Is this some simple virtue signaling (for closed source app) directed at users that are not technically inclined? I didn’t see this being promoted at this level in any other app.
Is this some simple virtue signaling (for closed source app) directed at users that are not technically inclined? I didn’t see this being promoted at this level in any other app.
I think it may have something to do with the fact that the UK is far along in a plan to effectively ban encrypted messaging, and many other countries are looking in the same draconian direction. They want non-techy users (AKA voters) to know about it and to understand that it’s super important.
UK person here - my concern is that the opposition haven’t clearly stated that they would repeal the law if they were voted into power (to my knowledge, I’d be delighted to be corrected on this front!)
So letting voters know about it is great but if none of the main parties are actually against the law coming into effect - which is being sold as an anti-paedophile/child abuse measure, which framed like that would be popular with a lot of non-techy voters who don’t trust an unregulated internet - a few little messages saying ‘yay encryption!’ aren’t going to do anything.
I don’t think there’s anything particularly partisan about the law in the first place so it’s not so much an issue of what any party supports but rather education of the electorate at large. People aren’t going to get excited about encryption but they will be angry when WhatsApp stops working (which is what is going to happen) and they need to know why. Ideally they’ll hear enough rumblings that literally all of their messaging apps are going to stop working before the law goes into effect to stop it in time.
I mean I think this is why it’s an interesting scenario - that’s very much the view losing side of things but I don’t think the politicians have fully grasped that yet. I don’t know whether that’s because they think the tech companies will ultimately ‘come round’ - in which case they’re badly mistaken - or whether they’re really that badly informed.
But politicians organise everything by WhatsApp as we’ve learned… I honestly don’t think they understand the consequences. But I’m just a poor humble member of the electorate, what do I know compared to intellectual titans like Jacob Reece-Mogg and Suella Braveman (who presumably as home sec has an interest in this?)