Breaking Encryption While Preserving Privacy Is 'Magical Thinking'
CyberScoop, Friday, July 7,2023
The Signal president spoke with CyberScoop about AI, encryption and the growing threat to privacy.
With tens of millions of users around the globe, Signal is one of the leading messaging apps offering encryption to protect messages from snoops. As a result, it's also become a target of lawmakers seeking to undermine the technology.
Tasked with overseeing a staff of a little over 40 at the small nonprofit that keeps the app running, Signal President Meredith Whittaker is the company's voice when it comes to fighting against policies that threaten users' privacy. And lately, there's been no shortage of risks. Recently, Signal joined critics including Meta to call for changes to the U.K. Online Safety Bill, which is expected to soon reach a final vote. The bill would introduce client-side scanning, a technology that scans people's private communications on their devices to match against a database of content considered objectionable.