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Add an entry to the FAQ about disabling e2e
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@ -590,6 +590,28 @@ You can also run Vector, the code that Riot.im uses, on your own server. It's a
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There are several, but they don't have all the features that synapse has. Check the list of clients on [matrix.org](http://matrix.org/docs/projects/try-matrix-now.html#clients).
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##### Why can't end-to-end encryption be turned off?
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When encryption is enabled in a room, a flag is set in the room state, so that
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all clients know to encrypt any messages they send. The room state stores
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information about the room like the topic, the avatar, and the membership list.
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Imagine if encryption could be turned off the same way as it is turned
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on. Anyone with admin rights in the room could clear the flag and then messages
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would start being transmitted unencrypted. It would be very easy for a user to
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miss the change in configuration, and accidentally send a sensitive message
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without encryption.
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Worse yet, anyone with sysadmin access to a server could also clear the flag
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(remember that the main reason for using e2e encryption is that we don't trust
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the sysadmins), and could then easily read any sensitive content which was
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sent.
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The solution we have taken for now is to make clients ignore any requests to
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disable encryption. We might experiment with ways to improve this in the future
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- for instance, by alerting the user next time they try to send a message in
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the room if encryption has been disabled.
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### QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED!
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