DOJ sues Apple, spotlighting iMessage
Dr. Martin Shelton
March 28, 2024
Screenshot from iMessage. (Freedom of the Press Foundation, CC BY 4.0)
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The U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple, claiming the company engages in monopolistic practices over the smartphone market, preventing competitors by degrading the experience of communicating with non-Apple users in its products. iMessage features prominently in the suit, with the DOJ alleging consumers are disincentivized to leave its “walled garden” and so miss out on unique features built into the iMessage protocol, including end-to-end encryption between Apple users. Read more here.
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Because iMessage offers end-to-end encryption, preventing even Apple from snooping on its users' conversations by default, it works just fine when used with your fellow “blue bubble” Apple contacts. However, when speaking to Android users, iMessage falls back to standard SMS messages, which are far less secure. This is another reason we often encourage using Signal for end-to-end encrypted messaging, since it offers similar safety guarantees on both iPhones and Android phones. Read our guide to getting started with Signal or, if you already use it, read our guide to locking down Signal.
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Best,
Martin