BitTorrent Is Building a Server-Free, Secure Messaging Client

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By Stan Schroeder2013-10-01 14:11:05 +0530

BitTorrent, the company that brought us the BitTorrent peer-to-peer data transfer protocol, is building a server-less messaging client.

It's based on distributed technology — messages are never stored on a server, meaning they're safe from data breaches. Messages are encrypted, and BitTorrent plans to keep the client free and without limits as to how many messages you can send.

The BitTorrent Chat is currently in alpha stages of development, and BitTorrent invites all interested parties to sign up and help the project through feedback, ideas and testing.

The motivation behind the project is, according to BitTorrent, increasing the security and privacy of your online conversations. "This year alone, more than 6 million people have been impacted by data breaches. The right to own your own conversations online: it’s not a given. It should be," says BitTorrent in a blog post.

BitTorrent hasn't specified which desktop platforms the chat client will be available on. However, according to Cnet, the company does plan a mobile version.

BitTorrent is not the only company working on a secure messaging client. In July, The Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde announced his new project: Heml.is, a crowdfunded, mobile messaging app that uses end-to-end encryption to keep your conversations safe.

Image: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty

Topics: Apps and Software, bittorrent, chat, messaging, Tech