Re: Am I being thick ?
"One assumes Whatsapp went out of their way to help the government agencies by adding a chat backup option,"
That's one of the problems. What are you to Whatsapp? A dust mite on a flea and they don't care about you as an individual at all. If the government puts a wee bit of pressure on them or even just asks, they'll throw you under the bus in two shakes (less time than it takes a nuke to trigger).
It's amazing how much companies like FB get away with and part of it could be how well they play ball when governments come calling. Sure, Zuckerberg has been called out on the carpet a few times for bouts of complete stupidity, but I don't recall hearing about any substantial fines being levied (or paid) and Mark isn't even wearing a tracking ankle bracelet.
The first to capitulate will be social media and cloud services. Big companies will be more likely to fight like dogs since backdoors could expose some of their better hidden skeletons.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
