Messaging apps as private as a ‘postcard’
Communicating via smartphone and computer apps may not be as private as many people expect, Internetnz is warning.
Messaging apps have become popular as a cheap alternative to phoning or sending text messages.
But Internetnz said messages sent through many such apps could be read by service providers, their advertisers and others, which represented an ‘‘invasion of people’s privacy rights’’.
Jordan Carter, chief executive of the non-profit society, would not name any services about which it had concerns.
But Internetnz identified three popular messaging services which it believed were secure because of their use of encryption: Signal; Whatsapp; and ‘‘secret conversations’’ in Facebook Messenger.
Carter did not believe Internetnz had received any complaints from the public about less secure alternatives, but nearly three-quarters of Kiwis were concerned about the security of their personal data, according to the society’s own research.
This was a time of year when people tended to think about new services they could use, Carter said. ‘‘Privacy is a basic human right and we want to see people taking control and securing their personal conversations.’’
The commercial availability of increasingly strong encryption technologies has put internet businesses on a collision course with law enforcement and security services, whose job it can be to spy on private communications.
Reuters reported in November that Donald Trump’s US presidential election victory had alarmed tech companies and civil libertarians, who feared he would expand surveillance programmes and do battle over encryption.
It was not Internetnz’s goal to get involved in the debate about the trade-off between privacy and anti-terrorism, Carter said.
‘‘Our broad stance is people should use the access to encryption … to keep their messages safe and secure.’’
The society has produced a video which likens unencrypted messages to postcards that ‘‘anyone can read’’, and encrypted ones to letters sent in a sealed envelope.