encrypted messaging reacts to their challenge – Explica

Accused of serving as channels of communication for the jihadists safe from the anti-terrorist services after the Paris attacks, the messaging on smartphone reacted Thursday to their implication. Some have decided to take action by blocking accounts linked to Daesh, others by restricting access to their applications, others by declaring that total surveillance is not a solution.

The most secure of them, Telegram, has announced block dozens of accounts linked to Daesh that would be used for extremist propaganda. More than 10 billion messages pass through it every day. The application owes its popularity to a very complex encryption system and secret conversations that are not stored on any server.

The company ensures that it will never transmit the personal data of its users to third parties. But she announced on the night of Wednesday to Thursday to have blocked 78 accounts linked to IS (Islamic State, Editors note) in 12 languages in this week alone. The application said it was preparing new procedures to allow users to report questionable public content to it.

For its part, the messaging service Silent Circle has indicated that it limits access to its mobile applications in order to make them more difficult to use for terrorists and criminals. The Swiss-based company, which has developed ultra-secure Blackphone smartphones and provides Silent Phone apps for totally private messaging, has announced that it will introduce more sophisticated payment technologies to reduce the likelihood that its apps will be used by EI.

Since IS has labeled us the strongest product, we will put in place responsible and morally acceptable procedures to make it difficult for bad technology to access our technology, said Mike Janke, co-founder of Silent Circle.

The Swiss company is developing a paid communication application with end-to-end encryption. It was recommended in a guide distributed by Daesh to the jihadists, which signals it as safe for its followers. But to those calling for more surveillance of encrypted communications, Threema responded on Thursday that even total surveillance could not stop the violence. We do not know how the intelligence services collect their information, but to rely only on total surveillance to resolve pressing social and political problems has never worked in the past and will not work in the future, said the spokesman. word of Threema.

Sacrificing some of the very foundations of our western democracies freedom, privacy and freedom of expression for a false sense of security does not seem like a smart thing, he added to politicians. who demand that encrypted messaging services have a back door, which would allow access to data to third parties. Threema operates within the limits of Swiss law and will cooperate with Swiss authorities if the law requires it. However, the possibilities are extremely limited since we have very little data and we do not have access to the decryption keys of our users, said the spokesperson.

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encrypted messaging reacts to their challenge - Explica