Creator of PGP e-mail encryption making secure Android “Blackphone”

Phil Zimmermann, creator of PGP e-mail encryption, is leading a team of security industry executives building an Android phone with a variety of built-in privacy tools.

"I've been interested in secure telephony for longer than I've been interested in secure e-mail," Zimmermann said in a video on so-called Blackphone's website. "I had to wait for the rest of the technology infrastructure to catch up to make it possible to do secure telephony. PGP was kind of a detour for me while waiting for the rest of the technology to catch up to make really good secure telephony possible."

The narrator of the Blackphone video ominously says, "Technology was supposed to make our lives better. Instead we have lost our privacy—we have become enslaved." The Blackphone website says the phone will use "PrivatOS," an Android-based operating system, while letting users "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."

Unfortunately, the website offers no details on how those extra levels of security will be implemented. It also doesn't say whether the phone's encrypted communications will require both users in a conversation to have a Blackphone. We contacted the company but haven't heard back yet. More details will presumably come out on February 24 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, at which time the phone will be available for preorder.

The phone will be "carrier- and vendor-independent" and unlocked, and it will work with any GSM carrier. No hardware specs were announced, but a mockup shows that the phone will definitely live up to its name:

In addition to creating PGP in 1991, Zimmermann is cofounder of mobile privacy software firm Silent Circle. That company shut down its encrypted e-mail service last August after revelations about NSA spying, but it still advertises security software for mobile devices. Blackphone is a collaboration between Silent Circle and Geeksphone, which makes devices relying on open source software.

Besides Zimmermann, the Blackphone team includes "Javier Aguera, co-founder of Geeksphone; Jon Callas, co-founder of PGP Inc. and CTO of Silent Circle; Rodrigo Silva-Ramos, co-founder of Geeksphone; and Mike Janke, CEO of Silent Circle and former US Navy SEAL," an announcement today said.