142
FTC says Amazon executives destroyed potential evidence by using apps like Signal (www.theverge.com)
submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
12 comments fedilink hide all child comments

“Are you feeling encrypted?”

top 12 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] [email protected] 45 points 4 months ago

Amazon is just one of several companies recently accused of turning to encrypted messaging apps like Signal that can permanently erase messages automatically.

You may recall the government making similar arguments about Sam Bankman-Fried’s use of Signal during his trial for fraud and how that verdict eventually shook out. Deleted chats were also a sticking point for at least one juror in Google’s recent courtroom loss to Epic Games and came up in the DOJ’s antitrust trial against Google.

So are they using these trials in their crusade against encryption and having articles like this in hopes of turning the public against it? Because it looks like it to me.

The FTC’s lawyers say Bezos, current CEO Andy Jassy, general counsel David Zapolsky, former CEO of worldwide operations Dave Clark, and other execs are all Signal users. Bezos is identified in the document as “a heavy Signal user” who instructed others to use the app, although the 2018 hacking of his personal cellphone may be part of the reason for that.

Then a few paragraphs later they reveal Bezos has been an encryption fan and user of the service for 5+ years while trying to get others to use it... I get it, Amazon is doing shady shit, but this feels to me like the government is trying to get encryption frowned upon.

[-] [email protected] 40 points 4 months ago

When the government says to start preserving records, you start preserving records.

There is no need to pretend this is some government posture over secure messaging. This literally about the lack of saving those messages. How they were sent is irrelevant as long as a copy can be provided.

[-] [email protected] 22 points 4 months ago

I see.

And because Amazon didn’t instruct employees to preserve messages sent in the app until more than 15 months after it was notified of the investigation

I somehow misconstrued this line into thinking they had been using it for those 15 months and were then notified they weren't supposed to. I screwed up there.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

That is missing from every headline, and sub headline on this story wherever it is submitted.

Thank you for pointing it out .

[-] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago

US government is definitely against encryption, but there is a difference between using encryption/disappearing messages when you are not indicted and when you are indicted. First one is fine, second one is against the 18 U.S. Code § 1519 law.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Depends on when you started using it, when you were served with a notice to retain, and whether you used Signal to discuss content that falls under said notice.

Either way, encryption and/or auto-delete isn’t the enemy here.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

They used it for 15 months after being given notice to retain. It's in the article.

And by the function of disappearing messages you can't know the content, so courts in almost all cases notify the jury that information destroyed was negative for the defendant.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Yep, totally agree. Just pointing out that the tech is not the enemy here, it’s the intent of the user(s). I’m a big fan of Signal, and they’ve done nothing wrong here, though to some the headline could imply that the tool is complicit here.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

Does this work for drug dealers or just rich businesses executives‽

[-] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

The realest criminals

[-] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Relevant song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJFZodY9jp0

Alt: https://piped.video/watch?v=VJFZodY9jp0

~CC~ ~BY-NC-SA~ ~4.0~

[-] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

https://www.piped.video/watch?v=VJFZodY9jp0

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

this post was submitted on 27 Apr 2024
142 points (97.3% liked)

Technology

1189 readers
322 users here now

Which posts fit here?

Anything that is at least tangentially connected to the technology, social media platforms, informational technologies and tech policy.

Rules

1. English onlyTitle and associated content has to be in English.
2. Use original linkPost URL should be the original link to the article (even if paywalled) and archived copies left in the body. It allows avoiding duplicate posts when cross-posting.
3. Respectful communicationAll communication has to be respectful of differing opinions, viewpoints, and experiences.
4. InclusivityEveryone is welcome here regardless of age, body size, visible or invisible disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, caste, color, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.
5. Ad hominem attacksAny kind of personal attacks are expressly forbidden. If you can't argue your position without attacking a person's character, you already lost the argument.
6. Off-topic tangentsStay on topic. Keep it relevant.
7. Instance rules may applyIf something is not covered by community rules, but are against lemmy.zip instance rules, they will be enforced.

Companion communities

[email protected]
[email protected]

Icon attribution | Banner attribution

founded 10 months ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]