GSMA announces E2EE for RCS, Swisscom must join in!

    • Now the GSM Association has announced the integration of End-2-End Encryption into the RCS standard. This means there is no longer any excuse for Swisscom, RCS must now be supported, and properly, for both Android and Apple!

    Finally we could get away from WhatsApp and all the other rubbish and communicate with one standard all over the world again, just like we used to! (e-mail, telephone, fax).

    That’s why I’m asking Swisscom to finally move forward here!

    https://www.gsma.com/newsroom/article/rcs-encryption-a-leap-towards-secure-and-interoperable-messaging/

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        Zovioppau63
        Finally we could get away from WhatsApp and all the other junk, communicate with one standard all over the world again, just like we used to!

        Dream on - unfortunately the train has left the station for new platforms. WA and co. are too widespread - unfortunately…..

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        ….keep on rockin' 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼

            Zovioppau63 As far as I remember from previous discussions on RCS, end-to-end encryption was less or not at all the argument on the part of Swisscom, which is why this technology was never implemented beyond the trial stage. In addition, there are laws and ordinances in Switzerland (e.g. with the euphonious name “BÜPF”) that oblige telecommunications providers to grant the authorities access to their customers’ communications if necessary. It would certainly be interesting to know whether this extension of the standard could circumvent this legal framework. Either way, I am still more of the opinion that RCS was, is and will remain a failure. Unfortunately.

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            Have you tried turning it off and on again?

                PowerMac

                I do not share this opinion! I am still of the opinion that Swiss network operators should support RCS without ifs and buts. For the reason that RCS should be supported as the successor to SMS/MMS, because it is a standard like SMS. And encryption is not a problem with all the other messengers either. But it would be a standard without being tied to octopuses like Meta etc. .

                https://www.iphone-ticker.de/rcs-ende-zu-ende-verschluesselung-fuer-ios-und-android-252094/

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                 changed by fmueller

                    The question is what is the point of E2EE when you know that the federal government is planning a revision of the surveillance law. I quote from a recent newspaper article:

                    Until now, the law has distinguished between two categories: the aforementioned telecommunications service providers (TSPs) and the so-called providers of derived communication services (DACS). The list of TSPs in Switzerland now includes over 500 companies, including the “3 big Ss”: Swisscom, Sunrise and Salt. These companies have the greatest obligations to co-operate with the authorities. Among other things, they must carry out real-time monitoring, hand over all technical data relating to a customer connection and contract details and store data for six months.

                    In contrast, services such as Threema and Protonmail were previously only categorised as AAKD - also thanks to the legal cases won - and were therefore subject to far lower obligations to cooperate. However, with the partial revision of the Surveillance Act, AAKDs are now to be divided into three sub-categories: AAKD with minimal duties, AAKD with reduced duties and AAKD with full duties.

                    *This is intended to bring about “harmonisation between FDAs and AAKDs of comparable size and economic importance”, according to the Federal Council communication.

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                    Zovioppau63 Finally we could get away from WhatsApp and all the other rubbish and communicate with a standard all over the world again, just like we used to! (e-mail, telephone, fax).

                    Never ever. WhatsApp and the like have long since caught on with customers. It’s simply too late. Today, customers communicate via a messenger, usually WhatsApp, in other countries, especially in Asia, WeChat is in demand and so on. There is hardly any demand for anything else because the “normal person” is not interested. That’s the reality, even if some people don’t want to admit it. Once again, I’m not against RCS, but… there’s no demand for it and there’s no money to be made from it either.

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                     changed by Samsi

                      Nothing in the BÜPF states that end-to-end encryption is not permitted. The law also does not stipulate that the encryption must be weakened, or that a backdoor is required or anything similar.
                      In the case of RCS, only the metadata must be made available. RCS is compatible with the BÜPF and I already use it for conversations.

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                      a month later

                      POGO 1104 RCS is not a new platform, and that is precisely why the train has by no means left the station. I realise that people won’t all start using RCS overnight. RCS is replacing SMS/MMS, so it will be used automatically. After all, there are enough people who don’t want to install all kinds of third-party platforms. One loves WhatsApp, the other loves Signal, both swear with consequences of biblical proportions if they had to install the other person’s platform. And so they could now use the new common denominator, RCS.

                      It makes sense that this would be used if it were finally possible. Slowly and hesitantly, of course, but that doesn’t matter. The main thing is that anyone who finally wants to send WhatsApp packing will be able to do so. And anyone who wants to remain a meta-customer for the rest of their lives will still be able to do so.

                      So it can only be a win-win. But our telecoms companies are in a deep sleep, what a shame!

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                          Zovioppau63

                          The RCS is the natural continuation of SMS MMS everyone has by default unlike other systems. It’s even still used a lot for certain other things like tickets and security confirmations.

                          Swisscom should make this small effort since Apple has already done its bit for RCS recently. (I’m on Android for my Sony Xperia 1 VI)

                          I’m a fervent SMS/RCS supoeter. I don’t want more than one messaging service, but it’s true that for years I had Facebook and Messenger on the side. Having left all social networks in 2025 (apart from YouTube, which is more linked to television), I still wanted to install the instant messenger that works best in Switzerland, WhatsApp. But before that I was also a fan of Swisscom iO. So now SMS/RCS and WhatsApp.

                          I never wanted to install Line (No1) just for my few Japanese correspondents, so I chat with them by e-mail (1x/month) now that I no longer have Messenger. Over there they also have RCS and a version called “Plus Messenger”.

                          We’re still waiting for interoperability between WhatsApp and Messenger and other messaging services (compulsory in the European Union since 2024.) But it’s possible that the journalists misunderstood - there’s a difference between making it compulsory for a messaging service to offer openness and it actually being compatible!

                          I’ve noticed that Google Message is very similar to WhatsApp for two reasons:

                          1. in an APK in February it was seen that it would be possible to make video calls from Google Message directly via WhatsApp and not just via Meet.

                          2. the Gemini extensions available include WhatsApp and Google Message, but no other messaging service.

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                           changed by PTT

                            The GSMA writes here the following in German:

                            Operators are free to choose whether or not to implement RCS in their 4G networks. However, the 5G standards prescribe the implementation of RCS in 5G networks and devices.

                            This does not sound like the train has left the station for RCS, but that RCS will be mandatory in the future.

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                              krypton

                              Exactly what I wrote above. RCS is the successor to SMS/MMS and should be supported!
                              I said goodbye to WhatsApp a few years ago, and would just like to see a common standard like SMS.

                              Those who want to stay with WhatsApp can of course do so, but I think if RCS were offered, a switch could be made because everyone would be reachable again.

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