So much for end-to-end encryption: WhatsApp and Facebook pays more than 1,000 workers to READ messages

[Kubla]

Content source

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9966435/Facebook-hired-1-000-workers-examine-millions-pieces-content-WhatsApp.html

So much for end-to-end encryption: WhatsApp and Facebook pays more than 1,000 workers to READ messages that are flagged as 'inappropriate' and even share them with the DOJ

WhatsApp's promise of private messages with end-to-end encryption appears to have been false, an investigation revealed.

When Facebook purchased the popular WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014, both companies assured users that their data could not be accessed by either company, but reporters for ProPublica found that the claims were not true.

Facebook has not only hired 1,000 workers since then to sift through millions of messages on WhatsApp, which has two billion users around the world, but it also shared some of those messages with law enforcement and the U.S. Department of Justice to help put people in prison, the ProPublica claims.

I can't believe anyone trusted Facebook or WhatsApp enough to put anything on it they thought was going to be secure.

 

[brambedkar59]

'These hourly workers use special Facebook software to sift through streams of private messages, images and videos that have been reported by WhatsApp users as improper and then screened by the company's artificial intelligence systems,' the report detailed.

and how does reporting works you ask?

When you report someone:

• WhatsApp receives the most recent messages sent to you by the reported user or group, as well as information on your recent interactions with the reported user.

WhatsApp FAQs

Not sure where the encryption is breaking here when user is willing sending WhatsApp the message/image/video/audio. Hate clickbaity articles like this.

 

[Gangelo]

Not sure where the encryption is breaking here

End to End encryption means that the message leaves encrypted from the sender and gets decrypted from the receiver.
If FB & WhatsApp (as middle-men) can actually read the messages, then there is NO end to end encryption and they are advertising BS to their users.

 

[brambedkar59]

End to End encryption means that the message leaves encrypted from the sender and gets decrypted from the receiver.
If FB & WhatsApp (as middle-men) can actually read the messages, then there is NO end to end encryption and they are advertising BS to their users.

Let's assume you receive a message from a contact and you find it offensive and you report the message to WhatsApp. So obviously they (WhatsApp) will receive a copy of that message which they can read because you just sent it to them. In this case encryption is still working, there is no MITM attack. Hope that makes sense.
Edit: changed friend to contact

 

[Gangelo]

Let's assume you receive a message from a friend and you find it offensive and you report the message to WhatsApp. So obviously they will receive a copy of that message which they can read because you just sent it to them. In this case encryption is still working, there is no MITM attack. Hope that makes sense.

Yes, but how do they 'receive' the messages is the question. If they require from the reporting party to take screenshots or photos of the messages and then send them via email or something then yes, there is no breach of end to end encryption. If they can get them on demand without user interaction then there is no actual encryption in the first place, or they have the encryption keys so again, they are advertising BS to their users.

 

[brambedkar59]

When you report a message, a copy is sent from your device to WhatsApp/FB. That's like forwarding a message to another person and then saying "How did he receive that message, he hacked my phone".

 

[Marko :)]

Just like @brambedkar59 said. All messages are end-to-end encrypted. But if you report one message to the WhatsApp, the app will send copy of that message, meaning that they'll only see that particular message, not entire conversation. Moreover, conversation is still encrypted on your and receiver's device. And WhatsApp cannot see any other messages unless they are reported.

I don't see anything wrong here. Much better way than snooping through your entire conversations and/or scanning them for unwanted content.

 

[Chuck57]

First, I don't know how WhatsApp works. If it's similar to FB's private chat, which isn't private, aren't people talking one on one to people they trust, or do they just send out random messages to everybody - which is silly and stupid? Who talks to people they don't know about criminal or otherwise offensive activity? It makes no sense that if John Doe is talking about a bank robbery, he's going to be telling the world he intends to do it. His chat would be to accomplices, not strangers.

I know Farcebook's private chat is NOT private. I and friends have had things deleted, and we've been warned by the FB Gestapo - and we were in so called private chat. The stuff was political, very right wing of course, so it's natural it would offend the FB gulag masters.

 

[Marko :)]

WhatsApp is totally different product than Facebook, even though they are owned by the same company. You can't really expect any privacy from Facebook and Instagram, but you can expect at least some from WhatsApp. Apparently, they are considering implementing end-to-end encryption to entire Facebook, but it appears that won't be in the use before 2022.

