Cryptoparties teach privacy to the public

A technicolour art space in south Sydney on a Saturday night is an unlikely gathering point for internet denizens interested in remaining private.

Welcome to a Cryptoparty, where privacy becomes public.

The 30-strong crowd are young and old, tech-savvy to tech-naive, and are part of a growing movement of people who believe that data privacy is not secrecy. Not only do they want to protect their emails, files and browsing history from governments, but also from corporations and other internet users. They are not necessarily hackers and what they are doing is not illegal.