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Comment by nabla9 | Hacker News Reader

Nowhere in the article is backdoor mentioned. Only sharing data that is encrypted.

US an UK governments can't just force FB to add backdoor. It would require new legislation. FB must play ball for that to happen.

Since WhatsApp has forward secrecy and end-to-end encryption, giving access to encrypted data is not easy to use. There might be some useful metadata that helps though.

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There's also value in storing and archiving encrypted data because at some point in the future technology may enable them to decrypt it. Certain communications could prove quite valuable, even if old.

Having a large base of encrypted messages to work from is essentially a prerequisite for pattern analysis related attacks and finding weaknesses.

Agree. The title of this post is dangerously deceptive and should be changed. The linked source does not claim or substantiate any backdoor.

>"will be forced to share users’ encrypted messages with British police"

So far, all the article is saying is that ciphertext will have to be shared. Anything about decrypted messages is speculation at this point.

(It would be very bad if a backdoor will be forced.)

There is absolutely zero ways for WhatsApp and other to comply unless there is a back door. If the Senate votes on this treaty then it has the exact effect of legislation.

Treaty would not include backdoor.

It would be just access to encrypted messages. Unless the law enforcement has access to the phone used to send the message, encrypted messages are useless.

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