New Delhi:
Signal, the safe messaging service swiftly emerging as an option to WhatsApp, “absolutely scores over” the Facebook-owned platform in the battle to make sure the privacy of user information, co-founder Brian Acton told on Tuesday.
Mr Acton, who helped develop each items, stated that apart from attributes like ‘disappearing messages’ (which WhatsApp also gives) Signal has total encryption – this consists of metadata, which is information that aids servers determine, amongst other factors, the spot, time and date of messages.
In other words, if your messages get hacked, the hacker only sees garbled alpha-numeric strings. WhatsApp as well gives encryption but, for now, also tracks some information, such as IP addresses.
“I think where Signal absolutely scores above WhatsApp is in the privacy category. You see it in the ‘privacy label’ of the app… you see it in how we build the product. We have privacy features like ‘disappearing messages’ (and also) everything is encrypted, including your metadata,” he stated.
“I think it comes through pretty easily that it is privacy first (for Signal) and that is why people are (saying) – ‘should I use Signal or should I use WhatsApp or something else,” he added.
Concerns more than information privacy – in no way far from the surface – have been red-flagged after more in current weeks, with WhatsApp (now owned by Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook, which is facing its personal concerns more than information privacy) revising its policies to say information will be shared with its parent corporation.
WhatsApp has issued a statement on this matter, clarifying that this will not impact privacy of information. Nevertheless, the debate has triggered concern in India, with WhatsApp customers contemplating what was previously unthinkable – leaving the platform.
“… (it is) a slippery slope, you know. What data do I collect… what do I not… and then people are completely surprised, ‘oh… when I opted in I didn’t realise I was giving you this information…’. So if you start from a position of not having any information (about the user) you’re automatically protecting people’s privacy,” Mr Acton explained.
Concerns have also been raised more than the sharing of encrypted information with authorities, especially because Delhi Police final year flagged two situations of violent goons organising themselves on WhatsApp – the attack on students and teachers in JNU and clashes more than the citizenship law.
WhatsApp says it is “prepared to carefully review, validate and respond to law enforcement requests based on applicable law and policy”.
Signal, whose encryption presents authorities with a challenge when monitoring social media and messaging platforms for criminals or criminal activity, is firmer on this subject, with Mr Acton acknowledging that when law enforcement is vital, it is also vital “to protect citizens from things like abuse of power”.
The app is also thinking about, Mr Acton stated, adding an further layer of privacy by linking accounts to user IDs rather than telephone numbers. “… they give you another layer of privacy… is one of the features most frequently requested… so we will see if we build it”.