US-British treaty compels Facebook to decrypt Messenger and WhatsApp talks

Facebook will provide British and US authorities with encrypted user conversations in cases of terrorism and sexual assault


As Facebook seeks to exploit the encryption feature of the conversations it has provided in its applications to restore user confidence, a new New York Times report spoke of a treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom that will force Facebook to decrypt conversations in Messenger and WhatsApp, and the agreement also includes subjecting some other social networking applications.

According to the source of the news, the agreement will be signed in October between the United States and the British authorities, under which they will be provided with information chats and messages for specific groups of users.

This means mainly or confined to particular groups, namely, suspects and those involved in terrorist acts, as well as sexual and child abuse.

The agreement comes as a result of constant pressure from the British authorities over the past four years to subject Facebook to its demands in this regard, where it sees a successful way to combat terrorism, abuse and sexual harassment.

It is apparent that the agreement to decrypt the user conversations in WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger between the parties and provide them with the security authorities; will be limited to only critical and serious cases that threaten the lives and freedoms of individuals, which means that the process of decryption will not include all users in the country.

Nor will cooperation between the two countries regarding the exchange of user data be absolute. Under the treaty, neither will be able to investigate cases of citizens of the other country, and British companies will not provide US authorities with information if the death penalty is an option against the accused user.

Privacy in the wind

It can be said here that the privacy of the user will be the same as always in Facebook in the wind, there is no clear standard of security and the user is always threatened to leak information, either to the authorities or to hackers who may exploit holes in the system to access their data.

While some see this as good progress in the best interest of fighting terrorism and sexual harassment, breaking a cryptographic system in one place may increase the pace of government requests for Facebook to make similar agreements that will not be rewarded for users, especially in conflict zones.