Facebook, Inc.-owned messaging service WhatsApp announced Tuesday that it had completed its rollout of end-to-end encryption, meaning that every message, photo, video, file, and voice message sent on the service will be unable to be seen by any third party, including law enforcement and WhatsApp itself.

WhatsApp had previously started rolling out the feature last year to users, however until today it wasn’t available to everyone, and it wasn’t necessarily turned on by default, whereas now encrypted messages is now the default setting for the 1 billion plus WhatsApp app users across Android, iPhone, Windows Phone, and Nokia and BlackBerry devices.

“The idea is simple: when you send a message, the only person who can read it is the person or group chat that you send that message to,” WhatsApp said in an announcement blog post. “No one can see inside that message. Not cybercriminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. Not even us. End-to-end encryption helps make communication via WhatsApp private – sort of like a face-to-face conversation.

Security first

WhatsApp sold the move on the basis that it has become far too common to see stories about sensitive records being improperly accessed or stolen, adding that “if nothing is done, more of people’s digital information and communication will be vulnerable to attack in the years to come.”

“Fortunately, end-to-end encryption protects us from these vulnerabilities,” said WhatsApp.

The point made is a completely valid one, and any reasonably minded person would agree with the decision, but reasonably minded and law enforcement agencies are two phrases that constitute an oxymoron, that is, two things that don’t go together.

WhatsApp is already potentially facing legal action from the Department of Justice in an attempt to obtain records in a criminal case, part of what is known by some to be the “encryption wars,” and has already faced legal issues in another case in Brazil where Government officials demanded access to encrypted records that WhatsApp was unable to provide, which resulted in a Facebook executive being detained for a short period of time.

Today’s announcement will undoubtedly infuriate the likes of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other agencies because the encryption is absolute: there’s no backdoor and no way to access any data on the app itself, and this is the way it should be.

Praise where due to WhatsApp for putting their customers first and protecting their data, let’s just hope that it doesn’t end up in more Obama Administration-sponsored lawsuits.

Image credit: cibercorsario/Flickr/CC by 2.0