We’re all responsible for our own security and privacy online, and we need to make an important decision about how much we’re willing to share with big companies just because they make our lives easier.
Commercial apps are notorious for spying on their users and leaving us open to security vulnerabilities, but we carry on using them because we value the functionality. Luckily, as people become more switched on to the issue of online privacy, new tools are popping up thanks to expert teams who care about making the web a better place.
One such tool is Utopia. Billed as a peer-to-peer messaging platform, it’s a lot more than a basic communication tool. As we began to dig through the different features, we found a lot of good reasons to give it a try.
Users are anonymous, and free to share what they wish
Welcome to Utopia, the most innovative and secure ecosystem in the world. With Utopia, your life will no longer be the same.
This is the opening text that you see once you’ve installed the software and logged into your dashboard for the first time. It’s a big promise to live up to – and while we don’t have the expertise to weigh in on whether it truly is the most secure system out there, we can certainly say that it lives up to its bold ideals in spirit.
When you first get up, you’ll notice how smooth and – to borrow a term from the corporate world that Utopia is freeing you from – frictionless the sign-up process is. That’s because Utopia doesn’t ask for any of the personal data that is usually required to set up a new account. All you need to provide is a username: even your full name is optional.
Instead, you’re identified using a unique key which can be used for a variety of purposes including adding new contacts (if a user shares their code with you then you will be able to look them up), or transferring currency from one account to another.
Anonymity means that you are free to speak your mind without worrying about who may be listening, and this real commitment to freedom of speech is one of the things that immediately appealed to us when trying the platform for ourselves.
The platform is decentralised
When something is decentralised, it means that your data isn’t being held in one centralised location (what’s often referred to as a data warehouse). The fact that your messages and transaction details aren’t being held on a single server somewhere makes them a lot less vulnerable to third parties, and is a crucial part of what makes this system so secure.
You get rewarded for using it
One of the key differences between Utopia and other peer-to-peer messaging services is its cryptocurrency, Crypton. Utopia works better when more users are online, so it encourages people to stay logged in by allowing them to run mining bots whilst they’re active.
Setting up a mining bot means that you generate Crypton every 15 minutes, allowing people to build a healthy stash of cryptocurrency. This is all stored securely in the uWallet, which is also where you go if you want to make a payment using Crypton or request and send money to other users.Â
It is absolutely packed with features
All this wouldn’t mean much if the system itself wasn’t up to scratch, but Utopia has been built with usability in mind, and there are plenty of features to ensure that it is practical as well as innovative.
On the communications side, uMessenger lets you join channels or exchange instant messages with other users while uMail functions as an email client, allowing you to send emails to other Utopia users. You can have private conversations, group discussions or even set-up a channel for talking securely with your colleagues about work matters.
On top of these basic features, you also have access to the uWallet and mining mentioned above, and Utopia’s built-in browser, Idyll.
All told, we are highly impressed by what’s on offer here. Whether you’re looking for a way to make secure transactions with people that you trust, or simply a more secure option for exchanging messaging, Utopia is well worth the install.
If you want to take back your internet freedom and privacy whilst earning cryptocurrency, why not try Utopia for yourself?
