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.
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/—
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The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
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