this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2024
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Privacy
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You seem to be asking for telephone calls and SMS messages to be end-to-end encrypted. The underlying technologies were not designed with encryption in mind, so the only way for it to work would be for all the participants in a conversation to use an additional software layer. That was the method used by TextSecure.
The authors of TextSecure eventually figured out that a purpose-built Internet-based messaging protocol would be a better transport layer for secure messaging. If you're interested enough in secure messaging to be asking this question, you may be familiar with TextSecure's successor.
As for why a carrier wouldn't do this, I'll ask the inverse: why would they put in the effort when anyone who cares about secure communication just uses an encrypted messaging app?
Because not all traffic sent through cellular is messaging. People visit websites and whatnot when they're out-and-about. Not to mention that not everyone uses secure messaging apps.
P.S. I am very aware of Signal, thanks!
Browsing most websites is E2EE. When it's not, that isn't something a phone carrier or ISP can fix because they don't control the web server. The traffic will be in the clear between the ISP and the server.
For secure messaging without a third-party app, phone carriers in the USA seem to be pretty onboard with Google RCS, though I think I'd recommend anyone who's serious about security use Signal instead.