Not a new message but one that needs to be heard by all:
Surveillance, she says, was a “disease” from the very beginning of the internet, and encryption is “deeply threatening to the type of power that constitutes itself via these information asymmetries”.
We have seen every aspect of our lives become subject to mass surveillance perpetrated by a handful of companies partnering with the US government and other ‘Five Eyes’ agenciesto gather more surveillance data about us than has ever been available to any entity in human history.
“If we don’t continue to guard these little carve-outs of privacy and ultimately extend them – we have to throw some elbows to get a bit more space here – I think we’re in for a much bleaker future than we would be if we can hold this ground, and we can expand the space for privacy and free communication.”
Criticisms of encrypted communications are as old as the technology: allowing anyone to speak without the state being able to tap into their conversations is a godsend for criminals, terrorists and paedophiles around the world.
However, “Signal either works for everyone or it works for no one. Every military in the world uses Signal, every politician I’m aware of uses Signal. Every CEO I know uses Signal because anyone who has anything truly confidential to communicate recognises that storing that on a Meta database or in the clear on some Google server is not good practice.”
“We will hold the line right. We would rather fold as a going concern than undermine or backdoor the privacy guarantees that we make to people.”
All power to her and Signal.
It’s a very tough gig.
But necessary.