Twitter reportedly drops plan to encrypt direct messages

End-to-end encryption is widely considered the best defense against a surveillance dragnet, but the tech companies that many of us interact with on a daily basisFacebook, Google, Twitterhave been slow to offer protections for users. The Verge reported Wednesday that Twitter, which had reportedly planned to encrypt direct messages, has dropped the project to focus on more pressing matters.

Twitter's been working on improvements to direct messages, but encryption fell by the wayside.

It isnt that Twitter doesnt believe in encryption, according to The Verge. Its just that the 7-year-old micro-blogging site has a lot more to accomplish in the near-term: like satisfying shareholders, who are slightly concerned that Twitters growth has stagnated. As The Verge notes, Twitter has a reputation for bucking the establishment. It was one of the few tech companies that declined to participate in the National Security Agencys PRISM surveillance program, and regularly fights government requests for user data. Twitter may still roll out encryption for DMs when it's done simplifying its own product to entice new users.

But the news will come as a disappointment to security watchdogs pushing companies like Twitter, Facebook, and Google to step up their privacy protection efforts.

End-to-end encryption is one of those tech buzz phrases that the average Internet user hasnt pondered too deeply until recently, when it became clear that the NSA is digging into your email, chats, and social networking activities. Edward Snowden appeared at South by Southwest Interactive to encourage tech companies to employ end-to-end encryption for their users, but dont expect major security overhauls anytime soon.

Facebook, Yahoo, Google, and the like use SSL encryption, which is simpler to use than end-to-end but doesnt go as far to protect your information. When you send an email using Yahoo, for instance, the message is encrypted on your end but then decrypted on Yahoos server before being sent along to your intended recipient. End-to-end encryption means the message would remain encrypted on Yahoos server, too.

But end-to-end encryption software isnt easy to use, as the Washington Post broke down in the wake of Snowdens early revelations, and little headway has been made to simplify the process. Until the day comes when you dont have to exchange public keys, a secure means of identity verification, to chat with people, dont expect social networks to offer full message encryption.

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Twitter reportedly drops plan to encrypt direct messages