Earlier this afternoon in a post that featured an interview with Lavabit’s owner on his abrupt decision to shutdown his encrypted email service, I also mentioned the shutdown of Silent Circle’s secure email service, Silent Mail.
As good luck in timing would have it, ZDNet has an interview today with CEO Michael Janke with much more on why Silent Circle silenced their secure email service.
Janke and Silent Circle co-founder Phil Zimmerman have since spoken with a few outlets on the company’s decision to shutdown its Silent Mail product. But the ZDNet interview is an interesting take on the situation, because it’s conducted by David Gewirtz, who authored a post on the shutdowns last week that prompted some criticism.
Not a lot of you agreed with me that companies need to work with the government for the benefit of security. However, Michael Janke, CEO of Silent Circle reached out to me saying, “I liked your article and the questions you raise are different than most coverage I have seen. I would like to answer some of your in depth questions if you are interested.”
Not surprisingly, Gewirtz obliged. He provides some of the highlights of the interview in his post from today. Below are just a few.
Janke on the right of privacy:
“Whether you’re in Tibet, Toledo, or Tunisia, [it is] the natural born right of every citizen to have a private conversation, to share a private picture or document; we feel is an innate right of the world.”
On why Silent Circle killed their email encryption service:
“We knew that metadata was just as dangerous as email content regardless of if the contents of an email are encrypted. Who, when, where, why, the message header, your ISP, what operating system you’re using, geolocating, and who you’re communicating with are all very dangerous bits of data to retain.”
On this being a bigger picture than PRISM:
“I want to stress, a lot of press has been around PRISM and what happens here in the United States, but this is a global phenomenon. it is not relegated to our shores. This happens in Europe, South America, the Balkans, Asia, on a daily basis. Companies with equipment, people, and data in those countries done with secret courts and gag orders.”
Check out all the highlights of the interview at ZDNet.
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