The US government ordered WhatsApp to spy on “Chinese” phones but, it many cases, it doesn’t know who it’s spying on

Facebook likes to flaunt its apparent "pivot to privacy" - such as bringing better encryption practices to a suite of its products, primarily messaging apps. And Facebook is even regularly getting backlash from some lawmakers and media, who either do - or are pretending to, as a means to further pressure the company - think that Facebook is "not doing enough" to cooperate.

But in reality, Facebook and other tech companies are under obligation to turn over user data to US spies, and are doing so, even if with encrypted apps like WhatsApp this doesn't concern the actual content of messages.

These agencies, in turn, operate under the 1986 Pen Register Act that allows them to carry out secret surveillance without providing probable cause to anybody - and that includes both the tech firms in question, and courts.

That's because the way courts have been interpreting the Pen Register Act means the use of a pen register doesn't represent a search, and is therefore not subject to the Fourth Amendment.

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