I'm Jay, a privacy-tech founder. Got privacy questions? AMA! ⚡

Hey Wilson! Really interesting question here. There has certainly been plenty of debate around this topic over the last few years. In my view, when comparing closed source and open source, I don’t actually think one is intrinsically better than the other. Closed source has the benefit of obscurity which maintains control for the creators and in some cases adds to overall privacy stability, whereas open source relies on a community who are willing to catch and resolve bugs/threats rapidly, which if done well can improve privacy and security. Most of our software is closed source however I can see the benefit for some privacy products being open source - especially where a large community is present. What are your thoughts? Does either affect your trust in the software?

@gildenjay Jay, thanks for sharing. Sometimes it does affect the trust. I'm building one in the privacy space and working towards open-sourcing right now as the tech community doesn't believe in obscurity. I'm thinking of running a community and enterprise version separately. What are your thoughts on this? Can you advise?

Hey again Wilson! If you’ve got the means (skills, time, cash and community) to maintain two versions then, without knowing the background, this could be a great solution that builds public trust whilst maintaining the perceived integrity of your enterprise offering. Sounds like you’re cooking up some pretty exciting tech - looking forward to seeing more! 🥳

Really great question @petartodd. This was a struggle with us for a while... we found that even if we could get a foot in the door, we often went toe-to-toe with cyber experts who simply didn’t believe our products were of any value. We recently repositioned the business to focus on consumer-first, and have worked tirelessly to build a community here in Australia. Remarkably after the launch of our recent campaign focussing on the consumer, we started getting calls from banks, telcos and SMBs who all wanted information about what we do. Based on that, I’d have to say that at the end of the day, the big end of town will listen to their customers. Start there first. Thanks for the kind words. All the best 😎

Hey M! 👋🏽 Nice question. The long and the short of it is that it depends which country you’re in. Here in Australia it’s near impossible without a warrant, and these warrants can be hard to get. In the US though, it’s been widely reported that FISA (foreign intelligence surveillance act) warrants aren’t as hard to obtain, and these would allow for phone taps. Generally speaking though, without due cause it would be unusual for a federal government to listen in on its own citizens... although nothing would surprise me in 2020 😉