&gt; citing unidentified “European officials”<p>That was the Belgium minister.<p>&gt; It was not clear whether the encryption was part of widely used communications tools, like WhatsApp, which the authorities have a hard time monitoring, or something more elaborate.<p>&quot;PlayStation 4 is even more difficult to keep track of than WhatsApp,&quot; Jambon [Belgium minister] said at a debate in Brussels.
&quot;The most difficult communication between these terrorists is via PlayStation 4,&quot; he said. &quot;It’s very, very difficult for our services — not only Belgian services but international services — to decrypt the communication that is done via PlayStation 4.&quot; <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.telegraph.co.uk&#x2F;technology&#x2F;video-games&#x2F;playstation&#x2F;11997952&#x2F;paris-attacks-playstation-4.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.telegraph.co.uk&#x2F;technology&#x2F;video-games&#x2F;playstatio...</a><p>So: It is less about encryption (PGP, Tor) than it is about companies running their own communication networks with encryption, and the intelligence agencies have increasingly more trouble tracking extremists using games or phone apps to plan their attacks.<p>Is that Snowden&#x27;s fault? No. Did Snowden&#x27;s leaks contribute to companies making their networks harder to tap? Definitely.<p>Another tidbit that is coming out is that nearly all terrorists were already on the radar of the intelligence services and had documents tracking their radicalization. <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;world&#x2F;2015&#x2F;nov&#x2F;16&#x2F;french-and-belgian-intelligence-knew-paris-attackers-had-jihadi-backgrounds" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;world&#x2F;2015&#x2F;nov&#x2F;16&#x2F;french-and-belg...</a><p>Apparently there was a failure to share and to make actionable sense of this information.<p>Is that Snowden&#x27;s fault? No. Did Snowden&#x27;s broad indiscriminate leaks cause less willingness to share information between intelligence agencies? Definitely.<p>This is, in my view, a side-effect of these revelations, but a real effect too. I don&#x27;t want to weigh up these two on a scale, as that will be difficult and everyone will have different priorities anyway.<p>BTW: This gaffe&#x2F;Chinese whispers started with a Forbes article and New York Times fell for it: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.forbes.com&#x2F;sites&#x2F;insertcoin&#x2F;2015&#x2F;11&#x2F;14&#x2F;why-the-paris-isis-terrorists-used-ps4-to-plan-attacks&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.forbes.com&#x2F;sites&#x2F;insertcoin&#x2F;2015&#x2F;11&#x2F;14&#x2F;why-the-pa...</a><p>&quot;Correction: It has not been confirmed, as originally written, that a console was found as a result of specific Belgian terror raids. Minister Jambon was speaking about tactics he knows ISIS to be using generally. &quot;