WhatsApp was ordered by a US government agency to spy on several foreign nationals, even though the agency had no evidence the users had committed a crime or even knew their names.
A recent search warrant by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had ordered the Facebook-owned communications service to monitor seven users reportedly located in China and Macau.
“The warrant reveals the DEA didn’t know the identities of any of the targets but told WhatsApp to monitor the IP addresses and numbers with which the targeted users were communicating, as well as when and how they were using the app,” security and privacy reporter Thomas Brewster wrote for Forbes.
Forbes also discovered that WhatsApp had previously been ordered to monitor four users in Mexico – demonstrating again that the US government’s Big Tech surveillance operations go far beyond the country’s borders.
A leaked document from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) last year showed that WhatsApp was one of the most willing messenger services to provide data to US authorities.
This month, the Swiss military banned WhatsApp, along with competing services Signal and Telegram, citing data protection concerns.
Blockchain and decentralized technology can change our lives and society as a whole
The idea of decentralization is at the heart of blockchain. Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, messaging service providers like WhatsApp, and tech giants like Google, are squirming in data privacy scandals and accusations of unethical behavior, while their entire business model prioritizes their profitability over the user experience.
Today’s internet is not designed to optimize the experience of users — it’s designed to make lots of money for certain companies.
The result is a less enjoyable time online, dominated by ads, and a serious loss of power for independent users. Your data is owned by companies and platforms, meaning you lose control of your data and identity.
One of the biggest advantages to a more decentralized web will be data portability, meaning users will be able to use data in multiple contexts while being sure it’s the same data. In a decentralized ecosystem, users will have more power and control, where they can own their username, giving individuals true freedom and autonomy online.
Trust the technology and the service provider will follow
Pravica is a decentralized end-to-end encrypted messaging app built on Blockchain and secured by Bitcoin. The Blockchain is a decentralized ledger of transactions recorded using cryptography.
The entries or blocks are then distributed across many computers running on nodes in a P2P environment making it impossible to alter the information later.
Pravica utilizes Stacks Blockchain and its smart contracts to come up with a tamper-proof decentralized identity that is secured by the Bitcoin network and a fully decentralized storage system.
Decentralization, blockchain technology, and the promise of self-sovereign identity is what differentiates Pravica from the competition.
Pravica users get back control of their identity and own their data.
With the use of a single decentralized identity, it replaces email addresses, phone numbers, and any usernames needed to send texts, emails, or have conference calls.
Blockchain offers many advantages over traditional systems. First is immutability.
Once something gets recorded, it is almost impossible to change it because a decentralized database of computers and blocks are involved.
Because information blocks are shared and stored across a network of nodes run by people, no single person or entity has complete control over it.
This reduces the risk of one person or entity manipulating the records without others knowing about it.
It also eliminates the risk of a single point of failure.
If all your data is stored in a single system and the system fails, you lose everything.
Distributed ledger eliminates this risk. Each encrypted entry is visible for everyone to assess, bringing transparency and accountability to the system.
About Pravica
Pravica is a unified, secure, and privacy-compliant communication suite that meets WEB 3.0 standards, is secured by Bitcoin, and uses Blockchain technology to empower user privacy and security for personal and enterprise use of all types and sizes. We combine our incalculable technical capabilities with the cutting-edge technology of Blockchain to provide unparalleled private and secure digital human interactions to transform the way people communicate.
