Forget Apple vs. the FBI: WhatsApp Just Switched on Encryption for a Billion People

This is a real turning point

where this technology is used by a service

that reaches a billion people.

This has never happened before.

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WhatsApp can't read those messages.

The government can't read those messages

even if it comes to WhatsApp with a wire tap,

because WhatsApp can't comply with a wire tap.

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The basic idea is that if I have a phone,

I have what's called a private key

on this device.

Elsewhere on a server, let's say it's WhatsApp's server,

there's what's called a public key.

And that public key is used to

send me a message.

Once that message reaches me,

the only way to decrypt it is through the private key.

So if you don't have both,

you cannot decrypt the message.

The WhatsApp server does not have both,

it only has the public key.

So, if a government for instance goes to WhatsApp

and says I wanna read the message that was sent to me,

WhatsApp cannot comply.

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Some governments have called for what's called a back door

in encryption like this.

If you open a back door in your encryption system

how do you control who gets access to the back door?

You immediately open up a hole in your system.

It almost defeats the purpose of the system.

But the other big question is

can you completely trust your government?

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On the other hand, you do wanna protect

your citizens and their privacy,

and in that sense this encryption,

and this is one big reason why WhatsApp is doing this,

it provides that personal protection

to individual privacy.