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Meta Shuts Down End-to-End Encryption for Instagram Messaging

pcmag.com

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Re: Meta Shuts Down End-to-End Encryption for Instagram Messaging

#81

Post by ryandrake »

It's too bad we fell so hard for centralization. In an alternate universe, messaging on the Internet could have been:

1. Alice's device has a publicly routable IP address with a domain name like alice.home.her.isp

2. Bob's device is has same qualities, using: bob.mobile.his.isp

Then Alice can just open her chat app up, add bob@bob.mobile.his.isp and off they go. I mean we had UNIX's "talk" for how long but instead of evolving/securing/fixing it, we blew it! And now we have all these companies 1. coming up with their own incompatible protocols and 2. inserting their stupid centralized servers as intermediaries. And now every chat message we send over the Internet has to be received and re-sent through a handful of amoral corporations.

Re: Meta Shuts Down End-to-End Encryption for Instagram Messaging

#82

Post by SlinkyOnStairs »

milderworkacc wrote: post #3

I'm not sure if this meets the bar for substantive and thoughtful discussion, but this kind of corporate cowardice, enforced by unelected bureaucrats standing at the bully pulpit is only going to get worse as the noose tightens on the open web. The combination of hardware attestation and walled garden "app stores" is the end goal of most policymakers in this area, and it happens to suit the monopolists in Google and…

It's not just "the death of the open web".

These decisions are made whilst America is falling to fascism. Meta may not intend for the abolition of E2E encryption to make fascist crackdown on free speech easier, but that is the reality of what abolishing E2E encryption does.

DHS is already subpoenaing tech companies for the information about users who criticize ICE. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/technology/dhs-anti-ice-s...

The "walled garden" isn't even that big a concern anymore. The gestapo reading every single digital communication you have and showing up to harass, threaten, or simply disappear you into a camp if the infraction is severe enough. That is what's at stake here.

Re: Meta Shuts Down End-to-End Encryption for Instagram Messaging

#83

Post by tardedmeme »

danparsonson wrote: post #70
tardedmeme wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you log in to the app on one phone and then in a web browser should you still be able to see your messages in the web browser?

Sorry do you mean, that's how it works now, or, that's how you think it should work? Are you talking about Instagram or WA or something else? edit: misread your message; if you have two sessions active at the same time, then yes I would expect both sessions to receive the same messages.

What if you log into the app and then log out of the app and then log into the app again? Should you be able to see your messages?

E2EE is a fail-secure design. In case of any doubt it deletes your private messages. When applied to this case I don't think the downside of constantly losing all your messages outweighs the upside of Facebook pretending they don't have a copy of all of them.

Re: Meta Shuts Down End-to-End Encryption for Instagram Messaging

#84

Post by qmr »

esafak wrote: post #75
dwedge wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Android was originally enticing because of iOS locking everything down and controlling the ecosystem

Android was designed to prevent Windows from dominating mobile: I literally helped create Android to prevent Microsoft from controlling the phone the way they did the PC - stifling innovation. So it's always funny for me to hear Gates whine about losing mobile to Android. — Rich Miner ( https://x.com/richminer/status/1879004092602982765 )

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Re: Meta Shuts Down End-to-End Encryption for Instagram Messaging

#85

Post by arealaccount »

rustyhancock wrote: post #64
arealaccount wrote: post #60

So don’t use Meta products if you care about privacy?

I think people feel this is the begining of the end. Meta is part of the reason Signals E2EE spread and E2EE became ubiquitous in general. Many governments have also turned against E2EE and I suspect it's gone from a shield where you can say we can't really help you get that data, to a constant pressure.

Yea fine I see that, but their entire business model revolves around exposing people’s otherwise private lives, and they are making a lot of money doing so.

It’s like using a web browser distributed by a an ad company whose business model is all about tracking folks

Re: Meta Shuts Down End-to-End Encryption for Instagram Messaging

#86

Post by bramhaag »

thephyber wrote: post #76
bramhaag wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple's response to the UK gov asking to see users' iCloud data says enough about where their priorities lie [1]. They do something far worse in China [2]. Don't fool yourself into believing Apple cares about your privacy. They care about money. [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgj54eq4vejo [2] https://www.reuters.com/article/technology/apple-moves-to-st...

Your links say that Apple complies with the laws of major countries. Which companies don’t do that?

Signal is one example. Their values are simply not compatible with what the Chinese government wants (local data storage, key access, etc.). Instead of complying and putting their users' privacy at risk, they accepted the ban.

Google, out of all companies, also decided to partially walk away from the Chinese market in 2010 over censorship concerns [1].

Nobody is forcing Apple to do business in China, or the UK. They actively choose to do so, and because of that also put themselves in a position where they have to comply with these laws, presumably because it makes them more money.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/technology/23google.html

Re: Meta Shuts Down End-to-End Encryption for Instagram Messaging

#87

Post by transcriptase »

bramhaag wrote: post #30
dyauspitr wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Privacy is the reason I’m still on team Apple.

Apple's response to the UK gov asking to see users' iCloud data says enough about where their priorities lie [1]. They do something far worse in China [2]. Don't fool yourself into believing Apple cares about your privacy. They care about money. [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgj54eq4vejo [2] https://www.reuters.com/article/technology/apple-moves-to-st...

The UK public can still vote for governments that don’t demand backdoors into citizens’ private data. Instead, over the past century they’ve turned their country into an ineffectual nanny state of shrinking global relevance, while a fading aristocratic and old money class desperately cling to influence over a population that no longer cares about the old titles and prestige of having attended some ‘old boys’ boarding school nobody outside of GB has ever heard of.

Re: Meta Shuts Down End-to-End Encryption for Instagram Messaging

#88

Post by Tagbert »

linkregister wrote: post #49
stego-tech wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. The fact they're shoving AI into it and expanding it to providers who don't have privacy as a guiding principle is a key reason I'm sitting on a 14 Pro still, and why I'm exploring local alternatives with Home Assistant. Besides, we just need to set verbal timers and control music. We don't need a full-blown verbal Oracle.

By disabling Apple "Intelligence" you bypass the risk of your prompts going to OpenAI.

What is your concern about prompts to go OpenAI? Apple has a contract with OpenAI that explicitly prevents them from logging, storing, training, or making any use of your prompts other than to satisfy the specific current request. Apple has some good lawyers and I’m sure that the teeth are prominent in that contract.

Re: Meta Shuts Down End-to-End Encryption for Instagram Messaging

#89

Post by desecratedbody »

overfeed wrote: post #80
iamtedd wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can tell you don't actually know what goes on on a dairy farm.

If you charitable (like you should be), then a reasonable assumption is that they probably know what happens on a dairy farm, and that's actually their point.

[dead]

Re: Meta Shuts Down End-to-End Encryption for Instagram Messaging

#90

Post by silisili »

ardit33 wrote: post #48

I worked at Instagram during this (not at the EeE, but saw enough of it, to see that it was a mess). I think the reason for dropping it, is more of a technical issue and user experience, rather than a 'desire' issue or company will. From my understanding, Zuck wanted this. The implementation was a mess, and folks have different expectations about messages to appear at every platform. Having messages disappear between…

I don't know all the details because I'm not a cryptologist, but Wire messenger seemed to have solved this in a way that wasn't annoying. I haven't used it since they pivoted, so can't speak much to its implementation, but I remember it working seamlessly across devices.
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