This reads like a premature encryption death notice. Encryption isn't going away anytime soon. Ban encryption and you essentially ban using The Internet in any

This reads like a premature encryption death notice. Encryption isn't going away anytime soon. Ban encryption and you essentially ban using The Internet in any meaningful way. That said I don't trust Whatsapp to NOT read my messages since it's closed source, and there's no way of knowing if your messages are truly private & secure. GCHQ even proposed a 'ghost protocol'[0] so they can play Mallory in your comms. Infact I don't even trust the phone itself, since they /ship/ with Google/Apple-sponsored malware and phones are being hacked all the time. Messenger apps are strange because they all have different caveats to each, and I've tried them all. For example: Signal requires a phone number, which by design, can leak your 'meatspace' identity. Some people don't like that, so they use Matrix (which has its own caveats too). Personally, if the authorities go after messaging apps, it's not a big hit for me, since I don't use them heavily. I can see why businesses would take a hit since they want to protect business secrets, and protestors would take a hit & can't organize etc, but it won't affect me heavily. YMMV. [0] https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/07/06/gchq-j06.html https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/07/06/gchq-j06.html