Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - Kim Dotcom, the founder of controversial file-hosting website 'Mega', says he has built an internet video and voice chat service to rival Microsoft’s Skype.
Dubbed ‘MegaChat’, the service is planned to be ‘safer’ to use than Skype, according to Dotcom.
Microsoft was reportedly among participants in ‘Project Prism’, which formed part of the US National Security Agency (NSA) mass surveillance programme. Project Prism was exposed by former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee and ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
In a 2013 statement regarding the NSA surveillance allegations, Microsoft said: "When we upgrade or update products we aren't absolved from the need to comply with existing or future lawful demands."
Shrouded in controversy
Dotcom - who is originally from Germany but now resides in New Zealand - cuts a controversial figure as he is fighting extradition to the US on charges of copyright infringement relating to his former ‘Megaupload’ file sharing and money laundering.
Dotcom claims his legal battles have almost made him bankrupt: a far cry from his days as a high-flying internet multimillionaire in the 1990s and early 2000s.
When Dotcom launched his Mega file-sharing service in early 2013, he also claimed that the service would offer better security.
However,
security researcher Steve "Sc00bzt" Thomas developed a tool to steal
passwords from encrypted Mega confirmation links. Other experts also
lashed out at Dotcom’s security claims regarding Mega.
Take a look at Kim Dotcom's tweets about MegaChat:
Mega will soon release a fully encrypted and browser based video call & chat service including high-speed file transfers. Bye bye Skype :-)
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) December 29, 2014No US based online service provider can be trusted with your data. Skype has no choice. They must provide the US Government with backdoors.
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) December 29, 2014I will tweet about beta invites to #MegaChat in the coming weeks. This is going to be THE END of NSA mass surveillance & YOU WILL LOVE IT!
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) December 29, 2014
