Brazilian court freezes $6M in Facebook funds in fight over WhatsApp encryption
Over $6 million in Facebook's Brazilian bank accounts has been reportedly frozen, following a fresh court order in disputes over encrypted WhatsApp conversations.
A judge issued the order because of refusals by Facebook-owned WhatsApp to turn over messages related to an international cocaine smuggling ring, under investigation since January, said Brazil's Globo G1 as quoted by Reuters. Demands for the data have been ongoing for five months, and the amount frozen is equivalent to accumulated fines.
Since WhatsApp doesn't have accounts of its own in Brazil, the order was directed against Facebook. Notably, though, the court didn't issue a temporary service shutdown, something tried as recently as May in a separate WhatsApp-related legal battle. That ruling was overturned in 24 hours.
WhatsApp has run into repeated legal trouble in Brazil, including a previous shutdown in December 2015, and the March 2016 arrest of Facebook's Latin American VP, Diego Dzodan. Dzodan was released just a day later following an appeals court ruling.
WhatsApp has insisted that it's technically unfeasible for it to hand over conversation data, since it doesn't save client messages and couldn't decrypt them anyway. In April it moreover implemented end-to-end encryption for all communications, going beyond just one-on-one text messaging and VoIP calls.
A judge issued the order because of refusals by Facebook-owned WhatsApp to turn over messages related to an international cocaine smuggling ring, under investigation since January, said Brazil's Globo G1 as quoted by Reuters. Demands for the data have been ongoing for five months, and the amount frozen is equivalent to accumulated fines.
Since WhatsApp doesn't have accounts of its own in Brazil, the order was directed against Facebook. Notably, though, the court didn't issue a temporary service shutdown, something tried as recently as May in a separate WhatsApp-related legal battle. That ruling was overturned in 24 hours.
WhatsApp has run into repeated legal trouble in Brazil, including a previous shutdown in December 2015, and the March 2016 arrest of Facebook's Latin American VP, Diego Dzodan. Dzodan was released just a day later following an appeals court ruling.
WhatsApp has insisted that it's technically unfeasible for it to hand over conversation data, since it doesn't save client messages and couldn't decrypt them anyway. In April it moreover implemented end-to-end encryption for all communications, going beyond just one-on-one text messaging and VoIP calls.
Comments
Since Facebook saves no messages and all messages are end-to-end encrypted, then Facebook should simply say it doesn't have anything to give the court.
If the judge whines, then he is looks like a fool.
Johnson-Weld 2016!
http://Johnsonweld.com
$6 million is a rounding error for Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg is probably digging in between the seat cushions on his sofas at home to scrounge up $6 million. The Brazilian government won't be able to make Facebook cripple WhatsApp's encryption over $6 million. For that matter, unless the Brazilian government decides to become a card-carrying authoritarian regime, it's not going to be able to get away with making Facebook cripple encryption for WhatsApp.