One never knows which way the wind blows when it comes to US politicians. On the one hand, a lot of politicians are trying to break consumer-grade encryption down to a bare minimum at every possible turn. In a surprising turn of events, however, all US Senate members are now allowed to use Signal, an encrypted chat application.

Signal is Greenlit To Be Used by US Senators

It has taken far too long, but it appears the US Senate is slowly starting to take cybersecurity more seriously. Various data leaks over the past few years have finally opened some eyes, by the look of things. All Senators’ websites are now fully encrypted – about time, in 2017 – and staff members are now allowed to use the Signal encrypted chat application.

This sudden change of heart has been confirmed by Senate Sergeant at Arms Frank J. Larkin. No one saw this change coming, mind you, yet it goes to show there is a growing need for more privacy and encryption among US politicians. By using one of the world’s most secure message applications in the world, things may finally start to evolve in the right direction for privacy advocates.

The choice to approve Signal is also rather remarkable, to say the least. It is an application that has the public support of Edward Snowden, an individual who is not in the good graces of most US politicians. Even so, the staff members have to acknowledge Signal is by far one of the most secure encrypted chat tools available today, and there is no reason not to use it.

In parallel, one has to remember the same administration wanted to investigate the use of secure messaging applications. This action was taken by two House Republicans who are dissatisfied with the way President Trump is enacting and enforcing his new policies. At that time, it seemed rather obvious secure messaging apps would continue to face a lot of scrutiny from government officials, yet things have taken a rather interesting turn.

The approved use of Signal is a major victory to privacy advocates, though. It goes to show there is a lot of merit to this application, even though most people are well aware of what it has to offer. Secure communication that can be kept away from prying eyes is an absolute must in this era of mass surveillance and opposition of encryption. It remains to be seen if US Senate staffers will actively use the protocol, though.

As we have mentioned before, there are quite a few different

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