{"id":56354,"date":"2024-06-18T13:44:38","date_gmt":"2024-06-18T13:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/packetstormsecurity.com\/news\/view\/36010\/Encryption-Is-Deeply-Threatening-To-Power.html"},"modified":"2024-06-18T13:44:38","modified_gmt":"2024-06-18T13:44:38","slug":"encryption-is-deeply-threatening-to-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/encryption-is-deeply-threatening-to-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Encryption Is Deeply Threatening To Power"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Meredith Whittaker practises what she preaches. As the president of the Signal Foundation, she\u2019s a strident voice backing privacy for all. But she doesn\u2019t just spout \u00adhollow words.<\/p>\n

In 2018, she burst into public view as one of the organisers of the Google walkouts<\/a>, mobilising 20,000 employees of the search giant in a twin protest over the company\u2019s support for state surveillance and failings over sexual misconduct.<\/p>\n

Even now, after half a decade in the public eye, with \u00adcongressional testimonies, university professorships and federal agency advisory roles under her belt, Whittaker is still firmly privacy-conscious.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not unusual for business leaders to politely deflect the question when asked about their pay for the CV that accompanies these interviews, for instance. It\u2019s somewhat less common to flatly refuse to comment on their age and family. \u201cAs a privacy advocate, Whittaker doesn\u2019t answer personal questions that could be used to deduce her passwords or \u2018secret answers\u2019 for her bank authentication,\u201d a staff member says after the interview. \u201cShe encourages others to follow suit!\u201d<\/p>\n

When she left Google, Whittaker shared a note internally that made it clear that she was committed to working on the ethical deployment of artificial intelligence and organising an \u201caccountable tech industry\u201d. She said: \u201cIt\u2019s clear Google isn\u2019t a place where I can continue this work.\u201d That clarity, and lack of willingness to compromise, has led to Signal.<\/p>\n

The Signal Foundation, created in 2017 with $50m in funding from WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton, exists to \u201cprotect free expression and enable secure global communication through open source privacy technology\u201d.<\/p>\n