Last month, both WhatsApp and Viber made end-to-end encryption the default for their mass amount of users. Unlike WhatsApp, Viber is not a US based company, so it will not be subject to US laws. More than anything, Viber is the first example of the futility of legislation encryption.
Fifteen months ago Viber began working on its end-to-end encryption for information being passed from person to person, regardless of platform. This is huge step for privacy and security, because even the admins of the company are unable to see the data being passed between users. Obviously, Viber's users won't have the total encryption until the next update, and even then not every user will actually upgrade their application, but it is a step in the right direction.
Viber's bold move emerged just after Apple's security fight with the FBI and the tech world has begun adopting encryption at a faster rate than ever before. A large factor that has encouraged these encryption trends is the sheer popularity of messaging applications in our day to day lives. Shimlov says, "It's not necessarily a marketing feature, we did it because it's a standard we need to meet. Users share a lot private data between them, and we want to make sure it's secure."
More and more resources and political power are being tossed at encryption right now and any legislation could have crippling repercussions for companies like Apple, but nothing for Viber. Ultimately, Viber's adoption of end-to-end encryption proves that secure encryption on a large scale is possible, and legislation is not.
http://www.wired.com/2016/04/viber-encrytpion/
How is this related to Ed Snowden?
Snowden fled the US after leaking media details on the US government monitoring internet and phone records on a global scale. To be more specific, Snowden leaked information on the US hacking Chinese networks, bugging EU offices, monitoring the phones of world leaders, spying on Latin America, and collecting and storing SMS messages across the globe. Just three years after the media leak from Snowden, companies like Viber and WhatsApp are taking steps in making sure their user are secure from any external threat.
Opinion:
These notions really leave a bad taste in your mouth about how "trustworthy" the US government really is. In the article mentioned above, WhatsApp and Viber, two widely popular messaging apps, have begun the new trend in protecting their users from government monitoring. This directly relates to Snowden's whistleblowing scandal because as technology becomes more immersed in our daily lives and society is more aware of how powerful the government truly is, users need a guarantee that their private data is protected.
My question is how long will it take for more tech companies, foreign and domestic, to adopt the end-to-end encryption, which ensures enhanced security of their users private information?
Very good discussion of interesting trend for some software companies. We shall see how much it catches on, thought doubt our ISPs will stop collecting our data no matter what these apps do. How do we encrypt our phones from their prying eyes?
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