Awesome Stuff Goes Dark: Dark Mail And Dark Wallet

This week we've got two projects for our awesome stuff post that have to do with some of the topics we've been discussing lately: secure email and Bitcoin.

• Last week, we were the first to report that Ladar Levison was planning to release Lavabit's code as open source (including dark mail capabilities Levison is working on with Silent Circle) and to put up a Kickstarter campaign. That campaign is now live. It's worth pointing out that respected security guru Moxie Marlinspike wrote an interesting criticism of Lavabit, but also that Levison provided a detailed response. It appears that many people are believers. In just a few days, the campaign managed to bring in over $75,000. That's still short of the $196,608 being sought, but it seems fairly likely that he'll get there. It's interesting to see that one person has already agreed to give $10,000.
• Moving on from dark mail, we've got Dark Wallet, an interesting IndieGoGo project to create a simple and easy-to-use, but secure, Bitcoin wallet. The folks behind it are hoping to build a series of useful Bitcoin tools down the road. The IndieGogo campaign has raised a little over $30,000 towards its goal of $50,000, but as a flex funds campaign, the goal doesn't really matter. The money will go to the developers either way. Of course, they also have it set up so you can donate separately, using Bitcoin -- and have already brought in over 55 Bitcoins, which, depending on what exchange rate you use, means that's probably worth another $15,000 or so (though, that can change fairly rapidly in either direction).

That's it for this week, we'll be back next week with something a little lighter, I'm sure.

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