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Comment by huhtenberg | Hacker News Reader

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huhtenberg

For a project concerned with privacy and anonymity the news subscription form is asking way too much.

Also, why is domain on .ch ?

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I think it's just a (clever) part of their branding; Switzerland has long had an explicit policy of neutrality.

Not a super-reputable source, but succinct: http://www.wisegeek.org/why-is-switzerland-regarded-as-a-neu...

Official Swiss propaganda, but has more info: http://www.vbs.admin.ch/internet/vbs/en/home/documentation/p...

There's also a strong branding presence of Swiss products in UAE and China (including some brands you'd never hear of in Switzerland itself), there seems to be a very strong association of "Swiss Made" with luxury product. I've even seen opticians advertising "Swiss Glass"(?) in Hong Kong. Thinking back to a talk by the founder of Virtu, I wouldn't be surprised if the middle and far east are key markets for this type of product.

I wondered that as well, could entirely just clever branding because of neutrality.

They state in the video: "Blackphone is a Swiss joint venture between Silent Circle and Geeksphone"...

Still doesn't reveal much, as both companies in this joint venture aren't swiss and in the swiss company register I couldn't find an entry for them.

"The company itself will be based in Switzerland due to that country's strict privacy rules."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/01/15/encrypted_blackphone...

I believe the company is Swiss.

Doesn't seem to be.

  Domain name:
  blackphone.ch

  Holder of domain name:
  Geeksphone S.L.
  Geeksphone Rodrigo S
  calle Manuel Silvela 1
  ES-28010 Madrid
  Spain

It's just very curious that they feel like they need to pass for a Swiss company.

It’s not that curious: Switzerland through their history and neutrality policy have a reputation for being secure and unlikely to bow to foreign influence.

No, I realize that. I just don't understand what they are trying to gain by using .ch domain name. That people who are interested in privacy and security wouldn't notice that they are a Spanish company and proceed to think of them of a Swiss project? Seems pointless at best and misleading at worst.

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