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[h2]The long-standing request by the government in the name of ensuring the security of the country does, however, trample upon the basic idea of privacy of users that is the core pillar of the WhatsApp promise.[/h2][p][br][p]
[br][p][br][p]Even with the 2019 Lok Sabha elections firmly in the rearview mirror, instant messaging platform WhatsApp is leaving no stone unturned to ensure it does not become part of the machinery that helps propagate fake news or is used to carry out crimes. [p]The company is still running its media campaigns to educate users on the perils of sharing unverified content on the platform and is even reported to be working on new features to curb the spread of news. However, this appears to not be enough for the Indian government of India which is pushing the platform to dilute its core promise of privacy by asking it to share with it a master key that can encrypt any chat or give it backdoor entry to any chat window on the end-to-end encrypted messaging platform. [p][br][p]The long-standing request seemingly made in the name of ensuring the security of the country does, however, trample upon the basic idea of privacy of users that is the core pillar of the WhatsApp promise. But even this has left the two parties facing an impasse, the government now has made another request that on the surface may look like a compromise, but in reality, is still as difficult for WhatsApp to comply with.[center][div id="div_native_ad_439260" p-=""][div id="google_ads_iframe_/72913078/TimesNow_Mweb/timesnow_mweb_ros/TimesNow_Mweb_ROS_CUN/TNOW_Mweb_ROS_Native_CUN_1x1_0__container__"][iframe id="google_ads_iframe_/72913078/TimesNow_Mweb/timesnow_mweb_ros/TimesNow_Mweb_ROS_CUN/TNOW_Mweb_ROS_Native_CUN_1x1_0" title="3rd party ad content" name="google_ads_iframe_/72913078/TimesNow_Mweb/timesnow_mweb_ros/TimesNow_Mweb_ROS_CUN/TNOW_Mweb_ROS_Native_CUN_1x1_0" width="1" height="1" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0" srcdoc=""][/iframe][/div][/div][/center][div id="show_article_439260"][p]As per a report published by the [em]Economic Times[/em], the government has asked the messaging platform to find a way to digitally fingerprint every message sent on its platform without breaking its encryption. As per two unnamed senior government officials, this move will ensure traceability of all content shared on the WhatsApp. [p][br][p]The government officials maintain that the idea here is to not read the messages but to keep a track of where a particular message has originated from and the chain of people it has been through. Speaking to the Economic Times, the officials explained:[p]"Fingerprinting WhatsApp messages will help find the originator of the message. That is all we want... We don’t want to read the messages but when we see a problematic message we should be able to go to WhatsApp to help us trace the sender... They have to find a way, it is technically possible." [p]While the new request has reportedly been made by the government, the problem remains that WhatsApp and the current security standards it follows does not allow it to fingerprint messages. As the messaging platform has explained in the past, it uses end-to-end encryption to protect the privacy of its users. [p][br][p]The particular technology ensures that any data relating to a message -- text, image or video -- can only be accessed by the sender and recipient of the message and as such, there is no scope for traceability. Instead of a fingerprint, WhatsApp has maintained it can only provide the law enforcement agencies with metadata of a chat.[p]Unless of course, it decides to do a U-turn and dilute its current security standards -- something that looks highly unlikely to happen as that would set a precedent for foreign governments also to force WhatsApp into a corner. [p]So it appears this impasse between the government and Facebook-owned messaging platform will remain for now. [p][br][p]Source : timesnownews.Com[/div] |
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发表于 2019-06-19 20:57:59
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