[kictanet] 1 Billion People will Encrypt by default, thanks to WhatsApp & Open Whispers

[Mose Karanja]

Liz, sure it has and it is interesting to see business models increasingly finding value in respect for privacy. On government and security - or idea of security - WhatsApp may retain some metadata like timestamp of delivered messages and numbers involved but the content of the conversation is fully encrypted that even they cannot access. This should be enough for law enforcement.
Much as government policy is core to these conversations, I think citizens should increasingly find a way to demand for their privacy. Corporates like WhatsApp in this case will always be limited in fighting for this cause and remember not all companies are pro-privacy.

> On Apr 6, 2016, at 1:45 AM, Liz Orembo <lizorembo at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Moses,
> 
> Seems like the Apple vs the FBI case has triggered actions from the tech industry. My thinking is that this may not play well in some countries and governments will be tempted to come up with some of these weird policies to force citizens to give out info.
> 
> 
> On Tue, Apr 5, 2016 at 8:23 PM, Mose Karanja via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke <mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
> Hello listers,
> 
> As some may have learnt, WhatsApp has taken privacy to a whole new level today for over a billion people by integrating Open Whispers’s Signal end-to-end protocol to their platform.
> 
> It will be a default for all WhatsApp users (upon updating to the latest version) across all clients. This includes chats, group chats, attachments, voice notes, and voice calls across Android, iPhone, Windows Phone, Nokia S40, Nokia S60, Blackberry, and BB10.
> 
> Secure end-to-end encryption has been a preserve of a very small ‘cult’ of techies an early early adopters of privacy apps. Their usability has been a major hurdle on mass adoption.
> 
> What this WhatsApp e2e integration does is to package privacy, usability and mass adoption in one update. As of Feb 1, WhatsApp had 1 Billion users <https://blog.whatsapp.com/616/One-billion>.
> 
> It surely will draw questions from law enforcement agencies that will most likely claim their capacity to pursue criminals or terrorists in a fully encrypted mass communication channel. What we often forget though in most of these discussions is that privacy is the older brother of security. When fundamentally people are assured of their privacy, they can fully be who they truly are. e-Commerce is powered by strong encryption standards and this affords trust to an individual using his credit card online to buy from a stranger online. Security and trust are founded on privacy, and law enforcements should be on the frontline to fight for it.
> 
> Be that as it may, this is a big moment for privacy on the Internet.
> 
> For more info on this, most channels are running this story but this is a good place to start: https://www.whatsapp.com/security/ <https://www.whatsapp.com/security/>
> —
> ---
> Moses Karanja | @Mose_Karanja <https://twitter.com/Mose_Karanja> | PGP: 0x1529552F <https://pgp.mit.edu/pks/lookup?op=index&fingerprint=on&search=0x1529552F>
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> --
> 
> Best regards.
> Liz.
> 
> PGP ID: 0x1F3488BF

---
Moses Karanja | @Mose_Karanja <https://twitter.com/Mose_Karanja> | PGP: 0x1529552F <https://pgp.mit.edu/pks/lookup?op=index&fingerprint=on&search=0x1529552F>




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