Artificial intelligence, lack of data privacy awareness and regulatory pressure are among the biggest threats to the future of private text messaging, say Alex Linton and Chris McCabe, principals of the decentralized messaging app.
The EU’s efforts to mandate the scanning of private messages through chat control laws have been met with pointed criticism from privacy advocates, but Linton, president of the Session Technology Foundation, told Cointelegraph that artificial intelligence is the next front that needs to be pushed back.
AI’s ability to analyze information on a device and store it creates “huge privacy and security issues,” and the ability to communicate privately could become essentially “impossible to do on the average cell phone or the average computer,” Linton said.
“If it is integrated at the operating system level or higher, it may also be able to completely bypass encryption in the messaging app, that information could be sent to the black box AI and from there God knows what will happen to it,” he added.
“It’s important that we push back against this type of deep AI integration into all of our devices because at that point you just don’t know what’s going on on your device.”
Linton said the problem can often be exacerbated when lawmakers seek advice on how to address privacy concerns from the tech giants that are responsible for foisting technology on users in the first place.
How your online data is used
McCabe, co-founder of Session, said many people are unaware of how their data is stored and used online, as well as the dangers of mass data collection by huge tech companies.
Creator of ChatGPT OpenAI revealed last month that an attacker had breached a third-party data analytics provider, exposing some of its users’ data, which it warned could be used for phishing or social engineering attacks.
The currently deactivated chatbot function has also appeared found to share chat history on the open web.
“A lot of people aren’t aware of what happens to their data, how, what can actually be done with someone else’s data and how much money can be made from it,” McCabe said.
He added that data can be used to “manipulate people with advertising or do things they don’t even realize they’re doing or don’t want to do based on their data.”
Linton added that a key part of their work is raising awareness, making people aware of privacy as an issue and helping them understand the tools available.
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Cypherpunk values are rooted in the foundations of cryptocurrencies: privacy, sovereignty, decentralization.
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“If you’re in the business of building encrypted messaging, or building encrypted tools in general, there’s a lot of pressure. Proposed or enacted legislation is being adopted in many jurisdictions,” Linton said. “This could result in a lot of negative media attention.”
“People working on this technology feel this pressure, so it’s important for the general public to know that these tools are trying to help. They’re trying to protect your information. They’re trying to make the internet space a better place.”
From part-time tech geeks to full-time privacy advocates
McCabe said the idea for Session came from a desire to employ decentralized technology in a meaningful way and combat privacy concerns.
He was an electrician in his spare time and a part-time “tech geek” in his spare time, but being laid off from work allowed him to “commit fully to Web3” and he started creating Session in 2018.
Linton, also a self-confessed “part-time tech geek,” was a journalist for Australia’s national broadcaster ABC and learned first-hand why private communications are so vital.
The session is open source and uses end-to-end encryption, which means only the sender and recipient can read the messages.
McCabe said it was designed to remove the usual identifiers and metadata that established messengers rely on, such as phone numbers, and has no central servers.
Related: Cypherpunk Values Are Dying, But ‘Not Dead Yet’
“It’s simply removing the entire middleman. If you’re concerned about censorship or control or sovereignty, removing the middleman is the key to achieving that goal, and that’s what we did,” he said.
Session was one of two crypto messaging apps that received support from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin last month, with a total of $760,000 in Ether and a recommendation to try them out.
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