From securityboulevard.com
When it comes to encryption, we are having another Groundhog Day. The U.S., UK and Australian governments are pressuring Facebook to stop its plans to include “end to end” encryption, which would enhance the privacy and security of the social media platform. Such encryption would ensure—or at least help to ensure—that users themselves maintained control over the privacy of data stored on the company’s networks and devices; that breaches of security of Facebook servers would not necessarily expose such information; and that both the privacy of this information and the security and reliability of the information would be better protected. Facebook users would have a much greater ability to control how their data is used, who has access to it, with whom it is shared and how it is protected. All of this is part of Facebook’s “Privacy First” program, implemented at least in part because of efforts by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to punish Facebook and impose billions of dollars of fines to the social media giant for not protecting users’ data. As a result, Facebook wants to empower users to encrypt and secure their own data.