#Install messenger update
#Install messenger driver

The benefit of using end-to-end encrypted services is that data can be kept safe even in the event of the inevitable data breach because the service provider itself does not have the ability to decrypt user data. Enough said.Īccording to uber-secure Proton Mail, “the best way to protect data is to not have access to it at all. Meanwhile, WhatsApp says that it “built end-to-end encryption into our app your messages, photos, videos, voice messages, documents, and calls from falling into the wrong hands.” WhatsApp is owned by Facebook. But right now, only its limited “secret conversations” offers any such security.

Even if you tell Facebook not to track your collection, the data giant finds a workaround.įacebook has in the past warned users or the risks when messages are not end-to-end encrypted. Let’s spell this out-if you use a Facebook platform, if your data is traversing Facebook’s servers without an end-to-end security wrapper, then that data can be monitored, mined, collected. This month, the staggering extent of Facebook’s data harvesting machine was laid bare by Apple’s new privacy warnings. “People should be able to send medical information, private financial or payment details, and other sensitive content with the confidence it will not fall into the hands of identity thieves or others with malicious intent.”īut Facebook’s hands, it seems, are fine-at least until those security protocols are added to keep your private information, well, private.“Facebook is committed to making such private communications broadly available,” Sullivan told lawmakers. “People should be able to communicate securely and privately with friends and loved ones without anyone-including Facebook-listening to or monitoring their conversations,” assured Facebook product manager Jay Sullivan.

#Install messenger driver

Against that backdrop it is not likely to accelerate its plans for Messenger, provoking more of a lawmaker backlash, especially when its ownership and integration of WhatsApp-the driver behind encrypting Messenger-is potentially at risk.Įarlier this year, before the latest legal escalation, Facebook told me that it remains “very committed to making Messenger end-to-end encrypted by default,” and that any delay “is consistent with what we’ve said since the launch-that it’s going to take time and we’re committed to doing this right.” But a lot has happened since then. Facebook has become the biggest defender of such security, somewhat ironically. government and key allies, which argue that it provides a hiding place for serious criminals, sex offenders and terrorists. įacebook knows that expanding end-to-end encryption has become a major provocation to the U.S.

But you can fix these by changing some of the settings. And, yes, there are weakness is how WhatsApp is set-up be default. Yes, Facebook’s moves to commercialize the app are irritating, but they don’t compromise its fundamental security. Messenger and Instagram have now been integrated, to an extent, but WhatsApp is different. The idea being that all Facebook’s messaging technologies would become interoperable, expanding the user base and, clearly, the opportunities to mine all that metadata and monetize all those eyeballs. When Facebook first announced that Messenger would become end-to-end encrypted by default, it was part of that plan to integrate the back-end platforms underpinning Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp.

#Install messenger update

But any such update was already delayed, with no launch date in site, and that just got much worse. End-to-end encryption would stop those behaviors dead in their tracks. Facebook has said that “privacy is at the heart of Messenger,” but it has also admitted to “ spying ” on user content to enforce its rules and even downloading private files.