As Elites Switch to Texting, Watchdogs Fear Loss of Transparency - The New York Times
▻https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/business/as-elites-switch-to-texting-watchdogs-fear-loss-of-transparency.html
In a bygone analog era, lawmakers and corporate chiefs traveled great distances to swap secrets, to the smoke-filled back rooms of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, or the watering holes at the annual Allen & Company conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.
But these days, entering the corridors of power is as easy as opening an app.
Secure messaging apps like WhatsApp, Signal and Confide are making inroads among lawmakers, corporate executives and other prominent communicators. Spooked by surveillance and wary of being exposed by hackers, they are switching from phone calls and emails to apps that allow them to send encrypted and self-destructing texts. These apps have obvious benefits, but their use is causing problems in heavily regulated industries, where careful record-keeping is standard procedure.
“By and large, email is still used for formal conversations,” said Juleanna Glover, a corporate consultant based in Washington. “But for quick shots, texting is the medium of choice.”
“After the 2016 election, there’s an assumption that at some point, everyone’s emails will be made public,” said Alex Conant, a partner at the public affairs firm Firehouse Strategies and a former spokesman for Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Most people are now aware, Mr. Conant said, that “if you want to have truly private conversations, it needs to be over one of those encrypted apps.”
For now, America’s elites seem to be using secure apps mostly for one-on-one conversations, but the days of governance by group text might not be far-off.
Intéressant de voir des usages principalement le fait des jeunes (Snapchat) devenir des outils pour les dirigeants. Quand les jeunes veulent se cacher de leurs parents ou surtout ne pas qu’on prenne plus au sérieux que ça leurs blagues entre amis, les élites s’en servent pour échapper à la loi.