Chinese Media Warn WeChat Admins: "You Can Be Arrested for Group Chat"

acchow wrote: post #3

chii wrote: post #2

This is why full end to end encryption is required.

How do you know someone in the group chat isn't a spy for the government?

How do you know the government does not already have the root cert anyway

Re: Chinese Media Warn WeChat Admins: "You Can Be Arrested for Group Chat"

#5

Post by young_unixer » Fri, May 03, 2019, 2:23 AM UTC

chii wrote: post #2

This is why full end to end encryption is required.

See xkcd 538: https://xkcd.com/538/

Re: Chinese Media Warn WeChat Admins: "You Can Be Arrested for Group Chat"

#6

Post by StudentStuff » Fri, May 03, 2019, 2:24 AM UTC

acchow wrote: post #3

chii wrote: post #2

This is why full end to end encryption is required.

How do you know someone in the group chat isn't a spy for the government?

You don't know that a group is free of spies, but a group is less likely to have a spy than the current setup whereby pervasive, omnipresent surveillance is facilitated by WeChat, leading to people needlessly imprisoned and tortured for the thoughtcrime of others.

Re: Chinese Media Warn WeChat Admins: "You Can Be Arrested for Group Chat"

#7

Post by TaylorAlexander » Fri, May 03, 2019, 2:28 AM UTC

wangchungtonite wrote: post #4

acchow wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know someone in the group chat isn't a spy for the government?

How do you know the government does not already have the root cert anyway

I hope some day we have RISCV phones where you can swap processors and all software is auditable.

Re: Chinese Media Warn WeChat Admins: "You Can Be Arrested for Group Chat"

#8

Post by chj » Fri, May 03, 2019, 2:31 AM UTC

acchow wrote: post #3

chii wrote: post #2

This is why full end to end encryption is required.

How do you know someone in the group chat isn't a spy for the government?

In that case you need to pay those spies, while at this moment you just run a database query.

Re: Chinese Media Warn WeChat Admins: "You Can Be Arrested for Group Chat"

#9

Post by schuke » Fri, May 03, 2019, 2:41 AM UTC

acchow wrote: post #3

chii wrote: post #2

This is why full end to end encryption is required.

How do you know someone in the group chat isn't a spy for the government?

WeChat groups are designed to be private (as opposed to being public, not necessarily to protect privacy). To join one you normally have to know either the admin or a member of the group. A QR code for public access is available but it's forced to expire in seven days. So for a regular sized group of a few dozen people, it's relatively easy to spot a stranger.

Re: Chinese Media Warn WeChat Admins: "You Can Be Arrested for Group Chat"

#10

Post by MR4D » Fri, May 03, 2019, 2:42 AM UTC

chii wrote: post #2

This is why full end to end encryption is required.

I think that’s naive. China can just arrest you for using encryption.

Same result.

(This isn’t limited to China - the US could have similar results with slightly differing laws)