????美國國家安全局的監聽丑聞被爆料之后，Silent Circle利用消費者日益增長的興趣出臺了全新的定價方案。每年支付120美元，用戶就能使用完整的Silent套件，包含Silent Phone、Silent Text、Silent Eyes和Silent Mail四項功能。公司CEO邁克?楊克是一名退役的海豹突擊隊隊員，他說采用新定價是為了順應“勢不可擋的需求?！?/p>

????不過即便是在泄密爆料之前，Silent Circle的表現也非常出色。這家公司去年10月成立時就在媒體間引起了一些轟動。楊克表示，由于今年2月推出了功能更加完備的新產品，甚至在泄密新聞之前，公司的銷量已達到平均每月100%的增幅。5月，楊克接受《華盛頓郵報》（The Washington Post）采訪時說：“我們正在盡快招募員工?！彼A計今年年底用戶將會達到300萬人。

????楊克說：“人們都在說‘天啊，氣死我了，國家安全局竟然在偷窺我的隱私，’確實是這樣?！彼€提到人們對于商業數據收集和其他政府機構的監視越來越擔心。后者可能會比國家安全局更隱秘、更具侵略性。“還有其他71個民族國家——想想俄羅斯、中國、意大利、法國——他們也有類似美國國家安全局的機構，他們也可以獲得各種個人數據?！?/p>

????當然，類似Silent Circle這樣的服務也有其陰暗面。沒錯，它們是記者和政治異議人士的福音，然而，它們對圖謀犯罪或炸毀大樓的人來說也一樣是好消息。楊克意識到，盡管執法人員對此有很大興趣（這是唯一獲得美國特種作戰司令部許可的商用通信產品），他最終還是免不了要與政府產生摩擦。此外，Silent Circle并不是解決所有隱私問題的萬能藥。安全公司BitDefender高級分析師博格丹?伯特扎圖表示，最高級別的加密服務可能會阻止數據獲取，卻對有針對性的政府竊聽幾乎沒有防護作用。Silent Circle也警告說，通過用戶的手機服務提供商仍然可能跟蹤到通話時的GPS數據，它也不能保護用戶免遭惡意軟件侵襲。

????如果Silent Circle不能滿足需求，還有許多其他程序和應用可供選擇。Tor和Orweb能讓用戶匿名瀏覽網頁。還有不計其數的其他設備和應用能打亂、隱藏和刪除用戶數據。接下來還可能涌現出更多的同類產品。

????比起這些號稱是軍用級別的產品，iPhone的優秀應用Snapchat看起來不但對一般顧客更有吸引力，安全性的色彩也更淡一些。不過驅使用戶們使用這類程序的因素卻是相似的——都是對于后隱私時代的深深憂慮。由于國家安全局的泄密事件，以及谷歌（Google）和Facebook等公司掌握的數據曝光，害怕遭到窺視已經不再只是瘋子的想法了。臆想已經成為主流——甚至還有可能催生一門龐大的生意。（財富中文網）

????譯者：嚴匡正

????In the wake of the NSA surveillance news, Silent Circle introduced a new pricing scheme to capitalize on the increased interest. It will now cost $120 per year to use the full Silent Suite, which includes Silent?Phone, Silent Text, Silent Eyes, and Silent Mail. CEO Mike Janke, a retired Navy SEAL commando, said the new pricing is in response to "overwhelming demand."

????But even before the story broke, Silent Circle was doing pretty well. The company launched in October of last year, and made some waves in the press. Following a more complete product launch in February, Janke says sales growth was averaging 100% month-over-month, even before the NSA news. In May, Janke told The Washington Post, "we're hiring as fast as we can." He predicts the company will have about 3 million users by year-end.

????"People are saying, 'Oh my God, I'm so pissed off that the NSA was looking at my stuff,' and rightfully so," Janke says. But he also notes that people are increasingly worried about commercial data gathering, plus surveillance from other government agencies, which may be even more secretive or invasive than the NSA. "There are 71 other nation states -- think Russia, China, Italy, France -- out there with NSA-type organizations of their own. They can get access to this data, too."

????Of course, there's a dark side to services like Silent Circle. Yes, they may be good news for journalists and political dissidents, but they're also good news for people planning to commit crimes or blow up buildings. Janke recognizes that despite the high interest from law enforcement officials (it is the only commercial communications product approved by U.S. Special Operations Command), he may eventually run into friction with the government. Furthermore, Silent Circle isn't the end-all solution to every privacy woe. The highest-level encryption service might prevent data harvesting, says Bogdan Botezatu, senior analyst at security firm BitDefender, but offers little protection from targeted government snooping. Silent Circle also warns that GPS data on calls may still be tracked by a user's cell phone service provider, and that it does not protect against malware.

????But if Silent Circle isn't enough, there are plenty of other programs and apps to choose from. Torand Orweb enable anonymous browsing. And there's a seemingly countless number of other devices and applications that scramble, hide or delete user data. Plenty more are likely to follow.

????In comparison to these products touting themselves as military-grade, iPhone phenom Snapchat looks both more appealing to the average customer, and comparably light on security. But the forces that drive users to the programs are similar -- a deep angst over the post-privacy era. Thanks to the NSA, and the troves of now data owned by the likes of Google (GOOG) and Facebook, fear of being watched isn't just for kooks anymore. Paranoia has become mainstream -- and it could be big business.