A Russian state-backed messenger application called Max, a rival to WhatsApp that critics say could be used to track users, must be pre-installed on all mobile phones and tablets bought in the country starting next month, the Russian government said on Thursday.
The decision to promote Max comes as Moscow, locked in a standoff with the west over Ukraine, is seeking greater control over the internet. The Kremlin said in a statement that Max, which will be integrated with government services, would be on a list of mandatory pre-installed apps on all “gadgets”, including mobile phones and tablets, sold in Russia from 1 September.
I wonder how bad it is compared to whatsapp.
Depends on how you rate Putin reading your messages against Zuckerberg reading your messages.
Lol. Never heard of a National Security Letter in the US?
In one case, your data gets sold, but in the other you get thrown out a window.
Oh, no, Russian government ends up leaking each and every piece of information it has for 50 rubles per person through sheer incompetence. So, you are both flying out the window and getting your data sold.
Oh yeah, so it’s a 2-for-1 deal.
WhatsApp uses the Signal protocol for end-to-end encryption, so Meta only collects the metadata. Still enough to convict, but better than anything from Putin.
Not when Meta works with NSO group to backdoor the app. Then they can read all your messages.
Has there been any evidence of that? Intercepting the traffic or disassembling the app would show some signs if true.
Yeah dude, tons. Look at Citizen Lab’s work. They did an very detailed exposé with Amnesty International too
A vulnerability allowing to exploit an app is not the same thing as a backdoor. Moreover, being able to gain full access to someone’s device does not prove that an app’s end-to-end encryption is faulty. The same kind of exploit most likely could be used to read messages from Signal and definitely other apps.
That’s my point. The e2ee is worthless marketing because they work with cybermercinary groups to ensure they have exploits to gain access to the device.
NSLs require backdoors. Meta is a US corporation. But, sure, you can pretend that these exploits aren’t intentional. That’s their plausible deniability.
Likewise, you can pretend to be sure it’s a backdoor without any proof and then also believe there’s more that’s not been exposed. Signal is also US-based, by the way. What software do you trust not to have vulnerabilities that could be abused by the likes of NSO Group and why?
Not sure why this got downvoted. Was there any real proofs that WhatsApp msgs can get decrypted and read by the central server?
Besides the AI shit that is optional. Not advocating for WhatsApp but we need to keep the conspiracy theory out of the equation.
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