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Good point. Much as I despise Meta, I have to admit I have been pleasantly surprised by their hardline stance in defending WhatsApp's e2e encryption.

i_am_jl 3y ago
>I have to admit I have been pleasantly surprised by their hardline stance in defending WhatsApp's e2e encryption. I appreciate their stance as well, but I don't think it should be surprising. There's a real cost to updating WhatsApp to meet those requirements, and I think Meta's belief is that MPs will cave instead of taking the heat for banning WhatsApp.
globular-toast 3y ago
Me too but after talking to my MP about it I do wonder how much of it is because they (Meta) fundamentally support privacy and everything that comes with that or if it's just a convenient way to deny having any responsibility towards safety on their platforms. It's possible to be right, but for the wrong reasons. I'd like to think it's for the right reasons, but I'm not sure. If users really cared about privacy they'd use open source software instead of WhatsApp anyway. I doubt the removal or compromised e2e encryption would make much of a dent in user numbers. One thing I've come to realise is most people want privacy for themselves, but not for others.
- dchftcs 3y ago
  Well you could play the devil's advocate the same way. Is the UK government really caring about the children or do they just want more convenient power. If the citizens really cared about the future of their children they would not have elected a government that is a stinking pile of poop. One thing you should also have come to realise is that most politicians want surveillance power for themselves, but not for others.
  - ben_w 3y ago
    > If the citizens really cared about the future of their children they would not have elected a government that is a stinking pile of poop As always, I find myself unsure how many actively voted for the Eton Mess vs how many voted to keep out Socialist Santaclaus and his Singing Elves. Both have been (de facto) kicked out of their respective parties since the last election, which says something about the terrible state of UK politics.
    - denton-scratch 3y ago
      > Both have been (de facto) kicked out of their respective parties since the last election I thought that by "Eton Mess", you meant to include Rishi Sunak and David Cameron. The former is the leader of the Tories, and I'm not aware that Csameron is (de facto) no longer a Tory. What did you mean?
      - ben_w 3y ago
        Boris Johnson, specifically, as their leader in the previous election. I mean, look at him, guy's a literal and metaphorical mess.
  - Slava_Propanei 3y ago
    > Is the UK government really caring about the children or do they just want more convenient power I think the UK government’s blind eye toward well-known and acknowledged instances of organized child molestation shows they don’t care. About that.
  - dragonwriter 3y ago
    > If the citizens really cared about the future of their children they would not have elected a government that is a stinking pile of poop. FPTP makes it more likely than with other democratic election methods that all your choices are different varieties of stinking pile of poop.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  > I do wonder how much of it is because they (Meta) fundamentally support privacy Meta and the like absolutely do not fundamentally support privacy. Their entire business model depends on users not having privacy. But Meta and the like does support privacy protections from entities that aren't them.

i_am_jl 3y ago

>I have to admit I have been pleasantly surprised by their hardline stance in defending WhatsApp's e2e encryption. I appreciate their stance as well, but I don't think it should be surprising. There's a real cost to updating WhatsApp to meet those requirements, and I think Meta's belief is that MPs will cave instead of taking the heat for banning WhatsApp.

globular-toast 3y ago

Me too but after talking to my MP about it I do wonder how much of it is because they (Meta) fundamentally support privacy and everything that comes with that or if it's just a convenient way to deny having any responsibility towards safety on their platforms. It's possible to be right, but for the wrong reasons. I'd like to think it's for the right reasons, but I'm not sure. If users really cared about privacy they'd use open source software instead of WhatsApp anyway. I doubt the removal or compromised e2e encryption would make much of a dent in user numbers. One thing I've come to realise is most people want privacy for themselves, but not for others.

dchftcs 3y ago
Well you could play the devil's advocate the same way. Is the UK government really caring about the children or do they just want more convenient power. If the citizens really cared about the future of their children they would not have elected a government that is a stinking pile of poop. One thing you should also have come to realise is that most politicians want surveillance power for themselves, but not for others.
- ben_w 3y ago
  > If the citizens really cared about the future of their children they would not have elected a government that is a stinking pile of poop As always, I find myself unsure how many actively voted for the Eton Mess vs how many voted to keep out Socialist Santaclaus and his Singing Elves. Both have been (de facto) kicked out of their respective parties since the last election, which says something about the terrible state of UK politics.
  - denton-scratch 3y ago
    > Both have been (de facto) kicked out of their respective parties since the last election I thought that by "Eton Mess", you meant to include Rishi Sunak and David Cameron. The former is the leader of the Tories, and I'm not aware that Csameron is (de facto) no longer a Tory. What did you mean?
    - ben_w 3y ago
      Boris Johnson, specifically, as their leader in the previous election. I mean, look at him, guy's a literal and metaphorical mess.
- Slava_Propanei 3y ago
  > Is the UK government really caring about the children or do they just want more convenient power I think the UK government’s blind eye toward well-known and acknowledged instances of organized child molestation shows they don’t care. About that.
- dragonwriter 3y ago
  > If the citizens really cared about the future of their children they would not have elected a government that is a stinking pile of poop. FPTP makes it more likely than with other democratic election methods that all your choices are different varieties of stinking pile of poop.
JohnFen 3y ago
> I do wonder how much of it is because they (Meta) fundamentally support privacy Meta and the like absolutely do not fundamentally support privacy. Their entire business model depends on users not having privacy. But Meta and the like does support privacy protections from entities that aren't them.