New Delhi: The leaked WhatsApp chats of Bollywood celebrities, pertaining to alleged consumption and procurement of drugs in the film industry, have raised doubts over digital privacy and Facebook’s end-to-end encryption claim.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has relied heavily on WhatsApp chats between individuals in its drug probe. It was ED that first seized and cloned the cell phones of Rhea Chakraborty and later, the same data was used by NCB in its investigation. This process has helped it to access the WhatsApp chats of filmstars as well.
WHATSAPP CLARIFICATION
In a late-night statement on Thursday, WhatsApp spokesperson said, “WhatsApp protects your messages with end-to-end encryption so that only you and the person you’re communicating with can read what is sent, and nobody in between can access it, not even WhatsApp. It’s important to remember that people sign up on WhatsApp using only a phone number, and WhatsApp doesn’t have access to your message content.
“WhatsApp follows guidance provided by operating system manufacturers for on-device storage and we encourage people to take advantage of all the security features provided by operating systems such as strong passwords or biometric IDs to prevent third parties from accessing content stored on device.”
HOW TO ACCESS ENCRYPTED WHATSAPP DATA
According to an IANS report, security and investigating agencies can take a user’s phone and create a ‘clone’ of it on another device. This gives them access even to deleted messages with a ‘mirror image’ of a phone after which all data can be transferred to the separate device.
“Thereafter, it is only a matter of retrieving data which agencies do by involving forensic experts. They retrieve all kinds of data like phone call records, messages, images, WhatsApp chats, as well as the data on the phone’s Cloud service, like Google Drive or iCloud, including anything that has been deleted,” it added.
BOLLYWOOD DRUG-NEXUS PROBE
Jaya Saha, who was Sushant Singh Rajput’s talent manager, came under NCB scanner after a chat about drugs between her and Rhea was accessed by the ED.
The NCB then retrieved her WhatsApp chats. A part of the Kwan Talent Management Agency, she was also on this WhatsApp group with Deepika and Karishma.
The agency is now probing whether Jaya procured narcotics and banned drugs for these celebrities.
They, however, can argue that the phone was not used by them during the chat. Or as Rhea said that it was Sushant who asked her to send those messages from her phone, the IANS report added.
The NCB has summoned actors Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan and Shraddha Kapoor to appear at its Mumbai office on Saturday in connection with the drugs case. Actor Rakul Preet Singh is set to appear before the NCB on Friday.
CHATS CONTENTS ON SERVERS
According to an India Today report, the instant messaging service had informed the court in the US about keeping metadata of the user data including those associated with phone numbers during a conversation, time and duration of the conversation, IP addresses and data used to identify the user’s phone details.
“In the US, law enforcement agencies have obtained such data from WhatsApp through court proceedings and WhatsApp parent company admittedly accepts and rejects data requests from law enforcement. A WhatsApp spokesperson did not comment when asked about what kind of data it provides to law enforcement agencies in India,” the report added.
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