Brazil’s WhatsApp Ban Is a Harbinger of International Encryption Battles
In February, Facebook revealed that its messaging service WhatsApp had one billion users. On Monday it suddenly shed 100 million of them when a judge in Brazil shut the service down for 72 hours after the company’s use of encryption irked investigators in a narcotics case. WhatsApp has intentionally upgraded its encryption so that it will be incapable of reading users’ messages.
Facebook is fighting the ruling, something it did successfully in December when another case led to a 48-hour ban. But even if the social network wins, it and other tech companies will probably face more resistance to their use of encryption in Brazil and other countries outside the U.S.
Although Apple said one reason it recently resisted FBI demands that it help unlock an iPhone was to avoid setting a precedent with international repercussions, governments around the world appear willing to try to force tech companies to weaken or limit their encryption. Many countries appear even less receptive than the United States to claims that encryption should be protected.
A draft U.K. law includes provisions that appear to allow government demands for companies to weaken or break their encryption, for example. China passed an anti-terrorism law last year that requires technology companies to provide assistance to investigators, including decryption. And while a proposed U.S. Senate bill that would limit encryption looks dead in the water, it may well be followed by new bills with similar aims.

Keep Reading
Most Popular

Toronto wants to kill the smart city forever
The city wants to get right what Sidewalk Labs got so wrong.

Chinese gamers are using a Steam wallpaper app to get porn past the censors
Wallpaper Engine has become a haven for ingenious Chinese users who use it to smuggle adult content as desktop wallpaper. But how long can it last?

Yann LeCun has a bold new vision for the future of AI
One of the godfathers of deep learning pulls together old ideas to sketch out a fresh path for AI, but raises as many questions as he answers.

The US military wants to understand the most important software on Earth
Open-source code runs on every computer on the planet—and keeps America’s critical infrastructure going. DARPA is worried about how well it can be trusted
Stay connected

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.