It seems to me like the biggest news story of the year has been the data collection practices of governments, specifically the National Security Agency. With its <a href=PRISM surveillance program, the NSA collected chats, emails, telephone and internet records. According to Edward Snowden, the NSA collected around 97.1 billion computer data items and 124.8 billion telephone data items.
Companies both large and small have created their own solutions to protect consumers data. Microsoft, for example, has announced a program allowing consumers to store their data on servers outside the United States, potentially offering more privacy. Yahoo, too has taken action to increase user privacy. The company announced on November 18 that they plan to give users the option to encrypt all data sent between their computer and Yahoo’s servers.
In addition to corporations, many smaller companies have taken measures to offer increased privacy, ranging from moderate to extreme practices. Bitcoin, for example, has some degree of privacy, while applications like TorChat use the Tor anonymity network for much stronger security. Popular Android ROM maker CyanogenMod has encrypted messaging enabled by default, and email service provider Darkmail aims to provide developers access to encryption services more secure than that of SSL.
However, I think the most obvious example of profit-seeking, as far as privacy is concerned, is with Mega. An online file sharing company, Mega, founded by MegaUpload creater Kim DotCom, gives users fifty gigabytes of encrypted storage. However, the company has plans starting at €99.99/year with 500GB of storage, going all the way up to 4TB of storage for €299.99/year. That amount of storage would allow around one million songs, or four million pictures.
In addition to private companies, I also see governments trying to create a market. Switzerland, for example, already has systems in place that protect individuals banking privacy by law. I could easily see Switerland create a market for private file sharing or messaging services.
As more and more people begin to worry about data security and their privacy, I can see the market for encryption services skyrocket. Whether it is an encrypted messaging app, an email provider that provides complete anonymity, or a secure file sharing company, I think the next frontier for profit-seekers is privacy.
DTC 375: Jesse Pearson 