes their first encrypted call, FBI Director Jim Comey cries,\u201d wrote American Civil Liberties Union lead technologist Chris Soghoian on Twitter. \u201cTrue fact.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since it first appeared in Apple\u2019s App Store last year, the free encrypted calling and texting app Signal has become the darling of the privacy community, recommended\u2014and apparently used daily\u2014by no less than Edward Snowden himself. Now its creator is bringing that same form of ultra-simple smartphone encryption to Android. On Monday the privacy-focused nonprofit … Continue reading This Snowden-Approved Encrypted-Communication App Is Coming to Android<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[261,260,262],"class_list":["post-630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-encrypted-calling-and-texting-app","tag-signal","tag-snowden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":632,"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions\/632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}