[liberationtech] Cryptocat Project Report 2012-2013

[Nadim Kobeissi]

Download the report: https://project.crypto.cat/documents/report-1213.pdf

The Cryptocat Project’s goal of bringing
private, encrypted and accessible instant
messaging to the masses was never
perceived as easy. We were beset with new
technologies and a seemingly impossible
challenge. Striking a balance between
security and accessibility has been one of
the most difficult challenges in computer
security for years before Cryptocat was
conceived.

Last year was the first entire year that
Cryptocat had for itself, and the year where
we started making great progress. Spring
and Summer saw Cryptocat presented at
conferences from New York City to Rio de
Janeiro. In Autumn we released Cryptocat 2,
the first major revision of our software.
Cryptocat was encouraged and criticized,
met with skepticism and praise. For a
project trying to tackle such difficult
problems, this was our best case scenario.
Cryptocat is now used by thousands daily. It
has found a surprisingly broad user-base,
from transgender counselors to journalists.
We’re achieving our goal to make private
communications accessible.

Cryptocat is being built so that anyone can
chat on the Internet without being surveilled,
even if they’re not a computer scientist. It
works in your browser, it’s colorful and it has
a cat. This is what we’ve accomplished in
2012, and what we’re looking to do in 2013.


NK