If you’re a fan of the news, then you probably know who Kim Dotcom is.  Well, it appears the German-born internet titan (in more than one sense of the word) has cast himself into the spotlight again with his latest innovation.

“What is the new product,” you might ask?  Well, its simple really.  Each Mega account’s accompanying email service will now be featuring an end-to-end encryption, making all emails on a Mega account safe from prying eyes.

Known for being a bit of a rabble-rouser, it should come as no surprise that the latest addition to the Mega product was developed, as Dotcom put it, “so that you won’t have to worry that a government or internet service provider will be looking at your email.”

There’s no question as to why he’s offering this service – it doubles as a legitimate product for those who do not want to suffer the same fate as Kim did at the hands of an overreaching authority, and it also serves as a convenient and poignant public display of civil disobedience.

This latest feature couldn’t have come out at a better time, either.

In related news, Apple is going to start reading your emails, and subsequently deleting ones that it arbitrarily regards as unsavory.  One unsavory phrase that they will be searching for, for instance, is “barely legal teens.”

Now I want to take a moment to point out that the phrase in question suggests nothing illegal, and that this is entirely moral policing on behalf of Apple’s in order to maintain brand control for iCloud.

Another thing worth pointing out is that this filter will arbitrarily delete emails from iCloud that use this phrase, even if it is said in a clinical manner, or as an example, or even as a coincidence.  So if you want to write about your barely legal teenager getting their driver’s permit, you may want to change your phrasing, or else the internet police will pull your email over as though it were a…barely legal teen driver.

In the end, this leaves us with a few questions about the future.  Will iCloud users continue to put up with these kinds of policies?  Will Mega’s attractive features propel them into the forefront of email and cloud services?  Which model of privacy will the other service providers follow going forward?

The answer to these questions and many more will come as we continue to follow this story, so for those of you who want to keep up with what’s coming out next, don’t forget to watch us live and online on the Morning NewsDesk Show with Kristin Feledy.

 photo credit: ToñoO via photopin cc