Only one in 250 people understood how end-to-end encryption secures the privacy of their chats on messaging apps and are willing to pay some amount to protect their conversations, a study has found.
"Understanding Consumers Perspective on Encryption in India," by Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS International), had 2,113 respondents aged between 18 and 65.
All respondents-- an almost equal number of males and females--used WhatsApp, 20 per cent used Telegram, 8 per cent used iMessage, 2 per cent used Signal, 1 per cent used Viber, and 2 per cent used Line. People are willing to pay Re 1 per day, on an average, to secure their conversations, said the study.
Encryption is the practice of scrambling data to make it unintelligible for even the service providers. It keeps conversations private but has equally been abused for the spread of fake news and criminal activity. Technologists and privacy experts have always argued that breaking encryption is the first step towards government surveillance on its own citizens.
The new social media rules, notified by the government last month, also ask platforms like WhatsApp to identify the originator of content. Even though IT minister Ravi Shanker Prasad said the government would only want intermediaries to identify the originator and not the content of problematic messages, Facebook-owned WhatsApp has earlier said that attributing messages on the platform would undermine the end-to-end encryption, and its private nature, leading to possibilities of being misused.
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU