Ahead of an upcoming Senate Encryption Hearing, Facebook officials sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr saying the social media giant would not provide law enforcement with access to its services. encrypted mail products. In the letter, written by WhatsApp leader Will Cathcart and messenger Stan Chudnovsky, the executives explained that by creating backdoor access to Facebook products for law enforcement, they would also give cybercriminals and other bad actors a way into their systems, saying, "The backdoor access you demand for law enforcement would be a gift to criminals, hackers, and repressive regimes, allowing them to break into our systems and make every single person on our platforms be more vulnerable." to real life damage. People's private messages would be less secure, and the real winners would be those who would try to take advantage of this weakened security. This is not something we are ready to do. "
End-to-end encryption
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced earlier this year that the company would provide end-to-end encryption to Messenger and WhatsApp to make both apps "faster, simpler, more private and more secure." However, in October, the Justice Department raised concerns about the company's encryption plans, suggesting they would benefit criminals such as sex traffickers and pedophiles. Barr insisted that law enforcement should have access to corporate systems to investigate these serious crimes, saying: "Businesses should not deliberately design their systems to prevent any form of access to content, including to prevent or investigate the most serious crimes." serious." The letter from Facebook leaders was sent in response to the Barr investigation in October, and it came just before a Senate hearing on encryption. At this hearing, Chairman Lindsey Graham said that while she appreciated that cybercriminals couldn't hack her smartphone, she still believed that encrypted devices and messaging apps were a "safe haven" for criminals. Facebook's chief privacy officer, Jay Sullivan, argued that US companies must lead in secure and encrypted messaging or foreign companies take over. If this happens, it would make it even more difficult for US law enforcement officials to access these services to conduct investigations. The war on encryption continues and expect this topic to be widely debated as governments try to protect their citizens from criminals and other threats while continuing to deprive their privacy online.- We also highlight the best VPN services