F-Secure Launches A Dropbox For the Dark Web And A VPN That Could Erase Content Borders Everywhere

Finnish security company F-Secure is making a sizable move out of its corporate security business into the world of the consumer cryptoWeb. It announced this week it's launching a Dropbox-like cloud storage service, Younited, and a virtual private network (VPN) smartphone app called Freedome, the latter threatening to disrupt the regional restrictions on use of copyrighted material around the world.

Younited collates your existing cloud accounts, making pictures, video, or whatever else you want to store and share available in one spot, including sharing options with popular services like Facebook and Skydrive.

As well as being an online file locker, F-Secure spent a considerable amount of time securing Younited, having worked on development for a number of years now. Quite simply, everything is encrypted, with the purpose of transferring the most basic data ownership and levels of privacy back to the control of the user, even when sharing through Facebook.

Speaking with Forbes at Helsinki's Slush conference, Timo Laaksonen, VP for content cloud at F Secure (pictured), said the company does not anticipate any problems with top software vendors, even if directing its attention towards consumer cloud does look like it's stepping on their toes - in conversation with big players such as Microsoft , Laaksonen believes they would take a similar approach if their corporate philosophies allowed for it. Neither does he think intelligence gathering agencies have much right to complain: the purpose of Younited is not to be secretive or above the law, but to provide users with a certain level of privacy - so if a request for your data is legitimate, F Secure will not stop a proper investigation from the authorities. But it has done its level best to make sure your content cannot be combed and picked up by intelligence agencies or advertisers, without your knowledge or through illegal means, and promises that everything from the thumbnail to the content itself and the metadata is all encrypted. When you destroy it, the content's gone for good.

Meanwhile, mobile app Freedome, though it is designed for security, is potentially disruptive to the copyright cabal behind limiting content based on region. Now in the testing phase and expected for general release by the end of this year, the stated purpose of Freedome is to provide a solid, consumer-friendly VPN which keeps you secure in a cloud environment. Protection is included to stop trackers, viruses, and hacks on general browsing and networks such as rogue airport Wi-Fi hotspots. All data through Freedome, F-Secure promises, is "unreadable by anyone but you".

Janne Pirttilahti, director, new concepts at F-Secure, admitted that some users may find Freedome's ability to bypass regional content restrictions a significant draw. Although the internet is inherently global, sections of the content industry place restrictions on viewing programming depending on your location for licensing reasons. For example, European  Netflix  users have had to wait for a fuller catalogue of titles to appear compared to the North American flavor, which has a very well stocked library. Although bypassing regional restictions is not the point of the app, in various marketing focus groups there was a split between those who found being able to access region-locked content anywhere alluring and those who were more intrigued by the security capabilities of the product. (Chrome extensions like Mediahint can do something similar by tricking your browser into thinking it's in another country, but there's little transparency about the servers your traffic travels through while in use.)

Some countries heavily censor access to popular video services like YouTube - something Freedome can also potentially bypass. Pirttilahti said F-Secure could not condone using Freedome to violate terms and conditions of any particular service, it would not be hard for an app user to do so if they wished. Freedome will enter public beta by the end of November on Android, with general availability due in Europe and North America by the end of 2013. In the first phase it will support iOS 6 & 7 and Android 4.0 and later. Netflix was unavailable for comment at publishing time.

Although the announcements are a far cry from F-Secure's more familiar heritage of malware busting, Laaksonen told Forbes that a lot more consumer facing products can be expected in the future - as the company believes getting consumer right is critical before taking on the enterprise. A significant challenge, of course, will be building a consumer following in the first place, something which even big brand names such as Google have previously struggled with. An F-Secure spokesperson confirmed to Forbes that there will be a hefty marketing push for another Younited service, launching 2014, that crowdsources photographs at events, and will be entering into partnerships with venues to encourage uptake.