WhatsApp’s director of communications, Carl Woog, acknowledged that teams of contractors in Austin and elsewhere review WhatsApp messages to identify and remove “the worst” abusers. But Woog told ProPublica that the company does not consider this work to be content moderation, saying: “We actually don’t typically use the term for WhatsApp.” The company declined to make executives available for interviews for this article, but responded to questions with written comments. “WhatsApp is a lifeline for millions of people around the world,” the company said. “The decisions we make around how we build our app are focused around the privacy of our users, maintaining a high degree of reliability and preventing abuse.”
WhatsApp user data, ProPublica has learned, helped prosecutors build a high-profile case against a Treasury Department employee who leaked confidential documents to BuzzFeed News that exposed how dirty money flows through U.S. banks.
geblokkeerd
Zoals ik het heb begrepen kunnen de medewerker slechts het gerapporteerde bericht en een aantal voorgaande berichten inzien. Die worden ontsleuteld door de gebruiker die rapporteert.
Het is niet alsof degene die een melding van het bericht doet, geen onversleuteld exemplaar heeft om te verzenden …
Remember, Communication Services Cannot Guarantee Privacy.A couple of recent media reports involving the WhatsApp messaging service and the ProtonMail email service highlight the limits of communication services that claim to provide privacy.ProPublica Reveals WhatsApp Message MonitoringThe non-profit investigative journalism site ProPublica published a lengthy report on WhatsApp privacy, or its supposed lack thereof. The messaging app, which Facebook purchased in 2014, promises end-to-end encryption and total privacy. WhatsApp’s privacy page states:Our mission is to connect the world privately by designing a product that’s simple and private. Whether you are sending a personal message to your friends or family, or texting with a business, your communications are secure and you are in control.ProPublica’s article implies that isn’t true and says that over 1000 contract workers monitor and police traffic on the service. But dig deep enough down into the article, and you reach this bit (emphasis ours):Their jobs differ in other ways. Because WhatsApp’s content is encrypted, artificial intelligence systems can’t automatically scan all chats, images and videos, as they do on Facebook and Instagram. Instead, WhatsApp reviewers gain access to private content when users hit the “report” button on the app, identifying a message as allegedly violating the platform’s terms of service. This forwards five messages — the allegedly offending one along with the four previous ones in the exchange, including any images or videos — to WhatsApp in unscrambled form, according to former WhatsApp engineers and moderators. Automated systems then feed these tickets into “reactive” queues for contract workers to assess.In other words, your WhatsApp messages are encrypted, and Facebook can’t see them unless a party in the conversation reports a message as violating WhatsApp’s terms of service. Facebook is in a tight spot here because if it didn’t have a reporting feature and human reviewers, it would be accused of enabling abusive behavior and criminal activities. If it does, it’s accused of violating your privacy. Damned if it does, damned if it doesn’t....
Key Privacy TakeawaysHere’s what we can learn from these reports:It takes two to tango. Messages you believe to be private will remain so only as long as the people who receive them maintain that privacy, technically and socially.Be aware that most online services collect metadata surrounding your communications, such as your IP address, name, phone number, etc. Regardless of the encryption status of the content of your communications, that metadata may reveal information about you, and it’s almost always accessible to law enforcement with appropriate warrants.Companies and organizations have to follow local laws and comply with legal orders that require them to turn over what data they do have.A company’s policies or privacy stance could change at any time. Many people saw Apple’s recently bungled CSAM detection announcement as an indication that the company was moving away from its “privacy is a human right” stance (see “Apple Delays CSAM Detection Launch,” 3 September 2021). In response to the French activist situation, ProtonMail has removed the section about not logging IP addresses from its privacy policy.When a company’s business model is based on selling user information, as it is for Facebook, its privacy promises are inherently suspect.Perhaps the best privacy advice of all came from Boston political boss Martin Lomasney: “Never write if you can speak; never speak if you can nod; never nod if you can wink.” Or former New York governor Elliot Spitzer’s updated version: “Never talk when you can nod and never nod when you can wink and never write an e-mail, because it’s death. You’re giving prosecutors all the evidence we need.” Unfortunately for Mr. Spitzer, he didn’t follow his own advice.For more realistic advice for those of us who aren’t worried about rival politicians or federal wiretaps, I’d share a recommendation I received in journalism school, which was, “Never put in an email anything you wouldn’t want on the front page of the New York Times.” I’d merely update that to change “in an email” to “on the Internet.”
For more realistic advice for those of us who aren’t worried about rival politicians or federal wiretaps, I’d share a recommendation I received in journalism school, which was, “Never put in an email anything you wouldn’t want on the front page of the New York Times.” I’d merely update that to change “in an email” to “on the Internet.”