Surprise revolution at WhatsApp. From now on, all chats and phone calls made via the instant messaging system are automatically encrypted, so as to be unreadable in any interceptions. From this night, the billion users of the platform controlled by the social network Facebook see a communication appearing in the first chat that they happen to open announcing the novelty: “The messages you send in this chat and the calls are now protected with end-end encryption. to-end”.
In the official blog, the co-founders and top managers of WhatsApp Brian Acton and Jan Couton explain that the initiative is aimed at reassuring against possible intrusions by criminals. “The idea is simple – they write – when you send a message, the only person who can read it is the one in the chat or the group of people to whom it was sent. No cybercriminals. No hackers. No oppressive regime. Not even ourselves. Ent-to-end encryption makes communicating via WhatsApp similar to face-to-face."
In reality, the timing of the initiative seems more aimed at reassuring users from possible intrusions and interceptions by the authorities, given the proximity of the clash between the FBI and Apple over the decryption of data on an iPhone that belonged to a terrorist. Couton, the CEO, says he takes privacy “a personal matter. I grew up in the Soviet Union, during the communist regime, and the fact that people couldn't communicate freely is one of the reasons that prompted my family to emigrate to the USA”.
However, the two entrepreneurial programmers avoid taking a head-on stance when they state that they "recognize the important job of law enforcement in keeping people safe." However, they add, "drives to weaken encryption risk exposing people's information to abuse by cybercriminals, hackers and rogue states."
