WhatsApp：為護(hù)隱私 自斷后路

WhatsApp：為護(hù)隱私 自斷后路

如今，WhatsApp甚至采取比蘋果更極端的立場(chǎng)——蘋果還能說愿不愿意提交用戶數(shù)據(jù)，WhatsApp則是即使愿意，也無法提交了，它斷絕了所有后路?！拔ㄒ荒茏x取這條信息的人是作為這條信息收件人的人或者群。沒有人能看到這條信息。網(wǎng)絡(luò)犯罪分子不能……專制政權(quán)不能。甚至我們也不能?！?

測(cè)試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識(shí)：

snoop 調(diào)查，窺探[snu?p]

cyber 網(wǎng)絡(luò)的，計(jì)算機(jī)的['sa?b?]

prominent 顯著的；杰出的['pr?m?n?nt]

hamper 妨礙；束縛['h?mp?]

surveillance 監(jiān)督；監(jiān)視[s?'vel?ns]

閱讀即將開始，建議您計(jì)算一下閱讀整篇文章所用時(shí)間，并對(duì)照我們?cè)谖恼伦詈蠼o出的參考值來估算您的閱讀速度。

WhatsApp extends encryption to 1bn users（554words）

By Hannah Kuchler in San Francisco

* * *

WhatsApp has joined Apple in defying the US government’s efforts to gain access to mobile phone users’ private messages by rolling out tough encryption protections that will prevent law enforcement agencies from snooping on its more than one billion users.

The Facebook-owned chat app expanded its end-to-end encryption just weeks after Apple narrowly avoided a legal showdown with the FBI over access to the iPhone owned by one of the shooters in the San Bernardino terrorist attack that killed 14 people.

Like the iPhone’s messaging software, WhatsApp will now hold no keys to users’ private communication — whether it is one-on-one or group messages, photos or calls — and so cannot grant law enforcement access even if they have a warrant.

Law enforcement agencies have warned that increasingly sophisticated encryption on digital communications could hinder their ability to track terrorists and criminals. Tech groups argue that weakening encryption would make it easier for cyber criminals to attack their customers, at a time of a growing number of cyber attacks.

Jan Koum, WhatsApp co-founder, said that protecting private communication was a core value at WhatsApp, partly because of his own experience growing up in the Soviet Union.

“The idea is simple: when you send a message, the only person who can read it is the person or group chat that you send that message to. No one can see inside that message. Not cybercriminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. Not even us,” he wrote in a blog post.

WhatsApp began to roll out end-to-end encryption in 2014 but until now it had not covered all devices and all types of communication.

Apple has been the most prominent defender of the tech industry’s right to protect consumers from government snooping, refusing to aid the FBI with accessing an iPhone belonging to Syed Farook, who alongside his wife committed the San Bernardino shooting last year.

The court case was dropped two weeks ago after the FBI said it had found another way to unlock the iPhone, sparking speculation about how the agency may have hacked into the device and whether they would be able to use the same technique on other iPhones.

Facebook was one of several tech companies to support Apple in the fight, signing a letter that said the government’s order “exceeds the bounds of existing law and, when applied more broadly, will harm Americans’ security in the long run”. However, none of Facebook’s other apps have the same high level of encryption that WhatsApp does.

A white paper by WhatsApp added that even if someone accesses the encryption keys from a user’s device, they cannot go back in time to decrypt previously sent messages. This would have hampered law enforcement efforts to access messages on a device such as Mr Farook’s, which they had possession of physically.

WhatsApp has been directly criticised by governments, including the UK, which floated the idea that it would ban or try to weaken the encryption on the app last year, before dropping it in the face of opposition.

With most of WhatsApp’s users outside the US, Mr Koum said that he was concerned about surveillance in countries without the same “checks and balances”. Speaking to Wired magazine, he said: “Building secure products actually makes for a safer world, [though] many people in law enforcement may not agree with that.”

請(qǐng)根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內(nèi)容，完成以下自測(cè)題目：

1、Who owns the WhatsApp now?

a. Apple

b. Google

c. Facebook

d. Yahoo

2. What kind of encryption does WhatsApp use to protect privacy?

a. end-to-end encryption

b. one-on-one encryption

c. public-key encryption

d. encipher transmit mode

3. What is a core value at WhatsApp as mentioned from its co-founder?

a. receiving information quickly

b. protecting private communication

c. reading experience

d. informational multiplicity

4. Who has been the most prominent defender to protect consumers from government snooping?

a. Facebook

b. WhatsApp

c. Google

d. Apple

[1] 答案c. Facebook

解釋：WhatsApp 是Facebook旗下的聊天應(yīng)用。

[2] 答案a. end-to-end encryption

解釋：WhatsApp宣布把文字、語音通話、相片、視頻、群組或單獨(dú)的對(duì)話，都采取端至端的加密保護(hù)。

[3] 答案b. protecting private communication

解釋：WhatsApp聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人簡(jiǎn)·庫姆(Jan Koum)表示，保護(hù)私人通信是WhatsApp的核心價(jià)值觀之一，部分原因是他在蘇聯(lián)長大的經(jīng)歷。

[4] 答案d. Apple

解釋：蘋果一直是科技行業(yè)保護(hù)消費(fèi)者不受政府監(jiān)視的權(quán)利的最知名捍衛(wèi)者，該公司拒絕幫助FBI解鎖賽義德·法魯克(Syed Farook)的iPhone，法魯克和他的妻子去年實(shí)施了圣貝納迪諾槍擊案。