RTI Activist from Gurgaon has filed a petition in Supreme Court of India, seeking a complete ban on Whatsapp. This special petition has been filed after Whatsapp decided to encrypt all messages on its platform.Sudhir had first requested information on Whatsapp’s encryption rules under RTI Laws; but when he was not able to get any information, he decided to knock the doors of Supreme Court seeking a ban on Whatsapp.As per the RTI Request Registration number DOTEL/R/2016/50413, a copy of which is with us, Sudhir asked, “Kindly Provide me copy of the written permission given to WhatsApp Mobile messaging app for using the 256-bit key length encryption (or more than 40 bit key lengths) in chatting application.”In return, he received a reply: “No such Information exist in this office.”As per RTI Activist he wants to ban Whatsapp because they have decided to encrypt all messages exchanged on their platform; and in case any terrorist is chatting through Whatsapp and making plans to harm India, then Indian Police/Intelligence wont be able to read those messages, and take suitable action.In other words, Whatsapp is being challenged because it’s a threat to India’s security.
We had recently covered the news that Whatsapp will now use 256 bit encryption for all messages on their platform; and the key using which these messages can be decrypted doesn’t exist. Hence, even if Whatsapp wants to decrypt any message, they can’t.
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