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Mark Zuckerberg: WhatsApp Is 'Far More Private and Secure' Than iMessage

atomic.flip said:
Text Messages and iMessage are stored in encrypted backups in the cloud. If you are syncing to your desktop and you uncheck "encrypt backups" then anyone who has access to your backup could (in theory) grab the message history from the backup.

I never sync my devices to desktop anymore.

So as long as you are relying on iCloud backups then your messages are as secure as they are with WhatsApp, except that you won't have a sociopath like Zuckerberg with the keys to the vault. lol
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This is incorrect. iCloud backups are encrypted with your encryption key AND Apple’s encryption key. How do you think they are able to turn your data over to the government when presented with a warrant, or a National Security Letter? They decrypt your backups and turn over the data.

WhatsApp IS more secure than Messages, and so long as Facebook hasn’t tampered with WhatsApp, everything the Zuckbot said was true.
 
Can you really believe anything a Facebook exec tells you? They's modus operandi is to promote FUD.
 
coolfactor said:
He has a point, comparatively. The question to ask is — how does Meta plan to exploit WhatsApp for their own financial benefits? They're not giving this thing away for free.
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Meta makes money from Whatsapp via the Whatsapp for business API. That's the paid services.
 
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Hate to say this, but Zuck had a point.

You cannot use iMessage to Android users, so it defaults back to regular SMS. Meanwhile, Whatsapp is available cross platform. Also, Whatsapp now enables encryption for its backup (including iCloud backup). Hate to say it, but I have to give credit to Whatsapp when it deserves it.
 
ian87w said:
LOL, Telegram is even worse. Telegram doesn't do end to end encryption by default. You have to specifically use secret chat.
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It has end-to-end encryption in secret chats. Since I left the CIA and no longer a UN contractor ( 🙄 ) I don’t need constant encryption. Lastly, I never claimed Telegram was superior to anything.
 
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Apple_Robert said:
iMessage is truly only end to end as long as the user of the device does not make use of iPhone backup via iCloud etc. When a person makes use of iCloud backup for a device, the iCloud backup process (by default) provides Apple with the encryption key. That is how Apple is able to access user content when required to by law etc.
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So, if you keep iCloud backups turned off on that device and also keep Messages turned off in iCloud settings, the encryption keys are not shared with Apple?

After all these years, encryption is still a rather difficult topic to understand for me, with public keys and private keys, E2E and bit strength and so forth. Since you can’t actually see your data being transmitted, the only way to tell if it’s actually encrypted is to just trust that it is… and then it comes down to the matter of trust, which is a highly subjective and personal matter.
 
jchap said:
So, if you keep iCloud backups turned off on that device and also keep Messages turned off in iCloud settings, the encryption keys are not shared with Apple?

After all these years, encryption is still a rather difficult topic to understand for me, with public keys and private keys, E2E and bit strength and so forth. Since you can’t actually see your data being transmitted, the only way to tell if it’s actually encrypted is to just trust that it is… and then it comes down to the matter of trust, which is a highly subjective and personal matter.
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The bolded part is correct.
 
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Lol. Given the company business model, history of obfuscating privacy settings, resetting privacy settings and generally bending or stretching the truth - why should we believe a word of it?

And even if it is today why should we not expect a bait and switch.

If you want privacy use signal.
 
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The Mad Kiwi said:
That's taking it a bit far, google literally lets people read your emails, not some AI or message scanning, literally actual physical people at other companies.

www.bbc.com

Gmail messages 'read by human third parties'

Google confirms that private Gmail messages can sometimes be read by humans at external companies.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
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To clarify from that 2018 article you quoted:

People who have connected third-party apps to their accounts may have unwittingly given human staff permission to read their messages.

The key point here is that your Gmail e-mails can be accessed by a third party (human) if you choose to give that app access for the same.
 
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macsimcon said:
This is incorrect. iCloud backups are encrypted with your encryption key AND Apple’s encryption key. How do you think they are able to turn your data over to the government when presented with a warrant, or a National Security Letter? They decrypt your backups and turn over the data.

WhatsApp IS more secure than Messages, and so long as Facebook hasn’t tampered with WhatsApp, everything the Zuckbot said was true.
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Not if HT212516 is true, and I put more weight on that than Zuck's utterances.

Especially after this recent Bloomberg story: Meta Sued for Skirting Apple Privacy Rules to Snoop on Users
 
jchap said:
Absolutely not here in Japan. As of 2022, nearly everyone here uses LINE.
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Yeah, I think it’s more accurate to say that the US is the only region where large numbers of non-business messages are still sent by SMS. While one app or another have taken off outside of the US in different regions, the US just LOVES SMS/MMS :)
 
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DocMultimedia said:
Does he mean inside a virtual world where he has legs, or the real world?

In either case I don't have much faith in what he says. I've never felt the need to have a message "disappear" after a certain amount of time. Has he heard of screenshots and/or photos? But to each their own.
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Very clever! ;-)
 
robbyclark said:
I have multiple screenshots as evidence of Whats app mining chat messages and then displaying Facebook ads relevant only to conversations I have had in the Whats App chat. Things so obscure and unique to 'one-off' chat comments that the only way Facebook could consider displaying a recommendation for service is if Whats App was mining my data and sharing it with Facebook.

The only real option is to use Signal if you are concerned about privacy.
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Hmm, I would’ve believed this before I started working at WhatsApp, but I work there and have full access to all source code. I’d be interested in seeing these screenshots that you’re talking about… we have no access to any messages. It’s why we move slower rolling out features, everything has to be fully e2e encrypted and goes through privacy reviews.
 
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WhatsApp is far more private and secure than iMessage, with end-to-end encryption that works across both iPhones and Android

iMessage is more secure because it doesn’t run on android Mark
 
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That’s really nice Mark, except I don’t use Facebook or Whatsapp or Telegram for activities that I don’t mind being viewed/known about.

Matter of fact, I managed to avoid FB, so as Beavis/Butthead say ‘Go away or something’.

Tom
 
fontman said:
What's interesting is Facebook won't say anything because they base their whole worth on the social credit system. to integrate that into our society. It would be nice if people would away from social media altogether and actually start visiting each other in person.
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Well said, dear soul, well said.
 
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