Mark Zuckerberg Says Facebook Will Shift To Emphasize Encrypted Ephemeral Messages (theverge.com)

Facebook will increasingly shift its focus away from public posts to encrypted, ephemeral communications on its trio of messaging apps, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said today in a significant new blog post. From a report: In a 3,200-word missive, Zuckerberg says that encryption will be one of the keys to Facebook's future -- and that the company is willing to be banned in countries that refuse to let it operate as a result. "As I think about the future of the internet, I believe a privacy-focused communications platform will become even more important than today's open platforms," Zuckerberg writes. "Today we already see that private messaging, ephemeral stories, and small groups are by far the fastest growing areas of online communication." [...] "I believe the future of communication will increasingly shift to private, encrypted services where people can be confident what they say to each other stays secure and their messages and content won't stick around forever," Zuckerberg says. "This is the future I hope we will help bring about."

Comments

Does Facebook scan conversations?

[SkOink]

I've always assumed that Facebook reads all messages to improve its ad targeting. If so, isn't that fundamentally incompatible with the concept of encrypted messages? Or do they just mean 'encrypted to and from Facebook.'

Re:Does Facebook scan conversations?

[Lab Rat Jason]

Notice the article didn't say "end to end" encryption. Just ephemeral... and even then, it's only ephemeral to you and the recipient... not the middle man.

Re:Does Facebook scan conversations?

[Anonymous Coward]

They record every keystroke. Even what you type and delete is kept for eternity.

Re:Does Facebook scan conversations?

[Rick Schumann]

Yeah that's exactly what I was thinking: encrypted to Facebook, who unencrypts it, scans it, re-encrypts it, and sends it to the actual recipient.
You're nuts to use Zuckerbook for anything at all anymore.

Uh Hunh.....

[Zorro]

FB has already proven they will do ANYTHING for a Dolllar. Nothing willl change they will just hide it better.

Re:Paid Services

[Anonymous Coward]

Signal is still free.... And still encrypted.

So, Mr. "Dumb Fucks" is suddenly...

[geekmux]

...concerned about privacy?

That's almost as funny as trying to convince us to believe him.

Lots of weaselly language

[bagofbeans]

Have confidence, expect... weasel words:

...people can be confident what they say to each other stays secure

Private interactions. People should have ... confidence that no one else can access what they share.

People should expect that we will do everything we can...

People should expect that we won't store sensitive data in countries with weak...

People expect their private communications to be secure

And finally, the money quote:

We have a responsibility to work with law enforcement and to help prevent these wherever we can.

Not so, Mr Z. FB is not an arm of law enforcement. FB has a responsibility to respond to judicial warrants only.

Re:Yeah right

[Z80a]

It will happen, but mostly because this way, only facebook will be able to decrypt the data, and that will fetch a premium value on it with the data brokers.

Ephemeral = cheaper operations

[omnichad]

Ephemeral is cool, quirky, and fun. That is, it just saves money on storage in massive datacenters. Meanwhile, I don't want any service where I can't control how long I keep *my* data.

Idea!

[duke_cheetah2003]

Encrypt ALL of Facebook, every page, every picture, every word. And lose the key. This would be a great improvement to the site.

ephemeral + camera = bullshit

[gweihir]

Nobody ever has found any good way to implement ephemeral messaging. Facebook will do no better. You can always do screenshots. However the push for encryption and refusal to be present in countries that ban or backdoor it would be finally one good thing out of Facebook. That is if they mean it.