Back in 2013, Edward Snowden turned the IT support world, especially the surveillance world, upside down. That’s because he revealed the NSA spied on law abiding Americans. He also believed top tech companies helped in this spying. But that was almost five years ago, and he’s still making news. This is Edward Snowden’s app and his fight.
They call Edward Snowden’s app Haven. He and other privacy crusaders, like The Guardian Project, released the new app this week. It’s strictly for Android smartphones…for now at least. This app tracks changes to your surroundings. And I’m not just talking about the other side of the country and/or world. It can even track if the other side of the room is different.
Furthermore, it can serve as a motion tracker and if someone is spying on your phone. Some already praise Haven because this helps protect their sensitive information. One co-builder said it helps fight the ‘evil maid’. That’s where a hacker goes behind your back and physically breaks into your machine to compromise your info. The Haven app would detect the culprit’s face, voice, movements, even breathing patterns. Of course, Haven will let you know if and when anything suspicious is happening to your phone.
I’m already reading reports that Haven is working. Parents are more at ease. Also in Columbia, it’s literally saving lives. I say this because it’s alerting people when someone is trying to break into their info. In some cases, if not caught, these break ins can lead to assassination attempts. Yes, Snowden has been out of the news for a while. But this proves that he hasn’t stopped fighting. It also proves he still a crusader for our online safety and privacy, no matter who’s trying to compromise it. Here in our computer service shop, we fix hacked machines often. This especially goes for laptops fixed. And the hackers’ tricks are getting smarter. My only hope is that all smartphones companies make Haven accessible. Isn’t that only fair, and safe?