Middle-School Dropout Codes Clever Chat Program That Foils NSA Spying

Brooks, who is just 22 and a self-taught coder who dropped out of school at 13, was always concerned about privacy and civil liberties.

The program, which he dubbed Ricochet, began as a hobby. But by the time he finished, he had a full-fledged desktop client that was easy to use, offered anonymity and encryption, and even resolved the issue of metadata—the “to” and “from” headers and IP addresses spy agencies use to identify and track communications—long before the public was aware that the NSA was routinely collecting metadata in bulk for its spy programs.

“There is no way you could find my IP address or anything about who I am or where I am. [A]nd the rendezvous point in the middle can’t find out anything about either of us.”