So, a miracle is taking place in the IT support world. After years of scandal and scrutiny, from Russia hacking allegations to Cambridge Analytica, Facebook vows to do something about it. Now, Facebook cares about your privacy.
So on Wednesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared his plan to make Facebook more secure for all. This includes encrypting messages. This also could include combining Facebook services. I’m talking about things like WhatsApp and Instagram. Also, soon you can send messages using SMS (short message service). But this will be an optional service. There’s a reason why Facebook would merger it’s big 3 services. It’s because by combining the 3, you can send encrypted messages.
As of now, you can’t do that. Zuckerberg himself said the three fastest features have to do with privacy. They are small chat, private messaging and diapering content. Then there is the Stories feature. You tell your story in moving still pictures. But these stories disappear? in 24 hours after you put them up. With post you write, they can stay up there forever. Maybe that’s why 500 million are using the Instagram Stories app. He also stated that people should feel comfortable about posting. They shouldn’t have to fear what might happen later.
But some people are still skeptical. One senator from Hawaii tweeted his praise for the encryption, he was cynical about the privacy. But I say let’s give this a try. It’s a start, and a good one. The conference I saw Wednesday was a good one. Zuckerberg said the right things and made good promises. Can he keep them? IT service companies have let us down before. That’s why so many are so cynical. Maybe recent hackings and scandals woke him up. Who knows, maybe it will wake up other Silicon Valley leaders as well. Now, Facebook cares about your privacy. But is it because they have to now?