Oh no, you're thinking, yet another cookie pop-up. Well, sorry, it's the law. We measure how many people read us, and ensure you see relevant ads, by storing cookies on your device. If you're cool with that, hit “Accept all Cookies”. For more info and to customize your settings, hit “Customize Settings”.

Review and manage your consent

Here's an overview of our use of cookies, similar technologies and how to manage them. You can also change your choices at any time, by hitting the “Your Consent Options” link on the site's footer.

Manage Cookie Preferences
  • These cookies are strictly necessary so that you can navigate the site as normal and use all features. Without these cookies we cannot provide you with the service that you expect.

  • These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you. They perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

  • These cookies collect information in aggregate form to help us understand how our websites are being used. They allow us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our sites. If people say no to these cookies, we do not know how many people have visited and we cannot monitor performance.

See also our Cookie policy and Privacy policy.

This article is more than 1 year old

Facebook to kill native chat, bring opt-in crypto to Messenger

Facebook offers choice between bots and spies, or quiet privacy

Facebook will shutter its native message facility, forcing users to install the Messenger client which will sport opt-in end-to-end encryption.

The change brings the ad-slinger inline with Google's Allo chat service, which will activate its privacy conscious mode only if users flick a switch.

That decision won brought derision from privacy pundits who argue end-to-end encryption should be the default state with users opting-out should they wish to use the data-sniffing artificial intelligence features.

End-to-end encryption would effectively black-out conversations to all but sender and recipient, assuming the devices they use are not compromised.

Sources close to Facebook's Messenger client told The Grauniad the Messenger end-to-end encryption client will be released in "coming months".

It is unknown if Facebook will time its torpedoing of the native chat feature with the release of the crypto feature in a bid to placate the privacy crowd.

The client has today been released for the six Windows 10 Mobile users. ®

 

Similar topics

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like