Did you in recent days get a yellow pop-up on Whatsapp with the message “Messages you send to this chat and calls are now secured with end-to-end encryption”?
Have any idea what that message means?
If no then worry not because that’s exactly what I’ll be explaining in this article.
What that message means is that Whatsapp has enhanced the privacy of its messaging app in such a way to ensure that only the person or group chat you send a message to can read or understand your messages. According to blog post by the company explaining the feature “No one can see inside your messages. Not cybercriminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. Not even us. End-to-end encryption helps make communication via Whatsapp private-sort of like a face-to-face conversation,”
But maybe not, because someone can eaves drop on your ‘face-to-face conversation’. But that’s not the point now I know. grins
This recent announcement signals the completion of an integration which the company began in November 2014 by only encrypting text messages. That protection by this announcement has now been extended to all kinds of data sent via the platform including voice calls.
But although I should be happy that all the information I share –texts, images, calls and videos can’t be accessed by a third party, I can’t shake off the thought of how people with evil and malicious intentions (terrorists for instance), can also use the platform freely to plan and execute their evil plans.
There’s truly no easy answer to the on-going disagreement on privacy, encryption and security between tech companies, governments and people all over the world. Even I find myself struggling to decide how much of my privacy I’m willing to sacrifice if it’ll make it more difficult for the perpetrators of evil to use technology to advance their causes.