We're committed to this product, not only for our users, but also for ourselves.

We value our privacy HIGHLY, and wouldn't be open to selling out. We'd much rather just close down the company than destroy our core principles.

If there were some sort of a dead man's switch in your service ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_man's_switch ), this would be a lot more believable.

I'm confused with how a dead man's switch would be useful in this scenario. If the company is persuaded to keep the transaction logs linking sim cards/phones and credit card numbers/addresses then how would we know? I don't see that as being fixed by having a dead man's switch.

At that level of 'paranoia' / privacy concern you might as assume this is an elaborate honey-pot. An unlikely scenario but certainly the safest assumption from a privacy perspective.

This is really interesting -- looking into this now.

Churchill: "Madam, would you sleep with me for five million pounds?" Socialite: "My goodness, Mr. Churchill... Well, I suppose... we would have to discuss terms, of course... " Churchill: "Would you sleep with me for five pounds?" Socialite: "Mr. Churchill, what kind of woman do you think I am?!" Churchill: "Madam, we've already established that. Now we are haggling about the price”

Just negotiate in opposite direction :-)