Signal, the popular messaging app that offers encryption to protect users' messages from being accessed by unauthorised persons, has increasingly become a target for lawmakers and governments seeking to undermine the technology. Meredith Whittaker, the Signal President, is tasked with leading a team of about 40 staff to ensure that users' privacy is protected.
Recently, Signal joined other critics (here and here) in calling for changes to the UK's Online Safety Bill, which would introduce client-side scanning technology to scan people's private communications on their devices to match against a database of content considered objectionable, such as child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Whittaker, who is also a prominent AI researcher, warns about the potential harms of the technology to civil liberties and how governments are trying to evade encrypted technologies.
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