Signal boss warns app will exit Australia if forced to hand over users’ encrypted messages - Aussie Zone

>Signal president Meredith Whittaker is prepared to withdraw the privacy-focused messaging app from Australia — saying she hopes it doesn’t become a “gangrenous foot” by poisoning its entire platform by forcing it to hand over its users’ encrypted data to authorities. > >Ms Whittaker says Signal would take the “drastic step” of leaving any market where a government compelled it to create a “backdoor” to access its data, saying it would create a vulnerability that hackers and authoritative regimes could exploit, undermining Signals’ “reason for existing”. > >Pressure has been mounting on Signal and other secure messaging platforms. ASIO director general Mike Burgess has urged tech companies [https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/security-chiefs-to-target-technology-giants/news-story/7e0cd797e52cc3399d0f304b3605c293] to unlock encrypted messages to assist terrorism and national security investigations, saying offshore extremists use such platforms to communicate. archive.today [https://archive.md/a2K1u]