Dotcom’s encrypted cyberlocker Mega has announced free end-to-end encrypted voice and video chat supported through the web browser. New MegaChat promises to keep users’ video chats secure and private, and is dubbed a “Skype killer” by its creator.


The New Zealand entrepreneur announced the step-by-step release of #MegaChat, which currently offers video calling and is going to provide text chat and video conferencing soon as well. The service requires no software beyond an Internet browser to operate, unlike many other similar services. However, the developers also offered plugins for Google’s Chrome and Firefox for “faster loading and added resilience against attacks”.

MegaChat allows Internet users to share encrypted files after previously sharing a personal decryption key with them. Kim Dotcom is sure that no online service provider based in the United States can be trusted with data these days and Skype is no exception – it also must provide the American government with backdoors. Kim Dotcom pointed at Edward Snowden revelation of Microsoft providing the NSA access to encrypted messages.

Now Dotcom positions MegaChat as a secure alternative to Skype, which can’t be tracked by security services that use end-to-end encryption to keep privacy. MegaChat service is based in New Zealand. The MegaUpload founder also promised to offer encrypted video conferencing, email and text chat later.

In the meantime, the industry experts point out that Mega’s security credentials have been questioned previously. For example, user passwords were stolen from Mega shortly after its launch two years ago, which made security researchers question whether new Dotcom’s service could live up to its security promises.