 

[Chuck57]

WhatsApp is totally different product than Facebook, even though they are owned by the same company. You can't really expect any privacy from Facebook and Instagram, but you can expect at least some from WhatsApp. Apparently, they are considering implementing end-to-end encryption to entire Facebook, but it appears that won't be in the use before 2022.

But that's what puzzles me about WhatsApp. If the 2 people know each other, IRL or via messenger, I don't get one complaining about the other's messages. If somebody is chatting with a person they don't know, most normal people keep it cool until they know the person. Something doesn't sound quite right.

Also, "Facebook has hired 1,000 workers since then to sift through millions of messages on WhatsApp." Does this sound like messages are encrypted? If the messages are encrypted, how are they 'sifting' through them?

I use FB because all my family is there, and guys I knew from the Army and clear back to high school - and they won't move to GAB or MeWe. I avoid all other FB owned products, and I'd avoid Farcebook except for the aforementioned.

 

[Local Host]

As much as I hate Facebook, this is misleading and false.

WhatsAPP has end-to-end encryption, and Facebook doesn't intercept any messages.

One of the users that is sending the messages to Facebook, after they are already decrypted, through the report system.

This is not different from reporting a Mail and then complain the company you reported the Mail to is reading it.

 

[Marko :)]

But that's what puzzles me about WhatsApp. If the 2 people know each other, IRL or via messenger, I don't get one complaining about the other's messages. If somebody is chatting with a person they don't know, most normal people keep it cool until they know the person. Something doesn't sound quite right.

I don't get it. You're worried someone will report your message to the WhatsApp and they'll see it? So what if they see it; I'd rather have them see particular message than entire conversation.

It's not like people will now massively start to report messages to the WhatsApp just so they can see them. I'd much rather have it done this way than WhatsApp and Facebook scanning entire conversations for content.

Also, "Facebook has hired 1,000 workers since then to sift through millions of messages on WhatsApp." Does this sound like messages are encrypted? If the messages are encrypted, how are they 'sifting' through them?

Sifting through what. They hired people to review reported messages, not entire conversations. Do you have any idea how many messages are sent every minute through the WhatsApp? 1.000 workers isn't enough to see even half of that; they would need to have an entire army of people to check every single message sent through.

 

[Chuck57]

I don't get it. You're worried someone will report your message to the WhatsApp and they'll see it? So what if they see it; I'd rather have them see particular message than entire conversation.

It's not like people will now massively start to report messages to the WhatsApp just so they can see them. I'd much rather have it done this way than WhatsApp and Facebook scanning entire conversations for content.

Sifting through what. They hired people to review reported messages, not entire conversations. Do you have any idea how many messages are sent every minute through the WhatsApp? 1.000 workers isn't enough to see even half of that; they would need to have an entire army of people to check every single message sent through.

I'm not worried at all. I don't use WhatsApp. I was merely wondering about the alleged reporting. I use GAB and MeWe for serious chats, and Fascistbook for the fluff talk.

 

[oldschool]

All I know is FB contracts out with companies that employ the moderators. It doesn't employ its own. It's a thankless job. FB did this to placate politicians and doesn't give a **************** about moderating or controlling the clickbait. Clickbait is a major piece of its business model.

'Without Our Work, Facebook Is Unusable': Content Moderators Demand Safer Offices

The social network largely outsources its content review jobs. Workers say they are now under pressure to return to the office despite the pandemic.

www.npr.org

Facebook content moderators break NDAs to expose shocking working conditions involving gruesome videos and feces smeared on walls

A report from The Verge reveals new details about the appalling working conditions at Facebook's content moderation site in Tampa.

www.cnbc.com

 

[Chuck57]

All I know is FB contracts out with companies that employ the moderators. It doesn't employ its own. It's a thankless job. FB did this to placate politicians and doesn't give a **************** about moderating or controlling the clickbait. Clickbait is a major piece of its business model.

'Without Our Work, Facebook Is Unusable': Content Moderators Demand Safer Offices

The social network largely outsources its content review jobs. Workers say they are now under pressure to return to the office despite the pandemic.

www.npr.org

Facebook content moderators break NDAs to expose shocking working conditions involving gruesome videos and feces smeared on walls

A report from The Verge reveals new details about the appalling working conditions at Facebook's content moderation site in Tampa.

www.cnbc.com

Yeah, and I'd believe the top article "Without our work." The second one, I'm not so sure. I can imagine conditions might not be great, but that sounds over the top even for Fascistbook or the companies they contract. FB doesn't care about anything but the bottom line, like any big company - how many $$$ they bring in for their investors.