Amnesty International: Popular Mobile Apps Failing to Adopt Basic Privacy Protections

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Amnesty International: Popular Mobile Apps Failing to Adopt Basic Privacy Protections

By CircleID Reporter
October 25, 2016, 7:33 pm PDT Views: 6,876 Add Comment

“Tech companies like Snapchat and Skype’s owner Microsoft are failing to adopt basic privacy protections on their instant messaging services, putting users’ human rights at risk,” says Amnesty International in a new report. The organization’s new ‘Message Privacy Ranking’ assesses the 11 companies with the most popular messaging apps on the way they use encryption to protect users’ privacy and freedom of expression across their messaging apps.

— Amnesty International has highlighted end-to end encryption as a minimum requirement for technology companies to ensure that private information in messaging apps stays private. The companies that ranked lowest on the scorecard do not have adequate levels of encryption in place on their messaging apps.

— “If you think instant messaging services are private, you are in for a big surprise. The reality is that our communications are under constant threat from cybercriminals and spying by state authorities. Young people, the most prolific sharers of personal details and photos over apps like Snapchat, are especially at risk,” said Sherif Elsayed-Ali, Head of Amnesty International’s Technology and Human Rights Team.

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