What a Chat App Can Be Forced to Hand Over
Same court order, sent to two apps. The answers couldn't be more different. One comes back as a thick file, and the other as two dates. What can most apps be made to hand over? Quite a lot more than โฆ
Tag: metadata
Encryption Hides What You Say, Not Who You Talk To
"It's encrypted, so I'm totally safe." Most of us have said some version of that line and relaxed. It is half true, and the missing half is the part worth understanding. What does encryption actually protect? Encryption scrambles your message โฆ
3.5 Billion Accounts, and What Actually Leaked
Most of us have received that forward warning about a WhatsApp hack. Usually it is nonsense. This one was not, and the number is genuinely hard to take in. What was the number again? Roughly 3.5 billion accounts. That is โฆ
Four Messages Can Tell Your Whole Story
"It's just who I messaged, not what I said." Almost everybody says this, and it sounds reasonable. Let me show you why it falls apart. What can four messages reveal? Picture two ordinary days on somebody's phone. Message one goes โฆ
Your Phone Learns From You Even When You Say Nothing
We picture tracking as somebody reading what we write. So we watch our words, and feel careful. The truth is that your silence is just as readable. What can my habits give away? When you are online and when you โฆ
How a Call Log Can Reveal a Diagnosis
Think about a single morning of phone calls. Not the words in them, only the numbers dialled. That short list can say something you have not told a soul. What do four calls look like from outside? The first call โฆ
How Your Phone Maps Your Home, Work and Friends
Your phone does not need to follow you around with a map open. It only needs to notice where it sits still. What does my phone's location really give away? Where your phone rests every night is your home. Where โฆ
Same Encryption Does Not Mean Same Privacy
Somebody always says it in the group chat. Signal and WhatsApp use the same encryption. So they must be equally private. It is a fair thing to assume. The answer is not in the messages at all. Are the messages โฆ
What a 50-Person Group Chat Gives Away About You
Somebody added you to a group with fifty people in it. You joined for the memes and the forwards. You never thought about what else you were handing over. What does a big group chat expose? Every number in that โฆ
A List of Call Times Can Tell Your Whole Story
"They can't read my messages, so I'm fine." Here is the problem with that. They do not need to. What is metadata in plain English? Metadata is the record of who you contacted, when, and for how long. Not one โฆ