Kim Dotcom is taking on the NSA and Skype with MegaChat

Kim Dotcom already brought an “anti-surveillance” cloud storage service to the masses with Mega, but now the renowned (or perhaps infamous) internet entrepreneur is doing the same thing with instant messaging and video calling. Known as MegaChat, Dotcom’s new browser-based encrypted messaging service not only aims to combat NSA mass surveillance, but take down Skype as well.

Kim Dotcom, founder of file hosting service Mega, today revealed his company will be launching a browser-based chat service “soon.” Dotcom referred to the service with the hashtag #MegaChat, though he confirmed with VentureBeat that this many not be its final name. This is not the first time Dotcom has talked about the upcoming service, which gets mentioned every few months but has yet to hit public availability in any form. There is naturally a lot of hype surrounding it, given the increasing importance put on secure communications on the Internet. This time, the entrepreneur is promising the service will be encrypted, browser-based, and offer “high-speed” file transfers: “Mega will soon release a fully encrypted and browser based video call & chat service including high-speed file transfers. Bye bye Skype :-)”