WhatsApp Turns on Encryption

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Cade Metz, writing for Wired, tells the inside story of WhatsApp turning on end-to-end encryption.

More than a billion people trade messages, make phone calls, send photos, and swap videos using the service. This means that only Facebook itself runs a larger self-contained communications network. And today, the enigmatic founders of WhatsApp, Brian Acton and Jan Koum, together with a high-minded coder and cryptographer who goes by the pseudonym Moxie Marlinspike, revealed that the company has added end-to-end encryption to every form of communication on its service.
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This is great news. I just hope that Facebook Messenger will follow next. I love using FBM but it does make me nervous how lax the security is for hackers.

 

Was just about to post this in the Technology forum haha.

But this is awesome, a huge step forward for privacy. They just gave the govt the biggest middle finger and I love all of it.

 

Is WhatsApp allowed in Middle Eastern countries?

 

This is about as unlikely as pigs flying.

I'm all for more encryption across the board but I know no one who uses WhatsApp.

 

For me not being too far removed from college, and now in grad school, I have a bunch of international friends and they all use WhatsApp, mainly to communicate with friends and family back home. For us Americans, there's almost no point in using it. I use it mainly to communicate with a friend of mine down in Argentina

 

I would argue that we have more reason to use it, especially with people who are on Android.

 

I wouldn't say it's too unlikely seeing as how Facebook owns WhatsApp. Plus knowing the trend of these things, unless WhatsApp gets incorporated into Facebook messenger, I don't see a giant shift to WhatsApp. Like you said, I don't know anyone who uses the application.

 

I am pretty out of the loop on encryption. I understand some of the general arguments for and against it. Is there are a good general overview to read that outlines each side that can bring me up to speed?

 

What it generally comes down to is privacy for the people vs. access for law enforcement. I tried to find some different sided arguments, so here you go!



Tim Cook: Encryption fight puts Apple in a 'bizarre position'

http://lifehacker.com/a-beginners-guide-to-encryption-what-it-is-and-how-to-1508196946

 

i don't know anyone with this app.

is it good?

 

what do you guys use if not WhatsApp? literally everyone with a smartphone down here uses it. i like it, but have never used any other similar apps.

 

imessenger or texting.

 

Where is "down here"? I know WhatsApp has a massive following and user base outside the US so if you're not in the US that's why it might seem more prevalent. For me (and I think most US based people) it's either iMesseage if you have an Apple device or just basic texting via cell signal.

 

Just to add-on, but also Twitter and FB messenger. In one-off cases, I have seen Instagram and Snapchat used. And for the daters out there, the Tinders, Matches, etc of the world. But iMessage or texting (depending on the phone) is what most people I know use.

 

True. I use Twitter/Twitter DMs for communication with a ton of overseas friends of mine.

 

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I think the overall usage of messaging apps is this:

1. United States - SMS, iMessage, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook Messenger
2. Europe - WhatsApp, SMS, iMessage, FaceBook Messenger
3. Australia - same as Europe
4. Asia - LINE and some other apps, some WhatsApp
5. Africa - WhatsApp

I could be completely wrong, though.

 

Something like 1/7th of the globe is on that app. It's massive.

Just not in the US.

 

Brazil, and i presume most of Latin America uses it too.

i'm reading up on iMessenger and it's basically the same, only just for Apple devices. is Android not a big thing in the US? i thought it was evenly split between it and iOS everywhere, as it is here. i know a ton of Iphone users and every one of them runs Wpp over iM. texting is basically extinct here because of the cost.

 

To be fair, their initial target market was all overseas so Im not surprised it caught on more over there rather than here. Smart business move anyway, it gave them massive success relatively quickly.

 

Okay that makes sense.

And as for the Android/Apple split here, idk who owns more of the market share among users. People tend to be strongly supportive of one or the other and most households will go all Android or all Apple for their phones and tablets and what not. For what it's worth, I know more people with Apple devices than Android.

 

Oh, I know, I'm just saying that it's a very, very popular app.

 

I knew of it and it's overseas usage, but I was floored to see it's numbers at 1 billion. I had no idea it was THAT popular.

 

i had heard of iM just because it's built in on iPhones, as being limited to one system seemed like a major flaw. then again, Wpp is tied to the phone number and i imagine that would be a huge turn-off to a lot of people, but it doesn't seem to hinder its popularity at all. guess it all comes down to which markets they originally focused on.