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I feel like this shouldn't surprise me, but I had a lot more faith than was probably warranted in the guys behind WhatsApp. Part of it was I was so impressed w

by tristor 10y ago

I feel like this shouldn't surprise me, but I had a lot more faith than was probably warranted in the guys behind WhatsApp. Part of it was I was so impressed with their backend tech, I just felt these were people like me that had similar cares and concerns that I do, including security, privacy, and performance. So when they implemented the Signal protocol, it was like a sign that I really had been right to trust them. This is a sad day, because BILLIONS of people use WhatsApp. I wish I could get everyone to convert to Signal, but as I travel around the world WhatsApp is the most used way to communicate with people. Just today I added two additional local contacts to my WhatsApp so I could communicate here with them. I wish I had a clearer understanding of the incentives here. Is this pure government strong-arm style coercion with NSLs, or is this intentional malfeasance on the part of executive management hoping to data mine for their own profits? Is it an innocent mistake? The technical talent was there to do this right, and they flubbed it anyway. WhatsApp implementing the Signal protocol was one of our great hopes for having legitimate worldwide secure communications in the hands of everyone in the coming decade. Now it's all lost... :*(

nickpsecurity 10y ago
"Is this pure government strong-arm style coercion with NSLs, or is this intentional malfeasance on the part of executive management hoping to data mine for their own profits?" Facebook is a surveillance company that sells profiles and/or data to 3rd parties for money. They own WhatsApp. That gives us a probable answer. Far as general case, the Core Secrets leaks indicate they both bribe companies & the FBI "compels" those that resist to "SIGINT-enable" the systems under "FISA" authority. The Yahoo case also indicated they fine companies enough to put them out of business. So, they can fine companies or possibly jail their executives if they don't put the backdoor in. It's also always secret with likely excuses that it's classified matter of national security, part of ongoing investigations, etc.

by tristor 10y ago

nickpsecurity 10y ago

"Is this pure government strong-arm style coercion with NSLs, or is this intentional malfeasance on the part of executive management hoping to data mine for their own profits?" Facebook is a surveillance company that sells profiles and/or data to 3rd parties for money. They own WhatsApp. That gives us a probable answer. Far as general case, the Core Secrets leaks indicate they both bribe companies & the FBI "compels" those that resist to "SIGINT-enable" the systems under "FISA" authority. The Yahoo case also indicated they fine companies enough to put them out of business. So, they can fine companies or possibly jail their executives if they don't put the backdoor in. It's also always secret with likely excuses that it's classified matter of national security, part of ongoing investigations, etc.