Don’t fall for propaganda! WhatsApp is not going to must breach end-to-end-encryption to comply with the brand new IT tips

It’s the identical outdated tactic of bluffing round time and again by the identical set of individuals, particularly the left-leaning media-portals and their ‘journalists’; most likely as a result of they worry getting caught and prosecuted since many of the occasions they’re those discovered peddling fake-news and misinformation.
Surprisingly, even WhatsApp had tried to cover behind the identical narrative, citing baseless technical limitations beforehand, however had later yielded, by incorporating the ‘Forwarded labels’ and ‘Forward limits’ function, in an try and combat faux information, as was sought by the Govt.
The ‘privacy’ narrative is extra of a vile try and dilute the mandate of the brand new tips. It’s not inconceivable to search out the originator of a message regardless of encryption. It’s for certain a problem, however not unachievable.
So, do these claims have any sound foundation? Is it true that your privateness would get stripped off and India would then turn out to be a surveillance state?
Short reply – no.

So, what’s the truth? Let’s look at it with an instance. How is that WhatsApp is ready to distinctly establish messages as ‘forwarded-many-times’ (Double arrows) and ‘forwarded’ (Single Arrow) for its customers? How is it that the ‘forwarded-many-times’ messages can’t be forwarded to greater than 1 individual at a time; whereas the others could be forwarded to as much as 5 members without delay? How does WhatsApp distinguish between such messages and function upon them in a different way, for a consumer? Do they learn your messages? Are they breaking the End-to-End (E2E) encryption?
Nope. Broadly talking, the trick right here is Metadata. Metadata, in easy phrases, is information in regards to the information. Explaining in laymen phrases, metadata doesn’t include the precise message transmitted, however has the technical data in regards to the message being transmitted; like – headers, tokens, identifiers, timestamps, and so forth. Every message a consumer sends, has a novel identifier hooked up to it, which doesn’t learn the content material of the message however can be utilized to establish the message.
It’s primarily based on such metadata that the ‘forwards’ and ‘forwarded-many-times’ messages are recognized and are operated upon. And it’s on the identical strains even the originator of the message could be traced to.
In reality, WhatsApp’s white paper on it’s encryption and safety additionally explains the above mechanism intimately with the entire technical jargon.
WhatsApp already has entry to information like your Device particulars, cell quantity, contacts’ numbers, final energetic standing, profile pic, on-line standing, IP Addresses, Network/Connection Information, and so forth. More particulars on the identical is offered of their Privacy Policy.
A Screenshot from WhatsApp’s Privacy Policy In reality, prior to now, WhatsApp has additionally assisted the legislation enforcement companies, with the metadata they’ve entry to. One such case in an article quotes –
“..For instance, an immediate crackdown was ordered when policemen from a northern state recently approached WhatsApp about a group circulating child porn. Without access to any user data, Whatsapp used the profile picture, group name and the fact that most members had virtually no interaction outside the group to identify and block the users”Quote from an article stating as to how WhatsApp helped companies nab the culprits
With the above capabilities, metadata & associated data, WhatsApp like messaging apps can probably slender right down to the origin of a message & thereby establish the originator of that message, with out eliminating the E2E encryption. The integration of such a system will certainly want technical brainstorming & some associated modifications within the app, and subsequently it may be labelled as ‘challenging’ however not ‘impossible’.
There have been many research and studies that discredit the speculation that WhatsApp’s E2E encryption will must be tampered with, to be able to adjust to the measures required by the Govt.
Mr. Himanshu Gupta, who was related to Tencent’s WeChat app, revealed an in depth evaluation within the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) debunking the much-hyped claims of diluting the E2E encryption, for tracing the message origin & its originator.
Mr. NA Vijayashankar, a cyber-law & techno-legal info-security marketing consultant, categorically discredits the claims of WhatsApp in an article of his, in a outstanding Legal-News Portal.