New social network where all your data is encrypted to stop spying vies for users turned off Facebook by NSA revelations

Canada-based Syme aims to make encryption accessible to 'non-geeks'

It encrypts users' data the moment it is entered into their computers

The network's administrators claim even they cannot access user content



But its creators warn that it is not foolproof and they DO store metadata



A new encrypted social network aims to entice web users put off Facebook and Google Plus by revelations of NSA spying and fears of lack of privacy.

Syme encrypts all user content - including status updates, messages and photos - allowing only those invited to a user's group to see it.

Even Syme's admins claim they are unable read the content uploaded to the site unless they, too, are invited to.

Like Facebook, but private: Syme's interface is similar to established social networks but it uses encryption to ensure that only those people users want to see their content are able to access it

The new privacy-focused service comes in the wake of a string of revelations about the behind-the-scenes access the U.S. National Security Agency has to online services like Google and Facebook.

Documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden have outlined how the NSA's Prism programme gives officials access to material including online messages, live chats and file transfers.

The reporting of the top secret information proved to be a public relations disaster for a range of high-profile tech firms as it claimed the programme was run with the assistance of the companies involved.

The companies have all emphatically denied colluding with the NSA.

Syme is the creation of three students from McGill University in Montreal, Canada - a world leader in privacy legislation - where the service is also hosted.

Co-founder Jonathan Hershon, a psychology student, told IDG News Service that their aim was to 'make encryption accessible and easy to use for people who aren't geeks or aren't hackers'.

The social network, which is appropriately named after a character in Orwell's dystopian - and increasingly prescient - classic 1984, uses a two-step, hybrid encryption system to scramble users' communications.

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: Documents he leaked revealed how spies are able to access users' online messages, live chats and file transfers

Users logging into the social network are presented with a list of groups, which look and work in way similar to Facebook pages, the Tech. Australia blog reports.

But in Syme, the groups are in fact encrypted conversations between their members that are unreadable to anyone who has not been invited - a process which provides users with the decryption key.

Although Syme is similar in appearance to both Google Plus and Facebook, in effect it functions more like WhatsApp, a leaner mobile app that functions like a social network but dispenses with profile pages to focus of messaging.

Rather than logging on to a website users access Syme through a browser extension, which encrypts the content before it leaves their computer making it incomprehensible to anyone trying to spy on it.

However, Syme's creators - none of whom are computer science majors - say their social network is not a foolproof answer to state-sponsored digital spying.

It would be possible for content destined for Syme to be uncovered if, for example, spies were able to hack a user's computer.

And while they claim to be unable to read the content posted to the site, Syme's admins admit that they do store metadata - information describing who the message is from and to, for example - which could be useful to those conduction surveillance.

It also does not mask users' IP addresses - the unique identifiers for all computers connected to the internet - so interactions with Syme are far from anonymous even if users sign up with an pseudonymous email address.

Syme is currently available as an extension for Google's Chrome browser, and versions are planned for Firefox and Safari as well as iOS and Android apps.