If you've used the messaging app WhatsApp today you should have seen a message saying this: "Messages you send to this chat and calls are secured with end-to-end encryption."
What that means is nobody - not the police, hackers, GCHQ, not even WhatsApp or its owner Facebook - can read the conversations between you and your contacts.
Given the sheer scale of the WhatsApp network this is obviously a major step forward for privacy, with a billion people around the world now secure from snooping. But prepare for a confrontation between WhatsApp and governments which will make the recent battle between Apple and the FBI over unlocking an iPhone look like a mild tiff.
Law enforcement agencies know that a system where they can get access to a suspect's messages on presentation of a judge's warrant to a telecoms provider is now broken. They may get the warrant - but WhatsApp will be able to shrug its shoulders and say we don't have a key. You may suspect that someone is sending obscene images of children or planning a terror attack, but we can't help you. The police and security agencies believe this makes their job a lot harder. Full story...
Related posts:
What that means is nobody - not the police, hackers, GCHQ, not even WhatsApp or its owner Facebook - can read the conversations between you and your contacts.
Given the sheer scale of the WhatsApp network this is obviously a major step forward for privacy, with a billion people around the world now secure from snooping. But prepare for a confrontation between WhatsApp and governments which will make the recent battle between Apple and the FBI over unlocking an iPhone look like a mild tiff.
Law enforcement agencies know that a system where they can get access to a suspect's messages on presentation of a judge's warrant to a telecoms provider is now broken. They may get the warrant - but WhatsApp will be able to shrug its shoulders and say we don't have a key. You may suspect that someone is sending obscene images of children or planning a terror attack, but we can't help you. The police and security agencies believe this makes their job a lot harder. Full story...
Related posts:
- Facebook's WhatsApp strengthens encryption for 1 billion users...
- Facebook, Google, and WhatsApp are all planning to increase encryption...
- John Oliver on Encryption (Apple vs The FBI)
- First they came for the iPhones...
- The power of privacy...
- Theresa May wants to see your internet history, so we thought it was only...
- Give us back our data...
- Coded, secret, encrypted technology, a boon for privacy: “going dark” and...
No comments:
Post a Comment