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Facebook ( FB ), Alphabet ( GOOGL ) and Snapchat are bolstering their encryption technology to increase user privacy, as Apple ( AAPL ) fights the U.S. government over iPhone encryption. A report from the Guardian says Facebook’s instant messaging service, WhatsApp, plans to expand its secure messaging service so that voice calls are also encrypted. WhatsApp has 1 billion monthly users. Facebook is also considering beefing up security of its own Messenger tool, the Guardian report said. Messenger has about 800 million users. The report also said Alphabet is exploring extra uses for encryption technology currently under development for its Google email services, and that Snapchat is developing encryption services for its messaging platform as well. These projects were underway before Apple’s fight with the U.S. Department of Justice over iPhone encryption. That fight began on Feb. 16 when a federal judge in Southern California ordered Apple to provide “reasonable technical assistance” to the FBI to help unlock a password-protected iPhone belonging to Syed Farook, one of the killers in the San Bernardino, Calif., terrorist attack on Dec. 2. This battle — seen as a crucial test of privacy vs. security — is headed to federal court in Riverside, Calif., as it’s being debated aggressively in the court of public opinion. Revelations that Facebook, Alphabet and Snapchat are also planning to bolster their security could further antagonize authorities. Alphabet, Facebook, Snapchat, Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and Microsoft ( MSFT ) have all signed on to legal briefs supporting Apple in the iPhone encryption fight. While the Justice Department wages war with Apple, government officials are also debating how to resolve a prolonged standoff with WhatsApp, according to a New York Times report . The report said the Justice Department is discussing how to proceed in an investigation in which a federal judge had approved a wiretap, but investigators were stymied by WhatsApp’s encryption. In a separate but related matter, on March 1 federal police in Brazil arrested a Facebook executive after the company failed to turn over information from a WhatsApp messaging account that a judge had requested for a drug trafficking investigation. Scalper1 News
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