• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, April 6, 2016

At a time when digital security is top of mind for many consumers, WhatsApp is rolling out what it calls “end-to-end encryption.”

“When you send a message, the only person who can read it is the person or group chat that you send that message to,” WhatsApp co-founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton explain in a co-authored blog post. “No one can see inside that message. Not cybercriminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. Not even us.”

The genius behind the default feature is its sheer simplicity. “If you're using the latest version of WhatsApp, you don't have to do a thing to encrypt your messages,” Koum and Acton note. “End-to-end encryption is on by default and all the time.”

With the new offering, however, WhatsApp is walking right into a raging debate that, in the minds of many, pits citizens’ right to privacy against national security interests.

In fact, WhatsApp -- and parent company Facebook -- seem to be itching for a fight on par with the ongoing battle between Apple and the feds.

Indeed, Facebook is reportedly developing its own encryption feature that will allow people to send secret messages to each other on its massively popular Messenger app.

Why now? Well, as I said, security is presently on the minds of many consumers.

Maybe Facebook wants more credit for standing up for consumers’ privacy rights. Or, perhaps the social giant thinks a blowout with the Justice Department would provide a good smokescreen for its own obsession with consumer data.   

Either way, the matter is clearly a personal one for Koum. As he notes: “I grew up in the USSR during Communist rule, and the fact that people couldn't speak freely is one of the reasons my family moved to the United States.”