“Freedom of speech is the right to articulate one’s opinions and ideas without fear of government retaliation or censorship, or societal sanction.” – Wikipedia

Reports of a vulnerability in WhatsApp are making the rounds today after The Guardian boosted the signal. Besides the fact that there is not really a backdoor, but rather a feature that represents a reasonable choice in a tradeoff between confidentiality and availability, the Guardian also repeats a common mistake: confounding encryption and free speech.

“Privacy campaigners criticise WhatsApp vulnerability as a ‘huge threat to freedom of speech,’” writes The Guardian. This is bullshit. As per the definition cited above, free speech means you can say things without fear. Being able to say things only in private and needing strong technical privacy guarantees is the opposite of free speech. You need encryption for that which you cannot say without fear.

Yes, encryption can be a tool against those who suppress you (though a weak one, as your adversary can easily use your use of encryption against you – or deny you due process altogether and persecute you without any trace of evidence and probable cause). But encryption will never give you free speech, it will only support your inner immigration.