The future of digital communication and privacy | Will Cathcart

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Published 2020-07-28
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People send 100 billion WhatsApp messages every day -- and they're all encrypted to protect them from potentially curious entities like companies, governments and even WhatsApp itself. With our increased reliance on digital communication tools during the COVID-19 pandemic, our fundamental right to privacy is more important than ever, says Will Cathcart, head of WhatsApp. He describes the tech and protocols the company built to prevent encryption services from being misused to spread disinformation or commit crimes -- while still safeguarding privacy. (This virtual conversation, hosted by head of TED Chris Anderson, was recorded June 16, 2020.)

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All Comments (21)
  • @abbbb5625
    Come on end to end encryption is encrypting the message once it leaves the device, but nothing is said about authentication of the recipient, the key used to encrypt the message is known by each endpoint and therefore defeats the purpose of the private communication. the device sending and receiving is not protected and when you type or read the message, the information are left in clear on a non secured device. This means the NSA/CIA/consort has the mean to freely access the information without needing any consent and the only privacy you have is toward an non erudite spy or your neighbour who is not interested in your conversation. Authenticating the recipient is not even done.
  • @khawlaalhafiz2541
    It's such great purpose to serve people around the world via WhatsApp free, without any extra fees.
  • @davidone7876
    TED is becoming so mainstream nowadays that you can't even trust the genuine desire that TED had in the past of "spreading ideas worth listening to" exists anymore.
  • @bisonbolzelow3095
    Hm... so he says, Whatsapp ensures great privacy and doesn't generate much money at the moment... This is in contrast to my experiences. After active use of Whatsapp I created a Facebook Account without adding any friends or doing anything at all in it. Irritatingly, after adding my telephone number into the account, Facebook not only suggested telephone contacts as friends but also other people I texted with via Whatsapp, partly having no connection to any of my telephone contacts. This makes it hard for me to believe, Facebook doesn't really profit from my Whatsapp data... So I personally don't trust his statements in those concerns (Sorry for the niveau of my English^^)
  • @user-ji3ux2by8k
    Thanks alright, tujuannya adalah untuk mengetahui apakah kita mampu mandiri demi satu kata cinta demi membangun bangsa lewat bepikir cerdas dan bijak buat banyak orang-orang
  • @kevinrandalrulach
    You guys should charge for whatsapp business. Maybe a one time 2 dollars or each time you download it to the phone. Fair and square deal. Then users feel more bonded and it will seem professional. Normal whatsapp keep it free.
  • @davidone7876
    Correction: Not even Whatsapp excepts WhatsApp's AI can read your End-to-end encrypted messages. Let's not even discuss calls or videocalls.
  • @CanisDirusPrime
    owned/funded by/operated by FB? there's your problem!! Won't be using WhatsApp any more!