Monthly Archives: March 2013

New Gliph Facet: Bitcoin Wallet Address

Bitcoin Wallet Address Facet GliphWe’ve added a new Facet to Gliph accounts that lets you save and share a Bitcoin wallet address.

This means you can connect with another Gliph to discuss at transaction. If you decide to go through with it, you can use Gliph to securely share the wallet address.

New users signing up for Gliph will see “Bitcoin Address” in the list of Facets that may be bound. For existing users, you can now add a bitcoin address using the following steps:

On iPhone:
  1. In the Menu, choose Settings
  2. Tap the Edit button
  3. Scroll down to “Bind additional facets”
  4. Find “Bitcoin Address”

Gliph is Now Accepting Bitcoin Payments

We’re pleased to share that we now accept Bitcoin as a payment method for Gliph products, in addition to In-App Purchases (IAP) and traditional credit cards. Today, that means you can purchase additional Cloaked Email addresses, and add upgrades to your account using Bitcoin.

What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a new kind of money that is decentralized and not controlled by a single organization or government. You can send Bitcoins to other people and businesses around the globe without going through a bank. This means Bitcoin can be used in any country, and fees for sending the currency are very low.

Why did you decide to take Bitcoin?
Many of our users are privacy and security conscious folks and we have had requests for the company to take payment over Bitcoin since we launched Cloaked Email Pro. We also appreciate the following aspects of the Bitcoin currency:

  • Privacy – While Bitcoin was not designed for anonymity, it can be used in a way that abstracts transactions away from identity.
  • Security – Bitcoin uses mathematics to allow the network to create Bitcoins and validate transactions. The currency itself is not controlled by any particular institution.
  • Trust – You don’t need to trust anyone other than yourself and the person you’re sending money to. No one can get in the way of your transactions.

How do I pay Gliph with Bitcoin? Continue reading →

Introducing Selective Push, Privacy Protection for Push Notifications

Have you ever felt the need to turn your phone upside down so people won’t read a message in a push notification?

Today, in an update for iPhone and Android, we’re allowing you to choose which conversations you want to show up in push and which should stay locked up for viewing in the app.

So far, Gliph has only allowed push notifications to say “Someone sent you a message.” With this update, you can now choose to show the tag of who is sending you a message, and if you want, the content of the message as well.

Unique to Gliph, you can make these changes on a per-contact basis, meaning for one contact in Gliph you can show message content or tag in the push notifications, and for another show nothing at all.

Let’s look at an example, where another Gliph user you’re connected with and have tagged “Erin” sends you the message “Hey, what are you up to tonight?” The following three examples show how a Gliph Message push notification will appear using different settings:

 

How to Enable Message Content in Push Notifications on Gliph
Turning on message content in push notifications is just two taps from any conversation. We made a short video explanation of how to set up message content to show in push notifications. Here are written instructions:  Continue reading →

Gliph Opposes CISPA, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act

At Gliph, we take a conservative view toward user privacy. Gliph’s privacy policy is clear: a Gliph user’s Facet information belongs to them and remains under their control. Gliph offers specific features that give users privacy in their personal communications.

Like many internet companies, Gliph is based in the United States and is governed by the laws of this country. Gliph respects the United States’ need to maintain national security. However, Gliph opposes CISPA as proposed because the legislation conflates cybersecurity with surveillance and information sharing. CISPA significantly erodes the privacy of internet users.

What is CISPA?
At the time of this writing, CISPA is H.R. 624, (web, pdf), the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. CISPA is just a bill, which is a proposed piece of legislation that has the potential to become a federal law in the United States.

CISPA’s purpose is to help the United States investigate cyber threats and ensure the security of networks against cyber attacks. The bill aims to add legal framework for the sharing of information between private companies and the United States government.

Why Oppose CISPA?
Gliph appreciates the pressing global context around cybersecurity, yet is adamant about the preservation of civil liberty and personal privacy. We are joining the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Internet Defense League in our opposition to this bill. You can learn about the below bulleted issues and more in the EFF’s page about the bill.

Here are some of the key issues with CISPA Gliph is concerned about: Continue reading →