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An official FBI document dated January 2021, obtained by the American
association “Property of People” through the Freedom of Information Act. This
document summarizes the possibilities for legal access to data from nine instant
messaging services: iMessage, Line, Signal, Telegram, Threema, Viber, WeChat,
WhatsApp and Wickr. For each software, different judicial methods are explored,
such as subpoena, search warrant, active collection of communications metadata
(“Pen Register”) or connection data retention law (“18 USC§2703”). Here, in
essence, is the information the FBI says it can retrieve: * Apple iMessage:
basic subscriber data; in the case of an iPhone user, investigators may be able
to get their hands on message content if the user uses iCloud to synchronize
iMessage messages or to back up data on their phone. * Line: account data
(image, username, e-mail address, phone number, Line ID, creation date, usage
data, etc.); if the user has not activated end-to-end encryption, investigators
can retrieve the texts of exchanges over a seven-day period, but not other data
(audio, video, images, location). * Signal: date and time of account creation
and date of last connection. * Telegram: IP address and phone number for
investigations into confirmed terrorists, otherwise nothing. * Threema:
cryptographic fingerprint of phone number and e-mail address, push service
tokens if used, public key, account creation date, last connection date. *
Viber: account data and IP address used to create the account; investigators can
also access message history (date, time, source, destination). * WeChat: basic
data such as name, phone number, e-mail and IP address, but only for non-Chinese
users. * WhatsApp: the targeted person’s basic data, address book and contacts
who have the targeted person in their address book; it is possible to collect
message metadata in real time (“Pen Register”); message content can be retrieved
via iCloud backups. * Wickr: Date and time of account creation, types of
terminal on which the application is installed, date of last connection, number
of messages exchanged, external identifiers associated with the account (e-mail
addresses, telephone numbers), avatar image, data linked to adding or deleting.
TL;DR Signal is the messaging system that provides the least information to
investigators.
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OP, next time crosspost instead please.
Interesting information!