Estate Living Magazine Develop - Issue 44 August 2019 | Page 60

L I V E
S M A R T
ENCRYPTION
One of the most enticing features of WhatsApp is its offer of end-to-end encryption. This has ensured that
our most personal conversations, and our treasured photographs of children and grandchildren, would be
safely sent to family members and friends in a closed and safe communication loop.
But when Brian Acton (co-founder of WhatsApp) left
Facebook, he made the dramatic statement that
he had ‘sold my users’ privacy to a larger benefit.
I made a choice and a compromise. I live with that
every day.’ Suddenly, the encryption of our personal
communication became a huge concern. Later, Brian
Acton doubled down and appealed to Facebook
users to delete Facebook.
This is part of a conversation that is as old as social
media, but is more urgent as algorithms, machine
learning and AI begin not only to dominate what is
sold to us, but also create individualised personae
of who we are. Some in the community liken this to a
Minority Report state in which one is guilty before the
crime occurs. The recent documentary The Great
Hack has made the conversation around privacy
both urgent and public. A closer-to-home example of
private data being used to manipulate the public is
the case of Bell Pottinger. Two years ago the full extent
of Bell Pottinger’s manipulation of South Africans through the
use of PR campaigns, fake social media accounts and bots that
used personal information to categorise us and then manipulate
us was exposed, and led to a global investigation into the firm.
Encryption is not just about our data being used to create a
digital version of ourselves from which we will be shortlisted
for potential work, advertised to on social media and digital
platforms, and given health advice, but also about our physical
environment. Some criminals are even using baby monitors and
security cameras to hack into homes.
Much like virus protection, the future might be one in which
we encrypt our personal spaces including our homes, personal
devices and, eventually, our modes of transport.
So, as the world becomes more connected, encryption
becomes more complex. Some of the latest developments
include quantum, homomorphic and biometric encryption, and
wearable two-factor authentication.