The goal of Freedom Box is a modest one: to enable private conversations online. However, as the purported anonymity of the internet vanishes and the surveillance state becomes more sophisticated and pervasive, this simple goal becomes all the more urgent. The ability of people to communicate free of government surveillance will be more important in authoritarian states, but the availability of the tools enabling secure communication will nevertheless be important in all societies, regardless of whether they are actually used. Whether citizens will take advantage of secure communication tools will depend on the political climate and the probability of state persecution. Whether citizens should be capable of communicating free of government surveillance, however, should not be in question.