Nearly a couple of years after Kim Dotcom, founder of file hosting service Mega, first unveiled his company's plans to offer an encrypted video-calling and chat service, the internet mogul has announced that the browser-based service will launch soon.
Mega will soon release a fully encrypted and browser based video call & chat service including high-speed file transfers. Bye bye Skype :-)
--- Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) December 29, 2014
Currently based in New Zealand, Dotcom is pitching the service as a secure alternative to other popular chat services in the market, free of government surveillance or spying. Pointing at Skype, he said that US-based services do not offer enough security and privacy as they can be arm-twisted by the government to turn over user data, presumably in the name of national security.
No US based online service provider can be trusted with your data. Skype has no choice. They must provide the US Government with backdoors.
--- Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) December 29, 2014
Dotcom did not give an exact launch date for the new service, but he did refer to it with the hashtag #MegaChat. He added that he will tweet about beta invites to the service in the coming weeks.
For those who want to catch a glimpse of the service, Dotcom also shared the following video, which shows it being used by Edward Snowden and Julian Assange to address a rally in Auckland a few months ago:
The announcement comes nearly a month after Dotcom revealed that his legal team resigned because he ran out of money. Also earlier this month, he promised to bring a version of his controversial political party to the US in 2015.