Allowing the Rest of the World to Speak Directly to Americans Promoting Peace, Diplomacy and Cross-Cultural Understanding.
Edward Snowden, who has
grabbed the attention of the American people
and the world, is now a
primary shaper of the intelligence reform agenda.
Will Facebook, Google, and Twitter Heed Snowden's Call on Encryption?
(Netzwertig , Germany)
"The biggest drawback from the point of view of the Internet
companies is likely commercial in nature: Almost all the major players make
their money with advertising, which presupposes that users are as transparent
as possible. If online companies are no longer able to evaluate user communications
data on their servers to create user profiles, the quality of marketing will
suffer. In other words: end-to-end encryption obstructs the business models of
Facebook, Google, and Co. ... It is also conceivable that the government and
intelligence services pressure these companies not to make viewing user data too
difficult."
By Martin Weigert
Translated By
Stephanie Martin
March 12, 2014
Germany
- Netzwertig - Original Article (German)
Encrypting
transmitted data to prevent it from being viewed by anyone other than the
sender and recipient is one of the best remedies for surveillance. However,
dominant Internet companies like Google and Facebook have thus far been
reluctant to introduce it.
One
of the most practice ways of implementing a counterbalance to mass surveillance
in the digital space is end-to-end encryption. That was one of the messages of
yesterday's live streaming conference with whistleblower Edward Snowden at the
South-by-Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas. With this type of cryptography,
which encrypts data on end devices rather than servers - thereby preventing
third parties from viewing the information during transmission - widespread,
unwarranted surveillance would become much more difficult and expensive for the
intelligence agencies.
A
year ago, only a limited number of users were familiar with this encryption
process. In recent months, however, smart phone messaging apps installed on the
devices have ensured that end-to-end encryption has received a measure of media
attention. Services like Threema , TextSecure ,
or Telegram (to a degree) encrypt messages in such a way that they can only be
read by mobile phone users or their messaging partners. Not even [mobile phone]
service providers are privy to the content of such chats between users.
Snowden's
plea for the encrypted transmission of communications data as an antidote to
excessive government surveillance brings up the question of when the big
players in the Internet business will implement end-to-end encryption.
Internet giants
forgo end-to-end encryption
Despite
numerous initiatives and progress made by the leading Internet firms in
reaction to the espionage activities of the NSA and their fellow intelligence services
- activities that have undermined the integrity of the Internet companies themselves
- complete encryption of data remains unavailable for a majority of popular Web
applications. Whether it's Facebook's chat function,
Twitter direct messaging, Google's Hangout video chats, or WhatsApp
and Skype - encryption measures are based in their respective servers, and the
service providers themselves hold the data encryption keys. This means on one
hand, that data can be more easily intercepted on its way to the user. In
addition, they are accessible to anyone with access to server-side data
decryption keys - in any event, to the corresponding Web company.
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There
are many reasons that the most popular social networks have hesitated on the
introduction of end-to-end encryption. Apart from the technical challenges and costs,
encryption measures would negatively impact the ease-of-use of these applications.
However, the biggest drawback from the point of view of the Internet companies is
likely commercial in nature: Almost all the major players make their money with
advertising, which presupposes that users are as transparent as possible. If
online companies are no longer able to evaluate user communications data on
their servers to create user profiles, the quality of marketing will suffer. In
other words: end-to-end encryption obstructs the business models of Facebook,
Google, and Co. It is also conceivable that the government and intelligence services
pressure these companies not to make viewing user data too difficult, so from
their point of view, they are not hindered in their important work of
surveillance.
Posted By
Worldmeets.US
Even
WhatsApp , in spite of a monetization strategy that so
far does not rely on analyzing its users, has yet to show any interest in
end-to-end encryption. It is conceivable that the startup hoped to boost its
chances of being bought - which worked out quite well. During a brief e-mail
exchange in December, when I asked Neeraj Arora of WhatsApp why the
application doesn't offer "client-side encryption," he responded with
a single line, a counter question: "What made me think client-side
encryption didn't already exist?" I should probably blame myself for his
evasive response, since I didn't mention end-to-end encryption. I wasn't able
to get any more from him on the subject, which is why it remains unclear why WhatsApp makes so many compromises when it comes to the
issue of security.
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This is Edward Snowden's only TV interview since arriving in Russia,
with German public TV. Snowden discusses how intelligence officials
are intent on killing him, how allied intelligence services cooperate to
circumvent laws that limit their capacity to spy on their own citizens,
and asserts that NSA steals trade secrets when it is considered in
the 'national interest' as opposed to the 'national security interest.'
Inexpicably unavailable in the United States or on YouTube, you can
download it at this link: DOWNLOAD HERE .
But
yesterday's statements by Edward Snowden before an assembled tech audience, as
well as the initial popularity of encrypted smart phone messaging systems, are raising
the pressure on the Internet giants to improve the security standards for
private communications between users. One hopes that the markets feel compelled
to address the growing demand for more encryption. It doesn't whether Facebook,
Google, or Twitter stockholders approve. By the way, a few months ago, Twitter
at least announced that it was considering introducing encryption for its
private messaging.
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Posted By Worldmeets.US Mar. 12,
2014, 4:43pm
