Edward Snowden created an app that turns smartphones into security systems aimed at thwarting spies

The Guardian Project

• Former NSA contractor-turned-leaker Edward Snowden is working on a smartphone app.
• The app, named "Haven," is intended to turn smartphones into mobile security systems.
• Haven is currently available to try for free in open beta.

Edward Snowden is best known for revealing the spy programs of the American government's National Security Agency, but his next project is intended to make citizens feel more secure.

It's an app, called "Haven," that's intended to turn Android phones into all-in-one anti-spy systems.

"Imagine if you had a guard dog you could take with you to any hotel room and leave it in your room when you're not there. And it's actually smart, and it witnesses everything that happens and creates a record of it," Snowden told Wired in a recent interview.

The idea is simple: You install the app on a cheap "burner" phone (one that can be thrown away), and then set up the phone in a place you want to monitor.

The Guardian Project

A presentation from The Guardian Project, which is working with Snowden on Haven, demonstrates the difference between Haven and other monitoring solutions.

Perhaps you're in a hotel room in Hong Kong, worried that a world power is attempting to spy on your actions. What to do? Install Haven on an otherwise empty, inexpensive Android smartphone. If someone enters your room, the phone can be programmed to start recording, or to take photos.

Those recordings can then be sent securely to your personal phone, perhaps through an encrypted communication tool like Signal. As the image above demonstrates, Haven uses encrypted services like Signal and Tor that let users retain full control of whatever's being communicated. 

In so many words, the app is intended to turn a smartphone into a personal security system.

"We designed Haven as a tool for investigative journalists, human rights defenders, and people at risk," Snowden says in a video introducing the app. "Haven makes it harder to silence citizens - raids, searches, arrests - without getting caught in the act."

Since the app is currently in open beta, you can test it out for yourself right here; beware that some things might not work perfectly (or at all). And if you wanna hear more about Haven from Snowden himself, check out this video:

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