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WhatsApp moderators can read your messages if someone you talk to reports them

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Re: WhatsApp moderators can read your messages if someone you talk to reports them

#2
I thought WhatsApp is end to end encrypted, no?!

The article is written confusingly. It looked as if Facebook has private keys, and WhatsApp is not end to end encrypted.

But considering this:

>> Those contractors, which Facebook acknowledges, reportedly spend their days sifting through content that WhatsApp users and the service's own algorithms flag.

Does Facebook use automated tools and perform “Client-side Scanning” ?

That also defeats the purpose of end to end encryption.

Re: WhatsApp moderators can read your messages if someone you talk to reports them

#3
Beyond the headline, it does only...

> ...when a user reports abuse, unencrypted versions of the message are sent to WhatsApp's moderation contractors, ProPublica reports.

So in the end, it is possible to abuse this on to anyone and the messages can be sent to Facebook unencrypted.

Did WhatsApp (Facebook) disclose this anywhere? If not then, Oh dear.

Re: WhatsApp moderators can read your messages if someone you talk to reports them

#4
post #2

I thought WhatsApp is end to end encrypted, no?! The article is written confusingly. It looked as if Facebook has private keys, and WhatsApp is not end to end encrypted. But considering this: >> Those contractors, which Facebook acknowledges, reportedly spend their days sifting through content that WhatsApp users and the service's own algorithms flag. Does Facebook use automated tools and perform “Client-side Scannin…

Same here. I think so too. It was validated by OpenWhisper systems.

Re: WhatsApp moderators can read your messages if someone you talk to reports them

#5
so you can report a message thread to fb for abuse and then contractors check the messages to verify for said abuse.

how is this news? it's the equivalent of taking a screenshot of a whatsapp thread and reporting that, doesn't affect e2e encrpytion in any way.

Re: WhatsApp moderators can read your messages if someone you talk to reports them

#6
post #2

I thought WhatsApp is end to end encrypted, no?! The article is written confusingly. It looked as if Facebook has private keys, and WhatsApp is not end to end encrypted. But considering this: >> Those contractors, which Facebook acknowledges, reportedly spend their days sifting through content that WhatsApp users and the service's own algorithms flag. Does Facebook use automated tools and perform “Client-side Scannin…

Nothing stops it from sending the unencrypted version when someone reports a message they can read, it's just grabbing the plain text and sending to moderation.

Completely abusable... So E2E encryption doesn't really save us here.

Re: WhatsApp moderators can read your messages if someone you talk to reports them

#9
post #3

Beyond the headline, it does only... > ...when a user reports abuse, unencrypted versions of the message are sent to WhatsApp's moderation contractors, ProPublica reports. So in the end, it is possible to abuse this on to anyone and the messages can be sent to Facebook unencrypted. Did WhatsApp (Facebook) disclose this anywhere? If not then, Oh dear.

It's in their "Security and Privacy" FAQ, for one: https://faq.whatsapp.com/general/security-and-privacy/about-...

Re: WhatsApp moderators can read your messages if someone you talk to reports them

#10
What I find the most shocking about all this is that people believe Facebook when they said it was E2E. If you can't inspect for yourself the default assumption should be that they're lying.

I even recall recommending Signal to friends -- nope. We use WhatsApp it's E2E so even safer than Signal or Telegram that are deceitful as you have to use secret chat to get E2E! All these FB messenger advocates seem to have the same arguments and yet none of the knowledge about how it works and this ludicrous "trust" in FaceBook.

At least authoritarian regimes are distrustful of Telegram and Signal -- banning them.

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