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In a social world where bite-sized memes influence geopolitics, what we share publically and privately is important.
For those of us living in sea suburbs with empty baches, we can dance, sing and have yarns on the deck like nobody’s watching. But if you really want it to be private, you need to go behind closed doors. Digitally, I can post publicly on social media, but when I message colleagues, friends or family I expect it to be private. In reality, your SMS and direct messages can be read by service providers, advertisers and organisations.
Here’s some messaging apps that keep your conversations private by using an encryption tool. It doesn’t mean you have anything to hide, it’s just like sending a sealed letter instead of a postcard:
• Signal and WhatsApp are encrypted instant messaging apps
• Secret Conversations for those who already using Facebook messenger
• Google’s Allo app has an incognito mode and you can control how long your messages stick around with expiring chats.Keep in mind your conversations are still only as private as the person you are messaging. They could choose to share the conversation with others by simply taking a screenshot.
• Secret Conversations for those who already using Facebook messenger
• Google’s Allo app has an incognito mode and you can control how long your messages stick around with expiring chats.Keep in mind your conversations are still only as private as the person you are messaging. They could choose to share the conversation with others by simply taking a screenshot.
You can read about messaging apps, and their security, on the Electronic Frontier Foundation secure messaging scorecard. Also see the InternetNZ document on global mass surveillance and privacy. Read this column at localmatters.co.nz for related links, videos and infographics.
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