Written by Jessies Ma
Have you find out something different in WhatsApp message saying, “Messages you send to this chat and calls are now secured with end-to-end encryption. Tap for more info.” I was surprised and shocked at the beginning because I thought my phone was hacked. In fact, WhatsApp has turned on an ‘end-to-end encryption’ on 5 April for 1 billion users across all smartphones operating system.
Well, What is end-to-end encryption? It is a method of secure communication that prevents third-parties from accessing data while it’s transferred from one end system or device to another. That means nobody but the sender and receiver can read the messages. The police, hackers, even WhatsApp or its owner Facebook cannot read the messages.
It doesn’t change our way of messaging but influential to the law enforcement from the government authorities to request Whatsapp to access the content, if requested by warrant or court order. After imposing this new security system, WhatsApp cannot decrypt the message and would avoid repeating the battle of the FBI with Apple.
Following Apple, encryption seems to becoming a huge trend. I wonder whether it will bring us more harm than good. It’s undeniable that full encryption is safer than it used to be especially when we cannot live without internet nowadays. Data leakage is threatening everyone and meanwhile it is wide spreading globally.
I support imposing encryption of WhatsApp messaging, however, I am worried that people would utilize this security to do illegal things. Just like the battle of Apple with FBI, to investigate the conversation of terrorists for terror attacks.
When asked about reports that terrorists used WhatsApp to plan the attacks on Paris. The CEO and co-founder of WhatsApp, Jan Koum doesn’t budge. He said, “I think this is politicians, in some ways, using these terrible acts to advance their agendas,” he added, “If the White House thinks that Twitter can solve their ISIS problem, they’ve got (a lot of problems).”
Big data is as valuable as crude oil. The commercial and government want to collect our data to achieve their purposes. So I believe, security, privacy and confidentiality are the vital issues on the internet and shall prevail.
