Vonage Co-Founder Launches Decentralized Videochat App to Battle Zoom

Can a new communications platform make security breaches a thing of the past?

Jeff Pulver, a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) pioneer and the co-founder of Vonage, has launched a decentralized application (dApp) that claims to provide the “most secure end-to-end business communications network” available.

The move follows reports last week that rival videochat app Zoom exposed personally identifiable information and private conversations on the open web.

Centralized data storage provides a centralized point of failure

According to Pulver, the problem with existing communication solutions is that they route all business and personal data through one central point. This creates a huge security threat to confidential information.

Pulver’s latest project, Debrief, addresses this issue by implementing encryption, data storage and authentication on the blockchain. Debrief itself retains virtually no user information, as everything is decentralized.

This also prevents hacking or tampering with information once that data is hashed onto the network. Any attempt to edit information on one recipient’s device would be rejected by the other devices on the network.

Debrief can also act as a middleware solution

Aside from its own communications solutions, Debrief can also be used by other blockchains and traditional communication tools (such as Zoom) as an open-source middleware layer. This allows other apps to benefit from Debrief’s secure blockchain authentication and decentralized architecture.

The beta version has already been released, providing HD video-conferencing, peer-to-peer audio and video calling, messaging, file storage and more. There are almost 3,000 participating users right now.

Jeff Pulver was also the primary author of the Pulver Order, adopted by the FCC in 2004 to ensure that users of communication apps such as WhatsApp, FaceTime and Messenger do not have to pay for the service.

As Cointelegraph previously reported, YouTube’s recent action against cryptocurrency-related channels has caused content creators to search out censorship-free alternatives. Users are turning to decentralized versions of popular platforms for an increasing number of reasons.