Page 8 - EngineerIt January 2021

LEGAL OPINION

In the wake of Facebook’s acquisition
WhatsApp, a misconceived of WhatsApp in 2014, Telegram
exponentially grew in popularity,
purportedly due to its security and
menace to society? privacy features. Even though Telegram
offers encryption on messages and other
information, it is not enabled by default
– like that of WhatsApp. The only way to
use E2E encryption on Telegram is to
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director and Head of Data Privacy Practice and
use its “secret chats” feature. In addition,
member of Competition Law Practice; and Dale Adams, Candidate Legal
the “secret chats” feature is only
Practitioner and Associate Designate, Werksmans Attorneys.
available for “chats” between two users.
In theory therefore, Telegram has access
to your messages which are not covered
“By tapping Agree, you accept the new terms and privacy by the veil of “secret chats” and they
policy, which takes effect on 8 February 2021. After this date, store this for 12 months.
Based on the above high-level
you’ll need to accept these updates to continue using comparison of the security features
WhatsApp. You can also visit the Help Centre if you would utilised by WhatsApp and Telegram, it
could be argued that WhatsApp’s security
prefer to delete your account or would like more information.” and privacy is more robust and secure
than that of Telegram, especially in that
E2E encryption is a default feature.
ith these simple words, the Facebook-owned
messaging giant, WhatsApp, sparked a public outcry So what personal information does
Wconcerning the recent update to its terms and privacy Telegram have access to? In the
policy. The privacy policy update relates to how it processes the Telegram privacy policy, it is stated
data of users, how businesses can utilise Facebook services to that Telegram processes, amongst
store their (business) chats and who partners with Facebook to other things, the following set of
offer integration across all Facebook products. personal information:
Users’ voiced displeasure about the app’s changed policies • basic account data such as user
are rife and social media relating to personal data/information being misused is increasing. mobile number, profile name, profile
Telegram users are also increasing by the minute! Is this switch justified? What is the exact picture and about information;
situation about the changes to WhatsApp and how concerned should people be? • user email addresses; and
• user messages in cloud chats
WhatsApp security and privacy such as messages, photos,
WhatsApp is the largest messaging service in the world with over two billion monthly active videos and documents.
users. Since its origins in 2009, WhatsApp has prided itself on its commitment to security
and privacy with encrypted conversations and other important technologies integrated into The above information goes further than
the app. This is demonstrated by WhatsApp’s latest privacy policy dated February 2021 the sets of personal information that
which, amongst others, states that: WhatsApp has access to, and processes
“Your messages. We do not retain your messages in the ordinary course of on behalf of its users. WhatsApp by
providing our services to you. Instead, your messages are stored on your device default provides E2E encryption.
and not typically stored on our servers. Once your messages are delivered, they
are deleted from our servers. “ Signal security and privacy
Several experts and users are
In addition to the above, the WhatsApp privacy policy states that WhatsApp and other encouraging people to move to Signal.
third parties cannot read the messages of its users due to the built-in end-to-end Signal Messenger LLP, a US based and
encryption (“E2E“). Also, WhatsApp cannot decrypt the contents of a user’s profile established social messaging platform,
contents, those being messages, calls and photos. This means that WhatsApp does not is considered the best alternative to both
store personal information. WhatsApp and Telegram from a security
What WhatsApp has access to is metadata, IP addresses, profile pictures, and privacy perspective.
status updates and user contact information. Whilst metadata does not Like WhatsApp, Signal makes use
allow anyone to read a user’s messages, it allows for transparency of the open-source Signal Protocol to
as to who and when a user messaged someone and for how long. implement E2E encryption for
communication. However, whilst
Telegram security and privacy WhatsApp encrypts messages and
Telegram, an entity originally established in Russia with the aim calls (which is sufficient for most
of providing secure messaging, is the second largest messaging users), Signal goes a step further and
service in the world with over 400 million users. encrypts metadata as well.

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