The free and open source end-to-end encrypted messaging service, Signal has become increasingly popular as an alternative to WhatsApp over the past decade with its support for end-to-end encrypted calls and messages.
The feature is design to prevent anyone except the sender and the intend recipient from accessing calls and messages sent on the app.
In a interview, the president of the non-profit organisation behind Signal reportedly said that the service would rather exit a country rather than compromise on its encryption.
The statement assumes significance in light of efforts by governments around the world, including the government of India, to weaken encryption offer by messaging services.
It is worth noting that the draft Indian Telecommunications Bill proposes to expand the scope of surveillance to ‘telecommunications services or telecommunication network’, which could include apps like Signal and WhatsApp.
Signal Foundation President Meredith Whittaker said that the non-profit would not hand over the keys to Signal’s encryption, and that it would not break the encryption that protects the messages of its users in response to a government demand.
Meredith Whittaker Said :
“In fact, with the way we are built, we don’t have access to those keys,”.
The non-federated Signal Protocol used to protect messages on Signal is also use to encrypt messages on WhatsApp.
The optional end-to-end encrypted mode on Facebook Messenger also relies on the same protocol.
Meredith Whittaker was responding to a question on whether Signal would rather walk away from a country if its government demand access to the service’s encryption keys.
Encrypted messaging services have increasingly face calls from various governments around the world, including Australia, the UK, and India, to weaken their encryption or to provide the government with access to messages.
While, Signal is effectively block in China, and the app offers a censorship circumvention feature that is design to block censors in other regions.
While the executive did not specify a country in her response, it is worth noting that the draft India Telecommunications Bill, 2022, which aims to reform the country’s telecom regulatory framework, could end up weakening the security of messaging services operating in India.
Clause 24(2) of the draft bill aims to widen surveillance of ‘telecommunications services or telecommunication network’.
The definitions sections for telecommunications services includes over-the-top (OTT) communication services, internet-based communications, Internet and broadband services.
As messaging services like Signal and WhatsApp, which offer end-to-end encrypted messaging may be force to intercept and disclose users’ messages.
The draft bill has criticise by many groups, including United States-based Access Now and India’s Internet Freedom Foundation and Software Freedom Law Centre.
Meredith Whittaker Said :
“If encryption is broken, it is broken. If Signal doesn’t keep its privacy promises, then there is no real point for us to exist as a non-profit whose sole mission is to provide a safe, private, pleasant place for messaging and communication in a world where those are vanishingly few and far between”.
When ask about whether Signal would exit India or fight a demand to provide a backdoor to access messages, Meredith Whittaker said that the service was still available to people in India who want to use Signal.
Meredith Whittaker Said :
“We are not going to compromise on privacy, and that is our stance. We will do everything we can to continue to be available to the people in India who want and need Signal,”.
The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) recently extend the last date for receipt of public comments on the draft Telecom Bill till 30th October, 2022.
