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WhatsApp is going to share your phone number with Facebook

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Re: WhatsApp is going to share your phone number with Facebook

#81

Post by newscracker »

creshal wrote: post #44
jamiesonbecker wrote: post #36

To avoid this, simply collect and destroy any phones owned by your friends who might have your phone number or email in their contact lists. I always use a sledge hammer for this, but some people prefer a sturdy boot. Don't forget to recycle!

I know it's a joke, but it got me wondering: What kind of treatment do you need nowadays to actually safely destroy flash storage? I doubt a single smash from a sledgehammer/boot has a good chance of destroying SIM and internal storage and µSD card such that forensic analysis can't recover its data. Thermite?

If you have full disk encryption (that you can rely on and no other security issues to deal with), then just erasing it by "throwing away the encryption key" is easier than physical destruction. Are there reasons why physical destruction would be preferred if these conditions are met?

Re: WhatsApp is going to share your phone number with Facebook

#82

Post by newscracker »

segmondy wrote: post #79
mercer wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Search is another explanation. Almost everyone I know, including myself, will search for pretty much anyone they interact with once they know a name. We're just too curious.

I don't use my real name on Facebook. Nor the email that's tied to my Facebook account with my coworkers.

It's possible that one or more of your co-workers just synced their contacts list, with all your email addresses and your phone number, to Facebook. That information, when intersected with the contacts list, with your phone number, any of your friends or family members synced with Facebook, could provide your details to Facebook (even if Facebook is not 100% sure, it might probably use it).

Re: WhatsApp is going to share your phone number with Facebook

#83

Post by newscracker »

dhimes wrote: post #46
kirkdouglas wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They removed paid subscription several months ago. It seems that they can make more money from matching WhatsApp and Facebook social graphs than from annual subscription.

That's truly remarkable. Facebook doesn't make that much money per users (about $1/user/month, as best as I can figure). I know people who would pay twice that for a privacy-keeping subscription tier.

When WhatsApp did have subscriptions in some regions, it was 99 cents per year, not per month. Facebook in the recent times has been making more than that.

Re: WhatsApp is going to share your phone number with Facebook

#84

Post by newscracker »

2T1Qka0rEiPr wrote: post #41

OK - I think we can all agree this is shit. What are the (serious) alternatives?

If you can convince even a few people in your network to try something different, I'd suggest trying Telegram, Wire and Signal. Then decide which works best for you to start pestering others too switch.

Re: WhatsApp is going to share your phone number with Facebook

#85

Post by chipperyman573 »

franole wrote: post #67

It's really sad how we lost control of our data. I always refused to inform my phone number to facebook. But they definitely try to guess it . It's funny how sometimes the FB app ask me "is xxxx xxxx your number?" Well, luckily it still has not succeeded. Once, I grabbed one of those guessed numbers and asked (over SMS) to that unknown person what was his name. It was no surprise when he told me that we have the same…

It just gave you a random valid phone number, along with a name (yours)? Doesn't that qualify as leaking PII?

Re: WhatsApp is going to share your phone number with Facebook

#86

Post by Bakary »

forgottenpass wrote: post #66

Remember when Whatsapp got bought? Respect for your privacy is coded into our DNA, and we built WhatsApp around the goal of knowing as little about you as possible [...] If partnering with Facebook meant that we had to change our values, we wouldn’t have done it. Instead, we are forming a partnership that would allow us to continue operating independently and autonomously. Our fundamental values and beliefs will not…

Am I too harsh in thinking that trusting anything a tech company says is a bit unreasonable?

Re: WhatsApp is going to share your phone number with Facebook

#87

Post by open_bear »

creshal wrote: post #44
jamiesonbecker wrote: post #36

To avoid this, simply collect and destroy any phones owned by your friends who might have your phone number or email in their contact lists. I always use a sledge hammer for this, but some people prefer a sturdy boot. Don't forget to recycle!

I know it's a joke, but it got me wondering: What kind of treatment do you need nowadays to actually safely destroy flash storage? I doubt a single smash from a sledgehammer/boot has a good chance of destroying SIM and internal storage and µSD card such that forensic analysis can't recover its data. Thermite?

Take a look at this talk from DEF CON 23 on what it takes to safely destroy HDDs (spoiler: even explosions don't quite cut it): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bpX8YvNg6Y

Re: WhatsApp is going to share your phone number with Facebook

#88

Post by thr0waway1239 »

newscracker wrote: post #80
thr0waway1239 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does anyone actually believe a word which these companies say? I think if at all there was a company which deserved some serious scrutiny under anti-trust, it was Facebook. Much more than Google or MSFT. They have done exactly the things which is supposed to be prevented by antitrust - I mean the "spirit of the law" and not the letter of the law. But hey, there are SO many social networks - look at LinkedIn, look at…

I agree with many points you have stated and feel the same way about Facebook (vs. Google or others), but I do believe there is a big difference between the ethics and values of many Facebook employees and the evil things that Facebook as a company and Mark Zuckerberg want to do. I'm sure they like working on things that make a difference (including open sourcing some big impact stuff) while at the same time not liki…

I am yet to see even a single FB employee openly admit he/she is not happy with "so and so" policy but wants to stay at FB to continue working on the things which make an impact. And please give me a reference if this is incorrect.

Put another way, the silence is starting to become too damning. What else do they know but never talk about?

And yes, I feel the same way about every single one of the megacorps. However, I fear FB the most. They already have a long track record of ruthlessness when it comes to pushing the boundaries of ethical behavior.

Re: WhatsApp is going to share your phone number with Facebook

#89

Post by Aissen »

steinsgate wrote: post #45

What's the value of WhatsApp? It is the scale of the product. I use it because most of my friends are on it. There are many other alternatives to WhatsApp as pointed out by many in this thread, but none of them have nearly the same traction. The only business model that allows such scale is the ad supported model. If WhatsApp was subscription based, I am sure they could not have achieved this scale. And I wouldn't ha…

> If WhatsApp was subscription based, I am sure they could not have achieved this scale. And I wouldn't have found value in it.

WhatsApp dropped its $1 annual subscription fee just this year: https://blog.whatsapp.com/615/Making-WhatsApp-free-and-more-...

Re: WhatsApp is going to share your phone number with Facebook

#90

Post by Grangar »

newscracker wrote: post #84
2T1Qka0rEiPr wrote: post #41

OK - I think we can all agree this is shit. What are the (serious) alternatives?

If you can convince even a few people in your network to try something different, I'd suggest trying Telegram, Wire and Signal. Then decide which works best for you to start pestering others too switch.

But the problem with that is that users will flock back to whatsapp, because everyone else is. We need a coherent movement to a single platform that doesn't fracture everyone across platforms. We've seen that happen when Whatsapp got acquired...
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