Boris Johnson's Phone Number Leaks: Turns Out He Uses End-To-End Encryption... While Trying To Ban It For Everyone Else
from the good-for-the-goose,-but-fuck-you dept
Well, look at that. The gossip newsletter Popbitch revealed UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's personal phone number (in a somewhat hilarious way). The latest edition included this up at the top:
0ver the last few weeks, Boris Johnson has taken a lot of flak for refusing to change his personal mobile number. Critics say it’s highly irresponsible that any 7om, Dick or Harry could just freely add the PM on WhatsApp and strike up a chat.
8ut then the examples they give in those stories are always extremely wealthy or powerful people. Of course Sir James Dyson moves in circles where the 3M’s number is common knowledge. Obviously Mohammed bin Salman is going to have swapped digits.
It’s not as though the Prime Minister’s personal phone number could just be floating out there on the internet, is it? It would be absolutely insane if it was tacked on to the bottom of an old press release that he dished out freely while MP for Henley, and Shadow Minister for Higher Education.
A press releases which – feasibly – could still exist online. And which any old email newsletter could start p1ssing about with…
You might notice what appear to be typos there, where letters are turned into numbers. Well, there are a few more in the article as well, and... it turns out they are his phone number, which apparently has been easily available on the internet for 15 years, since it was once included in a press release that was sent out when Johnson was an opposition MP. And, as Popbitch noted, he's apparently chosen not to change it.
That, alone, is not really that interesting for a Techdirt audience -- though it does raise at least some concerns about his security practices on that particular phone. But what's much, much more interesting is that a phone number is also your identifier for end-to-end encrypted chat messaging apps including both Signal and WhatsApp. And the brilliant Alec Muffett entered the number into both apps... and found that Boris Johnson appears to be a user of both.
The Prime Minister uses both WhatsApp & Signal, and presumably appreciates the benefits of end-to-end encrypted communication.
Unless the UK moves towards a "one rule for politicians, another for everyone else"-approach, if Boris can have end-to-end encrypted crypto, so can we. pic.twitter.com/LmfLi4SPmv
— Alec Muffett (@AlecMuffett) April 29, 2021
In case you don't know, if you put in the phone number of someone you know, it will tell you if they're on Signal or WhatsApp, and Boris quite clearly was -- though after the press got ahold of this he finally changed his number, despite keeping it for so many years. And thus, as seen in the image both above and below, we know that Boris Johnson has at least set up accounts on both of the major end-to-end encrypted messaging platforms:
Questions, some constitutional:
1/ does Boris have "disappearing messages" enabled?
2/ is there a legal obligation for communications retention by the Prime Minister?
3/ if so, how is this implemented?
Inquiring minds wish to know... pic.twitter.com/NdFbvRQKho
— Alec Muffett (@AlecMuffett) April 29, 2021
Alec checked a few other services that use phone numbers as an identifier, and found no evidence of Johnson on Telegram or SnapChat. However, his use of Signal and WhatsApp is especially interesting, given that his government is working overtime to ban encryption for consumers. There was reporting just a few weeks ago that a bunch of Ministers were using both Signal and WhatsApp while still being a part of the government trying to ban encryption, but having Boris Johnson being among them really takes this all to a whole new level.
It truly shows how hypocritical they are, recognizing the value of such private messaging in their own lives, while trying to block others from using it.
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Filed Under: boris johnson, encryption, for the children, going dark, hypocrite, phone number, uk
Companies: signal, whatsapp
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That crazy idea I had that we shoudl force them to live for 3 years under the rules they wish to impose on us first.
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This is why I find every government's attempts to ban E2E (in some cases sneakily wording it to SAY they're not banning it but effectively banning it) so hollow and unjustified.
So they can have encryption and be opaque but OUR lives have to be transparent for their convenience? Uh huh. Rules for thee, not for me much?
I agree with TAC, if they want to ban E2E then they should lead by example and live under the same rules they wish to impose upon us, no exceptions.
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no surprise here! it's no different to every other government! they'ree all doing the same thing, not to 'think of the children' or anyone else, only themselves and their rich and powerful friends while putting all of the ordinary people, everywhere, under the spotlight and, inevetibly, under the cosh! all politicians and government representatives wanna remain annonymous and keep all teir dealings secret but need to know who is looking into what they're doing!
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Murderous dictator Vladimir Putin is like a cow: on one teat is mass-murdering traitor Donald Trump, and on the other is considerably more intelligent traitor Boris Johnson.
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Re:
Cows generally have four teats, so you left out a couple of traitors. Unless - maybe you're thinking of Putin as a goat ?
All right, this is definitely a non-value-added post LOL
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'Privacy is paramount! ... but only for us.'
Few things are guaranteed in life but one thing that is always a safe bet is that the same people trying to gut encryption and/or privacy will themselves be making use of it.
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Re:
Call it the 'You First' rule and I imagine it would scythe the number of laws proposed to a relative handful overnight.
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Is it hypocricy if
they believe the use of encryption is only good for covertly conducting in criminal and terroristic activity but they use it anyway?
At least we give them the benefit of reasonable doubt by suggesting this is a contradiction. We believe it is because we know better, but the possibility it is not a contradiction to them is a far scarier notion.
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Up news on breaking news: Internet Rando phones prime minister.
Heavy breathing, dirty talk and offers of a sexual nature. And that was just the stuff Boris said.....
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No, but it does come off as a confession…
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Microsoft extension for E2E available
Apparently now you can integrate Microsoft Office into your E2E apps, giving you a WhatsApp Doc, although they still have to iron out the Bugs. Unless that's just some FUDD.
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