(The very first version of this article was originally written to convince a WeChat user to switch to better alternatives, hence the examples are all around WeChat. Originally written in 2014)
The content we produce on instant messaging applications such as WeChat might not matter at the time, but can you guarantee it won’t matter in 5 years, 10 years or any time in the future? The contents might not matter to us, but what if the topic of discussion was a third person or some organisation? What we think is non-sensitive information might not apply to others.
In this day and age, information is power. Instant messaging services probably collect a plethora of information. They can link mobile numbers and email accounts to real names. Build relationship graphs from your contacts list. Look at what time a user comes online, goes offline, logs in from a different location to figure out your living habits. That is excluding storing and mining the contents of the conversations. Even if companies providing the service like Tencent or governments have no harmful intentions, it is impossible to guarantee that the information will not be leaked to an adversary in the future. People like journalists, politicians and businessmen, and their friends, will be the first to be targeted by their opponents.
The Dutch stored religious beliefs of all of their citizens with no ill will. Then the Nazis came along and that information made their job a breeze. Later when Stasi controlled Germany, everybody was living in fear because almost everybody was either a spy or a target of a spy. You cannot trust your own neighbour. Maybe they were a friendly neighbour but the government blackmailed them using information that was collected prior and forced them to share information about you.
This is the world we’re heading towards, where governments and big corporations are collection a huge amount of information. It’s only a matter of time before they start to use those information to influence politics, economics, sciences, thus destroying democracy. Maybe to a certain extent, this kind of practice already started. More than ever, we need secure, privacy-focused communication software, so the citizens can take back their power.