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In an editorial piece by Cnet, Nicholas Merrill describes his upcoming Internet service, Calyx, as a "non-profit telecommunications provider dedicated to privacy, using ubiquitous encryption". According to Merrill, his goal is to fully encrypt Internet traffic at the ISP level in order to protect the privacy of his customers. In fact, he hopes to create a system that is so private, even the ISP itself is unable to snoop on its users. Such a system could conceivably make it impossible for the ISP to respond to privacy-infringing requests, even when compelled by big media conglomerates, public officials or authorities.
The legal viability of an all-encrypted ISP appears to hinge on a provision in a 1994 federal law called CALEA. The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act ensures that ISPs are not held responsible for decrypting data if they don't have the necessary information to do so. If Merrill has his way, Calyx won't have a clue what's going on under the hood of its service. This means the ISP should be able to operate squarely under this premise.
After running his own ISP in New York, Merrill picked up a thing or two about the need for privacy in today's post-9/11 climate. In 2004, he enlisted the help of the ACLU to legally fight a request by the FBI to divulge customer details without a court order. To make this situation particularly menacing, the FBI required Merrill to never publicly disclose the request or the existence of the letter. After a lengthy six-year legal scuffle and having to remain anonymous throughout the course of the trial, Merrill won the case and a federal judge struck down a portion of the Patriot Act which made it illegal to defy an FBI gag order. United States District Judge Victor Marrero described the provision as an "unconstitutional prior restraint of speech in violation of the First Amendment."
After dealing with the FBI and the U.S. legal system for six years, the entrepreneur was inspired to design an ISP where privacy is integrated into its virtual DNA. As a result, Merrill has created the Calyx Institute and woven together an advisory board with the likes of former NSA technical director Brian Snow and TOR project leader Jacob Applebaum.
Merrill will be meeting up with potential West-coast investors in the next couple weeks as he attempts to raise $2 million before the service launches.
User Comments: 29
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@ TorturedChaos
on April 12, 2012
9:52 AM
I totally agree.
I would also imagine that this is the sentiment of the vast majority of critically thinking law abiding citizens.
Since when was 'no right to privacy' the defacto?
This is how all ISPs should be.
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Can people really be so stupid and ignorant that they would believe a persons desire to have a "private" life means they are hiding something?!?
Seriously, if you feel that strongly about everything been open then here is my suggestion;
At your place of residence tonight, unlock your doors, open your curtains and windows, turn all the lights outside off and all the lights on inside. Now have a shower and a good nights sleep! If you can successfully achieve this then your a show pony, simple in the head, or live an island without neighbours ....... oh wait, that would make it private.
Here's an idea! How about we make everything open? Government agencies, business ...... I mean if we intend to do it with individuals, why be bias and exclude other groups.
Why isn't a person considered suspicious when they close their doors and draw their curtains at night? Because a person who is open about everything in their life gets taken advantage of and judged on every inconsequential thing. Same reasoning applies to people in the virtual world, and apart from the youth who need to get their 5 megabytes of fame, we'd all like to enjoy a certain level of privacy without discrimination.
I support the idea of an encrypted ISP, and I support non-profit initiatives like Wikipedia.
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This is an awsome idea. I would gladly pay for this. I dont do anything on the net that needs to be hidden but these days, big brother is becoming the enemy with the "patriot act" which big brother is using to violate every constitutional right imaginable. Our constitutional rights were given to us to protect us from our goverment. Our second amendment right to bear arms cannot protect us from information search's. Therefore, we need encryption to protect us. This guy is a cyber revolutionary hero. I want to thank him
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MS umar said:
How does cnet plan to stop anti-social elements connected to terrorists with this kind of encrypted ISP Hope cnet has strict measures to check if a person will handover his computer to a terrorist before giving the person a connection
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