Encrypted messengers are very popular. Besides being practical, it allows you to communicate without fear of prying eyes, conversations are encrypted. This poses a problem for some countries. For example, the Five Eyes Alliance requires the addition of a backdoor in these applications.
The Five Eyes Alliance is an alliance of the American, Canadian, British, Australian and New Zealand intelligence services that sometimes pools their resources. They want a backdoor added to encrypted apps that will allow them. access to private conversations if necessary. Indian and Japanese intelligence services joined the request. It is true that these messaging services are always favored by malicious people. For example, the Russian service Telegram was one of the communication tools preferred by DAESH members.
Privacy is at stake
On paper, the idea may seem coherent, especially for the fight against terrorism. However, adding a backdoor raises questions. Since the Snowden case in 2013, the issue of protecting privacy has been paramount for such apps. Will users continue to use it if they are not sure that their conversation can’t be read by a third party?
Relevant companies are also required to agree to create a backdoor on their application, and cannot be won. Many rely on security at all costs. For example, during the 2016 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, Apple refused to give authorities access to the suspect’s iPhone, not wanting to set a precedent. Not long after, authorities finally cracked the phone, but Apple never bowed.
Therefore, there is a chance that the request of the Five Eyes Association will be invalid. Telegram or WhatsApp bet a lot about privacy. To ask them to abandon this argument would be to strip away any interest in their service.
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