Appatic

A long time ago, around 1995, there was this little Command-line looking app called GhostConnect.  You would download the app and it would then let you have anonymized one-on-one chats.  Your nickname would just be Ghost + a random number.  And you were encouraged to not use names and talk in references.

The chats connections were then handled  by a logless server. Once you finished a chat, the chat was gone.

Right now it don’t actually reads as that private. As anyone could still be snooping around and you could be still found to have used the app.  But back in 1995 it was as private as you could get thanks to obscurity and to the tech level of the times.  There were no search engines, the apps were primitive and the only one who could trace you – and not easily – were the FBI and the CIA. So, unless you were doing something really bad. It was  99% private. 

Now there is an online version of what GhostConnect did, and it goes a lot further to keep your Chats private in today’s modern and more complex world, while keeping it easy to use.

PrivyTalks is an Online Secure Private Chat Service that allows you to create a encrypted and anonymized online chat rooms that can only be connected between two users  and that only exists temporarily between those two users. The only gateway for the private chat room is an also disposable web address in short url form. Making it possible for two persons to talk at ease without the worry of the chat existing beyond the point of them closing their browsers. While also being at ease of anyone snooping around the chat, as everything is encrypted and the chat uses anonymous  generic nicknames.

How does it works?

PrivyTalks is a just website gateway for the service that is then used by two browsers. Your browser, any browser. And the browser of the person you will be chatting with.  The first person starts up a chat using PrivyTalks website, and once the chat room is generated. The first person shares the disposable short url link to that chat. There can only be two connections per chat and if anyone else accidentally or not tried to load up the same chat room url address once there is a conversation going. The chat will simply not connect and nothing in it will be shown. As the conversation only exists in the browsers of those having the chat.  And the connection to it is encrypted.

PrivyTalks uses the Socket.IO stack to make the chat room. And for the encryption and decryption that happens only in your browser, they use a standard business, enterprise and government secure level RSA algorithm that in turn uses 512bit encryption keys.  

Just so you know and to make you feel more like using it. Beyond everything I said there is also an idle timeout so the chat connection breaks if any of the persons in it is out for more than 5 minutes. And there a personal fingerprint code for the chat room  to further ensure there is no middle-man and so that the chat is verifiable.

Conclusion

PrivyTalks is a great service that can come in handy for sharing passwords or information privately. It is as easy to use as something like it can be. And it even happens to look good enough to make it pleasant to your eyes.  My only real criticism of it would be how it handles the chats, but I don’t know if it would be possible to change the behavior so there would never be more than 5 lines of dialogue from each person on screen and to make it so that the chat cannot be copy & pasted. Something I really liked about GhostConnect too.  Adding a little bit of even more privacy to it.  Other than that, it is really great as it is. And I highly recommend it. For even better results, using a private browser mode while using it should add an even higher sense of privacy.

Linkage

PrivyTalks

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via App Submission

*Update 1* (17/08/2013) : Don’t know if the service is still up. Have not been able to load it up today or yesterday.

*Update 2*  (03/09/2013): Domain was not renewed or left to lapse. A real shame.

*Update 3*  (01/10/2013): It is back online!

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