The National Security Agency has implanted software in over 100,000 computers around the world that allows the United States to conduct surveillance. The NSA also has secret technologies to enter and alter data in computers even if they are not connected to the Internet. When the Chinese place similar software on the computer systems of American companies or government agencies, American officials have protested at the presidential level.

The United States has accused China of digitally stealing secrets or intellectual property of industrial and military targets. The program, code-named Quantum, has also been used to insert software into Russian military networks and networks used by the Mexican police and drug cartels, institutions in the European Union, and anti-terrorism partners Saudi Arabia, India and Pakistan.

In efforts to stop terrorism, the NSA has for the first time started to collect phone records of all citizens, not just those suspected of terrorism, from telecommunications providers on the authority of the FISA court.

A startup based in Switzerland is creating a smartphone based on a high-powered maximal security Android build called PrivatOS. The phone will allow users to make and receive secure phone calls and video chats, exchange secure texts as well as transfer and store files with encryption that is designed to keep even the NSA out. The project is headed by several top players in the field of computer security such as Phil Zimmermann, who created the data encryption protocol PGP.

The device, called Blackphone, will be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Feb. 24. "Blackphone provides users with everything they need to ensure privacy and control of their communications, along with all the other high-end smartphone features they have come to expect," he said, although the phone will be a high-end smartphone. The two companies working on the phone are Silent Circle, a U.S.-based company focused on encryption, and Geeksphone, a Spanish company behind Firefox OS developer devices.

Introduction to Blackphone from BLACKPHONE on Vimeo.