US pushes Facebook for access to WhatsApp messages

The US Department of Justice has asked Facebook to delay its plans to implement end-to-end encryption across all its messaging services. Facebook announced in March that it was enhancing privacy on its platforms. The company is also consolidating messaging in its Messenger, Whatsapp, and Instagram services with end-to-end encryption. In an open letter to the company, Attorney General William Barr states that the DOJ is concerned that Facebook’s encryption would be harmful to the investigation and prosecution of offenders of crimes like terrorism, extortion, and the sexual exploitation of children. The New York Times reported on Wednesday that the number of reports of child sexual abuse material on Messenger reached nearly 12 million in 2018.

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US attorney general William Barr says Americans should accept security risks of encryption backdoors
U.S. attorney general William Barr has said consumers should accept the risks that encryption backdoors pose to their personal cybersecurity to ensure law enforcement can access encrypted communications.

Barr says that the DOJ acknowledges the importance of strong encryption for services like banking, commerce and the protection of users’ privacy, but reiterates that security improvements to the virtual world “should not make us more vulnerable in the physical world”.

“We must find a way to balance the need to secure data with public safety and the need for law enforcement to access the information they need to safeguard the public, investigate crimes and prevent future criminal activity,” Barr states.

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US attorney general says encryption creates security risk
Gail Kent, Facebook’s global public policy lead on security, recently said that allowing the government’s ability to gain access to encrypted communications would jeopardize cybersecurity for millions of law-abiding people who rely on it.

The DOJ asked that Facebook allow law enforcement agencies to access the required content in a lawful manner.

US pushes Facebook for access to WhatsApp messages

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