Slashdot Mirror
Top FBI Attorney Worried About WhatsApp Encryption (usnews.com)
An anonymous reader shares an article on USNews:WhatsApp on Tuesday announced that all types of messages on the latest version of its app are now automatically protected by end-to-end encryption, and the FBI's top attorney is worried some of the platform's more than 1 billion global users will take advantage of the move to hide their crime- or terrorism-related communications. FBI General Counsel James Baker said in Washington on Tuesday that the decision by the Facebook-owned messaging platform to encrypt its global offerings "presents us with a significant problem" because criminals and terrorists could "get ideas." "If the public does nothing, encryption like that will continue to roll out," he said. "It has public safety costs. Folks have to understand that, and figure out how they are going to deal with that. Do they want the public to bear those costs? Do they want the victims of terrorism to bear those costs?"Maybe the government shouldn't have imposed so many surveillance programs on its citizens -- and kept quiet about it for years -- that they now feel the need to use sophisticated security technologies.
FBI: If the public does nothing, encryption like that will continue to roll out.
Public: Ok.
If the public does nothing, encryption like that will continue to roll out
Finally for once the power of the uncaring and slack public will actually result in something good.
Yes, of course freedom always has costs. It has the cost of not devolving into a police state dictatorship.
FBI: Encryption is bad for us.
Hackers: We know, here's all your data
FBI: Well, shit.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure