Meet Brian Acton, the brain behind popular messaging apps Signal and Whatsapp

Popular messaging app Signal co-founder Brian Acton was born in February 1972 in Michigan, US. In 1994 he graduated in computer science from Standford University. Acton, who is also the executive chairman of the Signal Foundation, co-founded Signal with MoxieMarlinspike in 2018.

Notably, Acton had co-founded Whatsapp with Jan Koum before selling it to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for USD 19 billion in 2014. In September 2017, Acton left WhatsApp to start the Signal Foundation.

Surprisingly, he faced rejection from big tech companies like Twitter and Facebook, before he launched Whatsapp.

According to Acton, Signal is an independent, nonprofit organization whose development is supported by grants and donations. Acton said that Singal is not tied to any major tech companies.

It is to be noted that the latest Privacy Policy of Whatsapp has forced several users across the globe, including India, to switch to other applications that will ensure a more secure messaging service.

Whatsapp has updated its Privacy Policy emphasizing the users to agree to its latest terms, or else they may delete user's account after February 8, the latest regulations caused discontentment among lots of users. On the other hand, people have found their alternative, and are widely choosing the Signal app.

Acton said that apart from features like 'disappearing messages' (which WhatsApp also offers) Signal has total encryption - this includes metadata, which is data that helps servers identify, among other things, the place, time, and date of messages. It means that if someone hacks your Signal account, the hacker will not be able to see your private messages, rather they will have access to only garbled alphanumeric strings. Whatsapp provides the same encryption, but, for now also tracks some data, such as IP addresses.

"I think where Signal absolutely scores above WhatsApp is in the privacy category. You see it in the 'privacy label' of the app... you see it in how we build the product. We have privacy features like 'disappearing messages' (and also) everything is encrypted, including your metadata," Acton observed.

He further added that, "I think it comes through pretty easily that it is privacy first (for Signal) and that is why people are (saying) - 'should I use Signal or should I use WhatsApp or something else,"

Meanwhile, WhatsApp has addressed this matter, giving a clarification that "WhatsApp cannot see your private messages or hear your calls and neither can Facebook: every private message, photo, video, voice message and document you send your friends, family, and co-workers in one-on-one or group chats are protected by end-to-end encryption. It stays between you."