freenigma - Free E-Mail Encryption for Google Mail

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Wednesday, July 19, 2006; 08:11 AM

Worldwide, 600 million people use webmail services like Google, Yahoo!, Hotmail/MSN or Web.de. Sending e-mails from practically any computer is one of the most popular internet applications today. Webmail users send hundreds of millions of private and business e-mails around the globe every day.

The freenigma service.

However, a lot of uncertainty remains concerning exactly how confidential the contents are because the data is not only stored on the mail provider's system but also sent over the internet in unencrypted form.

Experts warn that the today's technical possibilities make it very easy for interested third parties to intercept and read digital information such as e-mails.

Now, freenigma gives webmail users back the control over their personal privacy and their business secrets on the internet.

Hamburg software experts freiheit.com's new, free service enables the encryption of e-mails in conjunction with Google Mail, Yahoo! Mail und Hotmail/MSN, currently the most widely used webmail services worldwide.

freenigma is the first encryption application that is easy to install and use. Up until now, there hasn't been any comparable service like it anywhere in the world.

"Today a large amount of private data is already being collected over the internet. However, people want to have control over what information is confidential and what is public," says Stefan Richter, founder of freenigma gmbh and managing director of freiheit.com technologies gmbh. "Because encryption technology has been so insanely complicated for most users, we have developed a new kind of service with freenigma that will fundamentally change the perception and spread of cryptology in the future."

Based on Web 2.0 technology (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, or AJAX), freenigma can be integrated into any webmail program as a Firefox extension. Google Mail, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail/MSN are the first to be supported, but plug-ins are also planned for Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes and mobile devices. freenigma is platform-independent. The only requirement is a Firefox browser under GNU/Linux, Apple Macintosh or Microsoft Windows XP. Through an open application programming interface (OpenAPI), software developers worldwide can extend freenigma and integrate it into their own applications.

freenigma is being launched as a free software service available worldwide. The beta version of the software will be available the beginning of August.

Anyone interested in signing up for an invitation to register can do so effective immediately on the website www.freenigma.com.