July 13 (AZINS) With India pressing for traceability of WhatsApp messages to check the spread of fake news, a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras stressed that the issue can be easily resolved easily. The professor further asserted that without diluting end-to-end encryption, the messages can be traced. It will reportedly not affect the privacy of users, the cited source added.

“When a message is sent from WhatsApp, the identity of the originator can also be revealed along with the message. So the message and the identity of the creator can be seen only by the recipient. When that recipient forwards the message, his/her identity can be revealed to the next recipient,” said V. Kamakoti. 

“In this way, you do not need to break end-to-end encryption and infringe the privacy of anyone and yet make the messages traceable when the investigating agencies want to find out. And this is what we have projected to WhatsApp,” he said. To recall, India started pressing for traceability of WhatsApp messages after several lynching cases last year. The cases were linked to rumors spread on the app.

—Zee Media Newsroom