Silent Circle for iOS encrypts your communications

Internet Hall of Famer and inventor of Pretty Good Privacy Phil Zimmerman is working on a new system for secure communications, only this time in the form of an iPhone app. Silent Circle is a $20 monthly subscription service launching later this year that will decrypt and encrypt email, voice, text, and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) transmissions to and from your device.

When two Silent Circle users talk to one another all of their communications will be fully encrypted, with "thoroughly no backdoors." Zimmerman points out that the encryption keys are always with the user, and never hosted on the company’s servers, which are located in privacy-friendly Canada.

The state of surveillance in the US

Considering the state of surveillance in the US, Zimmerman shouldn’t have too much trouble finding clients, however he maintains the product is "as a matter of fact designed for hostile environments" — for instance, political dissidents in accordance with the eye of the state, and businesspeople working overseas. iOS encryption apps for email and voice aren’t new, yet if you’re interested in what Silent Circle has to offer, the company is accepting applications to take part in the summer beta release.