News Social Media Platforms Will Be Forced to Hand Over Encrypted Messages:

                    In a new agreement between social media platforms , Facebook and WhatsApp, and the British police, they will now be forced to hand over encrypted messages of anyone who may be suspected of a serious crime. A crime could included but may not be limited to, suspected terrorism, sexual exploitation of minors, extortion, etc. 

         This is apart of a new accord between the US and UK, according to multiple outlets. The accord is expected to be signed next month. A major problem with the nature of this agreement, besides the obvious, is that some industry leaders, like Mark Zuckerberg, are opposing this new agreement, stating that there regardless of the nature of one's business on the web, we all have and deserve the right to our privacy. 

         Onto the obvious problem at hand, is that the platforms will be forced to hand over "encrypted messages"; unless the federal agents can be placed directly into a chat where a person of interest is talking, being able to actually read the encrypted messages would be impossible. So, hence, a very similar idea was presented. 

         The article reads as thus: 

         "Last November, UK intelligence agency GCHQ suggested an approach in which service providers would “silently add a law enforcement participant to a group chat or call,” without notifying the other participants. “You end up with everything still being end-to-end encrypted, but there’s an extra ‘end’ on this particular communication,” the scheme outlined.
But in May, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and WhatsApp pushed back against the proposal to add a “ghost” user, claiming “it would introduce potential unintentional vulnerabilities, and increase risks that communications systems could be abused or misused.”
Facebook, for its part, has been repeatedly railing against the idea of building backdoors, stating it would fundamentally undermine the privacy of its users.
Although technology companies should rightfully assist intelligence agencies with specific investigations, compelling them to install backdoors to allow access to encrypted communications — as a solution to what’s widely known as the Going Dark problem — is akin to locking your doors and leaving the keys under the doormat.
It not only weakens the existing security infrastructure, but also puts the privacy and safety of millions of law-abiding citizens at risk."


                            

          It is unknown as how the public will view this new accord once it is signed, or if authorities will be responsible in how they operate once these new rules are put in place. Or, even if the companies will actually listen.

           Original article can be found here.

           That was the news folks, have a good week, and stay safe out there.


           ---Mad-Architect