Social Media Under Threat?

Authorities from the United States and the United Kingdom are on the verge of an agreement that would give them the power to request user data relating to WhatsApp or Facebook messages. The agreement is to be concluded this month, and aims to force the social media platforms to develop ‘back doors’, with both entities serving billions across the globe. These back doors would make it possible for the governments to ‘access’ an account.

Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp both boast end-to-end encryption, which means only the sender and the receiver are privy to the conversation, and this is the crux of the issue – regulators aim to force tech companies to hand over the encryption keys.

The agreement is said to ensure security and battle online paedophilia. But the fear is that this would mean these two governments will have access to the communication of people across the globe, instead of just the two territories under their jurisdiction.

Reading up on our own Constitution regarding privacy, conventional protections of the right to privacy regarding communication or correspondence apply, and these can only be accessed under a court order or by a person with jurisdiction to do so.

However, there seems to be a certain degree of monitoring going on. In a March 2018 report by The Namibian titled ‘The Rise of the Namibian Surveillance State’, it was highlighted that our own government has already been conducting monitoring exercises. Mentions of stockpiling and usage of communications monitoring equipment for interception and surveilance had not been approved by the courts at that stage. However, according to Part 6 of the Communications Act of 2009, telecommunications service providers are obligated to make available relevant data for the monitoring of their customers when the need arises.

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