So, this is probably dumb but could their whole argument be that it’s E2EE from your phone to their server, which unpacks it and reads it, then repackages it and E2EE from the server to the recipient while the AI sends the summary back to you E2EE from the server?
It’s so stupid, but I could see their marketing saying that it’s technically E2EE just with a…detour (e.g., we don’t say the whole process was E2EE in one trip).
Once again, I’m not sticking up for them. I am just trying to wrap my head around how they could justify this shit at all.
There is no justification. The “Ends” in E2EE mean the initial sender, and intended recipient. The “transport” should have zero insight into the content. Encrypting a message to the servers is standard even for “non-private” messaging services, it’s usually done with SSL (part of HTTPS).
Lets compare it to traditional mail. If you send something, the postal company can always just open your mail and read it. With computers, we have black magic (E2EE) that physically prevents the postal company from doing that. In this hypothetical, Facebook (owner of WhatsApp) is the company that provides you with the pen and paper (the app), and is a postal company (their servers). They promise that the black magic on the paper prevents them from reading what you wrote, but then they clearly read the content of your letter to send you a summary of the conversation.
Mid-message quick edit: They could’ve also done something to the pen (other parts of the app) to have it tell them what you wrote. This would mean the black magic (E2EE) is applied, but is completely useless. (End of edit)
If the process for making the pen and paper (the app) was publicly known (open source), you could make your own, and be sure the black magic (E2EE) is applied properly. That way you can be certain the postal company (servers) can’t read your letter, only the recipient can.
If the postal company gives you the pen and paper without telling you how to make it, it’s nearly impossible to tell if the black magic was applied properly.
Thank you for that explanation!
So, this is probably dumb but could their whole argument be that it’s E2EE from your phone to their server, which unpacks it and reads it, then repackages it and E2EE from the server to the recipient while the AI sends the summary back to you E2EE from the server?
It’s so stupid, but I could see their marketing saying that it’s technically E2EE just with a…detour (e.g., we don’t say the whole process was E2EE in one trip).
Once again, I’m not sticking up for them. I am just trying to wrap my head around how they could justify this shit at all.
There is no justification. The “Ends” in E2EE mean the initial sender, and intended recipient. The “transport” should have zero insight into the content. Encrypting a message to the servers is standard even for “non-private” messaging services, it’s usually done with SSL (part of HTTPS).
Lets compare it to traditional mail. If you send something, the postal company can always just open your mail and read it. With computers, we have black magic (E2EE) that physically prevents the postal company from doing that. In this hypothetical, Facebook (owner of WhatsApp) is the company that provides you with the pen and paper (the app), and is a postal company (their servers). They promise that the black magic on the paper prevents them from reading what you wrote, but then they clearly read the content of your letter to send you a summary of the conversation.
Mid-message quick edit: They could’ve also done something to the pen (other parts of the app) to have it tell them what you wrote. This would mean the black magic (E2EE) is applied, but is completely useless. (End of edit)
If the process for making the pen and paper (the app) was publicly known (open source), you could make your own, and be sure the black magic (E2EE) is applied properly. That way you can be certain the postal company (servers) can’t read your letter, only the recipient can.
If the postal company gives you the pen and paper without telling you how to make it, it’s nearly impossible to tell if the black magic was applied properly.