Meta Starts Testing End-to-End Encryption for Messenger
Meta has begun testing end-to-end encryption for a limited number of Messenger users, according to Engadget. It will be available in the chats that these users use the most.
Meta is also testing secure storage for encrypted chats, which gives users access to their conversation history when they lose their phone or on a new device.
The company resorted to such a step after it faced a negative reaction from users to the transmission of messages to the Nebraska Police Department.
This helped bring charges against the teenager and her mother for allegedly performing an illegal abortion. A Norfolk police detective in June asked Facebook for “profile contact information, wall posts and a list of friends with Facebook IDs” of the teen’s mother. Law enforcement officers also sent a request for all her photographs and private messages.
The amount of user data ultimately shared with Facebook is unknown, but private messages between women discussing how to get abortion pills have been turned over to the police.
To avoid unexpected problems, Facebook messenger users must agree to end-to-end encryption of their messages (E2E), a mechanism that theoretically allows only the sender and recipient to access the content of the message.
Facebook spokesman Alex Dzezan said on Thursday that E2E encryption is a tricky feature to implement and that the test is limited to a few hundred users so far so the company can make sure the system is working properly.
