BitTorrent launches serverless secure P2P chat

File-sharing software developer BitTorrent has made available an experimental instant messaging client that it hopes will provide users with greater security for their online communications, making them harder to intercept by governments and criminals.

BitTorrent Chat runs over an encrypted peer-to-peer network where there is no central control, storage and forwarding server that can be compromised or captured for access to user data.

The company said the aim behind BitTorrent Chat was to ensure people's messages stayed under their control, "private, secure and free".

Presently, BitTorrent Chat is in pre-alpha mode and requires an invite to join the trial.

*An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed BitTorrent Chat with developer Alec Perkins' work using the BitTorrent Sync protocol to create a distributed, secure messaging service.