You’ll recall that I posted a story about Whatsapp implementing end to end encryption in the popular messaging app. I also had this to say:
It’s a safe bet that with this move some government (likely the US one) is going to go to Facebook to get some info and there is going to be an Apple vs. FBI type fight. I’m calling it now.
Well, the fight looks like it may be about to begin as the FBI has popped up to say this:
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.”
Speaking during an event hosted by the International Association of Privacy Professionals, the FBI’s top attorney said the increasing use of such encryption threatens the reach of law enforcement investigations.
“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?”
I’d say that the public isn’t doing “nothing.” Instead, they via the methods of communication that they use are choosing privacy over letting a government have the ability to snoop at will. I think that’s called freedom. Something that the US apparently is in favor of. Or at least I thought they were. Now I do get that law enforcement might have reasons to get info to investigate something or stop something from happening. But bashing the encrypting of communications and devices I believe is not helpful.