News from the IDG News Service that a search company (no, not the one that we’ve heard rumors about (-:) will make a secured IM (instant message) service available next month.
According to IDG News, metasearch engine Blowsearch plans to launch a fee-based IM service in February called BlowSearch Secured Messenger. BSM’s quarterly fee will be based on the amount of encryption desired.
$9.95/quarter, 4096-bit encryption
$7.95/quarter, 256-bit encryption
$2.95/quaeter, 56-bit encryption
56-bit encryption will also be available for free, ad-supported service. All fee-based versions will include support.
Users will also be able to access AIM (AOL), YIM (Yahoo), ICQ, and MSN Messenger with the Blowsearch client but for encrypted conversations to take place, both parties will need to be BlowSearch Secured Messenger users.
The company initially will target individual users who want to protect the privacy of their IM communications, and, after doing some further development to the product, the company will also pitch BlowSearch Secured Messenger to government agencies and corporations, said Richard Kahn, the company’s chief operating officer. “We provide enterprise-level IM security” over the public IM networks, Kahn said.
More in the article: BlowSearch to launch IM service featuring encryption