government is hard to gauge, as Moxie and Open Whisper System have been opaque about the sources of Signal’s funding. What you won’t find is an “about” section that explains Signal’s origin story - a story that involves several million dollars in seed and development capital from Radio Free Asia, a CIA spinoff whose history goes back to 1951 and involves all sorts of weird shit, including its association in the 1970s with the Moonies, the hardcore anti-communist Korean cult.Įxactly how much cash Signal got from the U.S. You’ll also find a “donate” button - which, by the way, you shouldn’t press because Signal has plenty of tech oligarch cash on hand these days. If you look at Signal’s website today, you’ll find all sorts of celebrity endorsements - Edward Snowden, Laura Poitras, and even Jack Dorsey. That relationship led to his next venture: a suite of government-funded encrypted chat and voice mobile apps. Agency for Global Media) - on developing tech to fight Internet censorship abroad. This big: After selling his encryption start-up to Twitter in 2011, Moxie began partnering with America’s soft-power regime change apparatus - including the State Department and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (now called the U.S. So how big a threat is Moxie to the federal government? He constantly talks up his fear of Big Brother and tells stories about his FBI file. Still, Moxie wraps himself in air of danger and mystery and hassles reporters about not divulging any personal information, not even his age.

Moxie was an old friend of Tor’s now-banished chief radical promotor Jacob Appelbaum, and he’s played a similar fake-radical game - although he’s never been able to match Jake’s raw talent and dedication to the art of the con. Signal was developed by Open Whisper Systems, a for-profit corporation run by “Moxie Marlinspike,” a tall, lanky cryptographer who has a head full of dreadlocks and likes to surf and sail his boat. Given that the app is blowing up, I figure it’s a good time to roll out my periodic public service announcement : Signal was created and funded by a CIA spinoff.

Signal messenger owned by twitter