Last updated on October 7th, 2022 at 09:58 am
WhatsApp, the world’s largest mobile messaging service, has been making a few major changes recently. Among other details, the service is now completely free with rumours of a video calling feature in the pipeline.
For now, WhatsApp may be introducing end-to-end encryption alerts to make conversations more private and secure for customers. WhatsApp already use encryption software by default but this new update, a more secure version of the encryption software, will allow users to actively see when their messages and calls are being encrypted.
With end-to-end encryption, WhatsApp telephone calls and messages are protected by preventing third parties reading any private data. Users will have the option to turn on or off encryption alerts, in the same way you can turn on or off your ‘last seen’ timestamp, meaning that concerned users can choose whether or not to message those who don’t have end-to-end encryption enabled.
Purchased by Facebook in 2015 for $19 billion, WhatsApp have also promised to entirely scrap annual subscription fees for all global users. On top of that, it has also been revealed that they will not be selling any advertising space to third party companies.
Instead, according to a recent official blogpost, WhatsApp are exploring new capacities of communication to improve andexpand upon. This includes messaging local or international companies and organisations instead of calling up a traditional helpline; for example, messaging your bank regarding a transaction or an airline regarding an upcoming flight.
The new encryption updates could come with some controversy with David Cameron threatening to ban apps such as WhatsApp and Snapchat for its default encryption software under new counter-terrorism surveillance plans.
Should end-to-end encryption be a given?
Privacy groups are notably outraged at the possibly of the government banning end-to-end encryption arguing that private messaging is part of our human rights. However, it’s important to note that the security services must have a warrant before reading any encrypted messages; the issue Mr Cameron has is that even with a warrant security services struggle to access the data.
Whether end-to-end encryption should be a default feature in all our messaging services is still up for debate, however, with so many messaging platforms available, a lot of us still remain unaware of how secure or unsecure our data is.