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Facebook makes calls confidential on Messenger

2021-08-13T21:15:39.041Z


The option to encrypt audio and video calls will now be available on online messaging. Yes, that was not yet the case. The social network Facebook announces this Friday the addition of an option to encrypt audio and video calls on Messenger. A way to improve its image with its users following a wave of scandals linked to data leaks. It is also a new element to strengthen the security of messaging, while in the United States a debate rages on the border between the right to confident


Yes, that was not yet the case.

The social network Facebook announces this Friday the addition of an option to encrypt audio and video calls on Messenger.

A way to improve its image with its users following a wave of scandals linked to data leaks.

It is also a new element to strengthen the security of messaging, while in the United States a debate rages on the border between the right to confidentiality and the imperatives of public security, linked in particular to pedophilia.

Messenger users will now be able to choose "end-to-end" encryption, from one device to another, for their telephone exchanges.

"This means that no one, not even Facebook, can see or listen to what is sent or said," said the California group in a statement.

This was already the case on WhatsApp, the messaging system acquired by Facebook, as well as other popular applications like Apple's Zoom, Signal, or FaceTime.

Fight against pedophilia at the expense of confidentiality?

Yet many governments are against it.

They reject this extra layer of security, in the name of the fight against pedophilia or terrorism.

They would like the platforms to integrate "back doors" into their software, so that the justice system in their country can recover messages and photos essential to criminal investigations.

To the general surprise of the technology sector, Apple has just made concessions in this direction, while the iPhone manufacturer has built a reputation as a paragon of privacy.

Last week, the group unveiled new tools designed to better spot sexual images involving children, on its iCloud server and on iMessage messaging for children's accounts linked to a family subscription.

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These new options were very badly received.

"Apple is replacing its end-to-end encrypted messaging system with a surveillance and censorship infrastructure, which will be vulnerable to abuse and abuse not only in the United States, but around the world," said Greg Nojeim, for example, of the Center for Democracy and Technology, in a message sent to AFP.

"It is clear that there has been a lot of confusion around our messages," admitted Craig Federighi, director of software at Apple, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Friday. It ensures that the new algorithms do not make the system less secure or confidential. Unlike other remote server services, Apple "wanted to be able to locate photos (of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) in the cloud, without having to look at people's photos."

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2021-08-13

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