Some politicians would like nothing more than to control access to certain applications and web pages; some already do, in fact. WhatsApp, one of the most popular messaging apps on the planet, is often a target, but security measures such as end-to-end encryption prevent attackers from reading chat and group content.
[WhatsApp se actualiza para que puedas enviarte un mensaje a ti mismo y más]
For this reason, the most extreme measure they usually take is complete or partial blocking of internet connections, normally with a command to operators. Even if it is not possible to read the content of a WhatsApp message, it can be identified as such and its transfer on the Internet can be blocked; this is what the Iranian government did after the death of Mahsa Amini, in an attempt (ultimately futile) to prevent the organization of demonstrations throughout the country.
Using WhatsApp even if it is blocked will be possible
Although Meta did not say so explicitly, the latest feature announced for WhatsApp seems to have been born in response to this event in Iran, since it allows users to bypass the government blockade, bypassing this type of preventive measures.
Concretely, the novelty is that WhatsApp now allows us to connect by proxy instead of doing it directly through our operator’s network, which will allow you to continue using the service even if the connection has been blocked or otherwise affected. A proxy connection involves the use of a third-party server that acts as an intermediary to the final destination, in this case the WhatsApp servers.
The company won’t offer these servers directly, but will allow users to connect with proxies they’ve already configured and possibly used. An important detail is that the proxy connection will not imply a reduction in security and confidentiality, since the messages will continue to be end-to-end encrypted, and the server owner will not be able to read messages
The new option to connect to proxy servers with WhatsApp
This novelty represents an important policy change for Meta, which until now had completely rejected the use of proxy servers and VPNs in its services; but now the company says it wants to “put the power in the hands of the people” to maintain access to WhatsApp.
For the average user, this doesn’t make a huge difference, because in practice the service works exactly the same as before; only one option has been opened which will be useful in case we find ourselves in a country that block access to whatsapp. It will be in the “Storage & Data” section in the Settings app for iOS and Android.
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