The ongoing debate about data security and encryption is crossing the borders of the United States as Brazilian authorities recently arrested Facebook Latin America vice president Diego Dzodan. The Facebook vice president was arrested when the company was unable to provide the data requested by a Brazilian court.
According to CDA News, an ongoing drug trafficking investigation is requesting WhatsApp, a company owned by Facebook, to intercept messages that goes through its platform. Facebook denied to provide these data claiming that all messages that pass through WhatsApp are encrypted and acquiring them are very hard. Moreover, the social networking giant claims that hacking these messages will violate user security and privacy.
The latest incident involving Facebook is just one of the many ongoing cases where government authorities are forcing tech companies to hack or bypass their own security protocols in hopes of getting information that might help ongoing criminal investigations.
Messaging platforms like WhatsApp, which uses secure encryption methods are becoming a popular outlet for civilians to use as a secure way of communication. On the other hand, the same secure platforms are also used by users who have malicious and sometimes criminal intents.
It is important to note that Facebook and WhatsApp are very popular social networking and messaging platforms not only in Brazil but also in other parts of the world. Reports claim that WhatsApp alone have more than 100 million users in Brazil.
In a statement acquired by The Washington Post, Facebook claims that it is "disappointed with the extreme and disproportionate measure of having a Facebook executive escorted to a police station in connection with a case involving WhatsApp, which operations separately from Facebook."
The Brazilian police said in a statement that the information requested out of WhatsApp is critical into its ongoing investigation about organized crime and drug trafficking in the country. The authorities added that Dzodan will remain in the custody of the Federal Police in Sao Paulo, a decision imposed by the country's justice system.
In December 2015, WhatsApp operation was temporarily disrupted for 24 hours when the company failed to provide information requested by the authorities regarding a separate criminal investigation.