Signal CEO: ‘More awareness for privacy, but extremely weak enforcement in practice’

Meredith Whittaker, President of the Signal Foundation, is not happy about the enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). “There is more awareness and there are more laws. But if you look at the GDPR, you see mostly strong language in the law and extremely weak enforcement in practice.”

In an interview with Dutch news outlet De Correspondent, Whittaker says legal protection for citizens is far behind the developments of the surveillance-driven tech industry.

“There has been a huge growth in AI technology that relies on data collection for a few years now. Since 2016, the capacity of chips and data centers has increased dramatically, making it possible to collect much more data. We also see surveillance-intensive artificial intelligence entering transportation, smart cities, and other infrastructures.”

She says it’s hard to argue we have more privacy, or that we are better protected from mass surveillance practices of Big Tech companies. However, this doesn’t mean that good things haven’t happened. Encrypted communications technology for example has expanded, as well as global recognition of privacy as a human right.

“But we need more of it, and we need to curb the tech industry’s massive growth in surveillance capabilities,” Whittaker states.

The Signal Foundation President claims that people can’t live a life of dignity and fulfillment if they can’t communicate privately. “Without private communication, there’s no military coordination, no good journalism that needs to protect its sources, no human rights work under authoritarian regimes, no confidential conversations in a corporate boardroom. When those things come under pressure, people realize how essential infrastructure like Signal is to ensure that.”

Whittaker is hopeful and believes 2025 could well be the beginning of the end of the Big Tech era.

“There are a handful of companies, mostly American, that control critical infrastructure for governments, businesses, and citizens worldwide, collect unlimited amounts of data, and have unchecked surveillance power. Virtually no one is unconditionally defending that model anymore.”

“There is an appetite for other models,” she continues. “If we can fund and stimulate an ecosystem of alternatives, smart people can develop technology for a more sustainable future, rather than for maintaining the status quo.”