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Facebook, WhatsApp Will Have to Share Messages With U.K.?

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Re: Facebook, WhatsApp Will Have to Share Messages With U.K.?

#162

If the source code isn't available for audit by 3rd parties (or yourself), and you can't build it from source, then it was never really "secure" anyway. What lawmakers do or don't say is just noise. Platforms that rely on trust (in this case, trusting that FB isn't doing bad things) provide very weak guarantees about privacy/security. They could easily include a keylogger in WhatsApp and bypass the e2e encryption, fo…

It's entirely possible to analyze the compiled program. And it's actively done…

Re: Facebook, WhatsApp Will Have to Share Messages With U.K.?

#163

Off the topic, how much can we trust the keyboard we are typing on (on mobile). They probably collect everything we type. Wow !! Just realized that.

As Gboard used to demonstrate:

> Share snippets: Automatically share snippets of what and how you type in Google apps to improve Gboard [enabled by default]

Re: Facebook, WhatsApp Will Have to Share Messages With U.K.?

#164
I am weirdly.. giddy about this development. The more goverments try so hard to publicly force companies to, effectively, mandate backdoors, the more public will be aware of it. Added benefit is that FB will lose some market share.

The sucky part is.. my mom loves Whatsapp. She was able to use it wo any issues. There are few alternatives that she was able to use so easily.

All that said, I wonder. What is the breaking point for people surveillance-wise? I was so wrong a lot about the tolerance already..

Re: Facebook, WhatsApp Will Have to Share Messages With U.K.?

#165

Here is what is most frightening. So let's say this law passes BUT someone builds a really good open-source messenger. You can't install it now because you can't side-load apps on devices. You alpha geeks can but the other consumers can't. What we need is a law requiring some type of side loading. It needs to be possible to go to a website, and install an app there directly and have it support all of the native platf…

But it is. I installed F-Droid by visiting a website, so it's definitely possible.

Maybe you're talking about Apple specifically? Afaik, there's no way to do that on iOS (though I read a related article about it recently, I think it was here), so if you want that, petition Apple. There's no law preventing it given that Android devices can do it, so it's just an Apple policy, and you can always install apps through XCode if you want to.

Re: Facebook, WhatsApp Will Have to Share Messages With U.K.?

#166
post #69
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Signal may or may not be ok at the moment, but not in a couple of years (it has all the power to silently push an update with a backdoor). Among all the popular messaging apps only Telegram is in a position to not cooperate with five eyes.

Sure, but the Signal source code is open source. I've been compiling it myself for years on Android (and signing the binary with my own key). They can't silently push a binary from the Play Store and overwrite my binary.

Presumably, for most of us here, even if we compiled it ourselves, most of the people we'll communicate with won't.

Re: Facebook, WhatsApp Will Have to Share Messages With U.K.?

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

although you anonymously purchase the oyster card, you can be de-anonymized the moment you scan the card, as face recognition links you with that card.

What happens if you cover your face while you scan?

You might be forced to identify yourself:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/facial-recogniti...

Re: Facebook, WhatsApp Will Have to Share Messages With U.K.?

#168

I am weirdly.. giddy about this development. The more goverments try so hard to publicly force companies to, effectively, mandate backdoors, the more public will be aware of it. Added benefit is that FB will lose some market share. The sucky part is.. my mom loves Whatsapp. She was able to use it wo any issues. There are few alternatives that she was able to use so easily. All that said, I wonder. What is the breakin…

[deleted]

Re: Facebook, WhatsApp Will Have to Share Messages With U.K.?

#169

from whatsapps official homepage, respectively ( https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/android/28030015 , https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/general/26000050 ) >WhatsApp has no ability to see the content of messages or listen to calls on WhatsApp. That’s because the encryption and decryption of messages sent on WhatsApp occurs entirely on your device. Before a message ever leaves your device, it's secured with a cryptographic lock, a…

Whatsapp is under the obligation to comply with lawful intercept regulation wherever they operate, just the same as any other communications platform out there. and no, Whatsapp is not some 'small indie company that just happens to not have been noticed'.

Pretending and using obfuscated language to lead the reader to believe otherwise is disingenuous.

Re: Facebook, WhatsApp Will Have to Share Messages With U.K.?

#170

If the source code isn't available for audit by 3rd parties (or yourself), and you can't build it from source, then it was never really "secure" anyway. What lawmakers do or don't say is just noise. Platforms that rely on trust (in this case, trusting that FB isn't doing bad things) provide very weak guarantees about privacy/security. They could easily include a keylogger in WhatsApp and bypass the e2e encryption, fo…

I agree with this, but I think the main problem is the centralization of trust, or the user having to place trust in one or two entities.

Imagine if 10 or 20 different organizations all had access to the source code and could vouch for the checskum of a each build.

While it would be nice if we could trust FB, Apple, etc., it would be much better if we didn't have to, and could simply trust others who have less to lose from alienating government officials.

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