What is Zooko working on?
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But then Joey deVilla posted something on his weblog about having dinner with Zooko -- and his boss, Brad Templeton. Templeton is famous for his software contributions, his net advocacy (he's chairman of the board of the EFF), and because he started rec.humor.funny. Like Joey, I was familiar with Brad before meeting him at CodeCon 2002 (he talked to me about my laptop, a brand new superslim Vaio).
But what clicked for me when I read that Zooko was working for Brad Templeton was his proposal for transparently encrypted email: Returning Privacy to Email. That page contains an aside:
The EFF is interested in organizing and endorsing an open source project to create such tools. If you are a programmer willing to work (without pay, alas) on such tools with skills in C/C++, cryptography and/or E-mail protocols, contact me at brad@eff.org. Those wishing to donate money to the EFF for this or any other efforts are always welcome. Should a major donor appear, I will be able to take out the "without pay" above.
Maybe that's what Zooko is working on? Did Brad Templeton find funding for this effort, or decide to commericalize it? Zooko would be a good canidate for the position, as he is well-versed in C++ and crytography.
The other job opportunity that Brad Templeton mentions on his homepage is Caller App, an internet telephony application (it sounds like the marriage of instant messaging and the telephone). Maybe this is more likely, considering that Brad has updated the page since the last version in the internet archive to say he's not adding any more employees. On the other hand, he doesn't say he has hired anyone, either.
Did a little bird tell you what they're up to? Let me know: look@recursion.org. I can keep a secret. Promise.