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Brazilian Judge Shuts Down WhatsApp for 48 Hours

techcrunch.com

31–40 of 168 posts

Re: Brazilian Judge Shuts Down WhatsApp for 48 Hours

#31
post #19

Can confirm whatsapp is down for some friends in Brazil. However, the real reason is not for what Techcrunch is saying. The issue is that WhatsApp didn't want to cooperate with the federal police and release chat information from some criminals. According to some sources there, they followed all due process and WhatsApp ignored. As a retaliation, to show that WhatsApp has to comply with Brazilian local laws when stor…

> some criminals

You mean suspected criminals, right?

It still seems pretty reactionary. The solution isn't to block an entire service.

Re: Brazilian Judge Shuts Down WhatsApp for 48 Hours

#32

If you go ahead and read the article, you'll realize that it's more about Facebook complaining their business will be more heavily regulated in Brazil than outright censorship.

That and that Facebook may have to comply with valid court orders. How outrageous a judge telling what Facebook should do.

Re: Brazilian Judge Shuts Down WhatsApp for 48 Hours

#33
post #19

Can confirm whatsapp is down for some friends in Brazil. However, the real reason is not for what Techcrunch is saying. The issue is that WhatsApp didn't want to cooperate with the federal police and release chat information from some criminals. According to some sources there, they followed all due process and WhatsApp ignored. As a retaliation, to show that WhatsApp has to comply with Brazilian local laws when stor…

> some criminals You mean suspected criminals, right? It still seems pretty reactionary. The solution isn't to block an entire service.

>The solution isn't to block an entire service.

Oh really? What else are you supposed to do when a startup flush with cash decides to ignore the laws of your nation, exactly?

Re: Brazilian Judge Shuts Down WhatsApp for 48 Hours

#34
post #19

Can confirm whatsapp is down for some friends in Brazil. However, the real reason is not for what Techcrunch is saying. The issue is that WhatsApp didn't want to cooperate with the federal police and release chat information from some criminals. According to some sources there, they followed all due process and WhatsApp ignored. As a retaliation, to show that WhatsApp has to comply with Brazilian local laws when stor…

> some criminals You mean suspected criminals, right? It still seems pretty reactionary. The solution isn't to block an entire service.

Better an entire nation go without WhatsApp than one guilty man go free /s

Re: Brazilian Judge Shuts Down WhatsApp for 48 Hours

#35

The news is misrepresenting what is actually happening. A judge ruled for a 48 hour ban of WhatsApp from telcos to try to coerce WhatsApp into releasing private chat information for an ongoing criminal investigation (wild guess: they want information from politically exposed actors due to the recent corruption investigations). There are precedents, and that's a tactic local judges are using to try to get cooperation…

My wife is a judge and she is not alarmed. She is terrified. We are green card holders and came back to the country 16 years ago. Tonight was the first time we had a conversation about leaving this place for good.

I thought if you leave US for more than 3 (?) months you loose your green card status.

Re: Brazilian Judge Shuts Down WhatsApp for 48 Hours

#36
post #23
post #7

This is insane, this judge must be on a power trip. WhatsApp is now part of Brazilian social life and economy. Everyone here is part of many groups of friends, family or workmates, that is where most instant communication happens. In my company, our deployment engineers, who usually are on very remote places with bad and unreliable internet, rely on WhatsApp. I'm not saying this is the best practice, but this is simp…

It also says that, in a contained but nontrivial aspect of life, Brazil has given up its sovereignty to WhatsApp (and by transitive ownership, Facebook, and by transitive law enforcement, USA/NSA). And for various reasons, it is applying for a similar serf status at Telegram as we speak. Think about it: Mark Zuckerberg can task his employees with an elaborate "find and replace" on all brazillian texts, replacing e.g.…

People voluntarily use WhatsApp because they consider it the best service. If it starts replacing "sugar" with "salt" I'm sure people will voluntarily start using something else. What should not happen is government force you to use something else.

Re: Brazilian Judge Shuts Down WhatsApp for 48 Hours

#38
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife is a judge and she is not alarmed. She is terrified. We are green card holders and came back to the country 16 years ago. Tonight was the first time we had a conversation about leaving this place for good.

I thought if you leave US for more than 3 (?) months you loose your green card status.

6 months + extensions. A minor effort is required to keep the visa.

Re: Brazilian Judge Shuts Down WhatsApp for 48 Hours

#40
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also says that, in a contained but nontrivial aspect of life, Brazil has given up its sovereignty to WhatsApp (and by transitive ownership, Facebook, and by transitive law enforcement, USA/NSA). And for various reasons, it is applying for a similar serf status at Telegram as we speak. Think about it: Mark Zuckerberg can task his employees with an elaborate "find and replace" on all brazillian texts, replacing e.g.…

People voluntarily use WhatsApp because they consider it the best service. If it starts replacing "sugar" with "salt" I'm sure people will voluntarily start using something else. What should not happen is government force you to use something else.

Before, I was worried about facebook spying on me, but then I just asked all my friends to switch to spiderwizard (or whatever it's called) and now everything's fine.

Meanwhile, in reality...

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