PGP inventor reveals secure interent telephony

The software, which encrypts calls made over the internet to prevent eavesdropping, comes from Phil Zimmermann, who also developed PGP, the encryption software used to keep emails private.

The prototype was unveiled at Black Hat Briefings security industry conference in Las Vegas on Thursday. He said the growing popularity of internet telephony was reminiscent of email.

"Years ago, people kind of stumbled into email without really thinking about security," Zimmermann said in an interview. "I think that what's happening today with VoIP is that we're kind of stumbling into it (as well) without thinking about security."

Earlier this month SC revealed a man had been convicted of using someone else's wireless connection. In the first case of its kind Gregory Straszkiewicz received a 12-month conditional discharge after being found guilty of using bandwidth he did not own.