WASHINGTON — Attorney General William P. Barr is set to press Facebook on Friday to create a so-called back door to its end-to-end encryption on WhatsApp and other messaging platforms, which would give investigators access to now-secret communications, including from terrorists and other criminals as well as whistle-blowers, journalists and others. With 1.5 billion users, Facebook’s WhatsApp is perhaps the most commonly used encrypted communications platform in the world. Privacy advocates and tech company officials believe creating any such back door will effectively destroy the secrecy of the platforms, which are used by terrorist groups, drug cartels and legitimate government critics alike to exchange sensitive information they want to keep from investigators. The move by Mr. Barr comes as President Trump has pressed for the unmasking of the whistle-blower who accused him of abusing his power in pushing Ukraine’s president to open investigations that could benefit him politically. Mr. Trump’s call for an investigation of the whistle-blower complicates Mr. Barr’s push for Facebook to allow the government into its encryption system.

Source: International New York Times October 03, 2019 18:33 UTC