When a friend visits your home, you probably take for granted that your conversations are private. You probably expect your neighbors not to listen in on your conversation. You probably don’t keep track of who comes and goes, at what date and time, how long they stayed, or transcribe and store every word of your conversation.

Do you have the same expectations for your digital conversations? Probably not. Do your habits with technology reflect a similar expectation of privacy? Probably not. Here are three questions to ask of your messaging applications for those who wish to bring more privacy to their digital habits.

Does it use end-to-end encryption?

End-to-end encryption (E2EE) in a messaging application is a way to ensure that the content of your chats can only be accessed by yourself and the party you are talking with.

Why is it free?

Nothing is truly free, at least not on the Internet. If you don’t pay for a service or a product, it is very likely that you are the product. Find out how the company is funded. Where is the money coming from? What are the company’s long-term goals?

Do the terms of service promote privacy?

Even though the contents of your conversations may be private, there is still a lot of metadata that could be extracted from your use of messaging applications. Always comb through the terms of use, or terms of service etc., to determine how the company uses your data, what data they collect, how they collect it, and whether they share it with third parties.

Recommended Messaging Application

I recommend this privacy-focused messaging application: Signal. It is an open-source option that I’ve used for a long time now. Visit their website for more information and to download it: https://signal.org/

How does it stack up against these three questions?

• Signal uses end-to-end encryption.
• Signal is made by the Signal Technology Foundation. It is an American non-profit organization. Its mission is “To develop open source privacy technology that protects free expression and enables secure global communication.” Visit the Signal Foundation here: https://signalfoundation.org/
• Signal’s terms & privacy policy state: “Signal does not sell, rent or monetize your personal data or content in any way – ever.” Read the policy here: https://signal.org/legal/