Raluca Popa, the project's lead researcher, claims that method prevents anyone, even the NSA from snooping on your info: "If the government asks the company for your data, the server doesn't have the ability to give unencrypted data." (Of course, encryption won't do you any good if the government ends up forcing the websites and services you use to surrender their users' information.) Right now, a group of patients are testing a Mylar website to share medical info with their doctors. Popa and his team are also testing their own chat, photo sharing and calendar applications. The group still has to overcome a lot of hurdles before we can see Mylar-built services in the wild, though. After all, web companies might not be keen on using the technology, especially those who rely on accessing user data to serve targeted ads.

[Image credit: Simon Cocks/Flickr]