Recently, a deportation case in India drew a lot of attention due to the involvement of the WhatsApp messaging app. It was through the application's call log that the country's authorities were able to find the young Iqra Jeewani and, consequently, deport her. As a result, discussions about the safety of the Whatsapp entered the agenda with the objective of understanding how safe their users are.
WhatsApp stars in the case of deportation in India and its security is debated
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Iqra Jeewani, a 19-year-old Pakistani girl, went through a tense moment that is perhaps the most significant in her life. After getting involved with a young Indian, she decided to live illegally with him in the country.
However, the result of this amorous adventure was not at all pleasant, as she was located by the authorities in India, who deported her. However, what caught the most attention was WhatsApp's involvement in locating Iqra.
What motivated Iqra Jeewani to go to India?
According to The Indian Express, it was on a platform online, in 2019, that the young woman met Mulayam Singh Yadav, a 25-year-old Indian resident of Uttar Pradesh.
From then on, they developed an affective relationship, where they ended up falling in love and the physical meeting became a matter of time.
The much-dreamed meeting would happen 3 years later, where Iqra Jeewani decided to run away from home to meet her beloved in Nepal. Afterwards, the couple followed their route settling in the city of Bengaluru, India.
What is WhatsApp's role in the deportation of Iqra Jeewani?
To maintain “regularization” in the Asian country, Iqra used false documents with the help of Yadav. Consequently, both were penalized, where the Pakistani suffered from deportation and her boyfriend was arrested for being an accomplice.
However, the false documents were not the key to locating the young woman, but WhatsApp. It was through calls that Iqra Jeewani frequently made to her family via WhatsApp that her location was conceived.
What happens is that central intelligence agencies found some calls made to Pakistan strange and reported the situation to local authorities.
Incidentally, the movements of calls received maximum attention due to a G-20 meeting that was scheduled to take place in the country.
How were the links perceived?
As is common knowledge, WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption to protect users' privacy. However, information about the user and his activities is not that restricted.
In other words, the content of a link is encrypted, but the information about it (location, time, etc.) is completely accessible.
mass surveillance
As a result, discussions about user safety began to gain momentum and suspicion of mass surveillance by security agencies began to emerge.
According to cybersecurity researcher Srinivas Kodali, security institutions have full access to the movement of calls and tracking contacts.
Even if they don't have access to the content, they know exactly who is communicating and where, which is a strong indication of mass surveillance.