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Facebook Ordered to Stop Collecting Data on WhatsApp Users in Germany

nytimes.com

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Re: Facebook Ordered to Stop Collecting Data on WhatsApp Users in Germany

#241

Post by snerbles »

ryandrake wrote: post #213
bikamonki wrote: post #147

You can go get an off-contract sim card, use it on a clean Android, create a fake gmail account in order to download and install Whatsapp. Now you make connections (you add family and friends to your contacts) and start communicating. By now both FB and Google know who you are simply b/c other people in your network, not concerned with privacy, have you saved on their contacts list, pressumably under your first and l…

You could always, I dunno... stop using Facebook and WhatsApp and other software that you find harmful. I know, totally crazy idea. Just throwing it out there.

Facebook will still build a "shadow profile" of you, based on information gleaned from contacts.

Re: Facebook Ordered to Stop Collecting Data on WhatsApp Users in Germany

#242

Post by oldsj »

tw04 wrote: post #227
ryandrake wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or to call them on the phone, talk to them in person, send them an E-mail or letter.. You know, the things we all did in ancient times like 5 years ago?

Yes, it's completely reasonable to replace real-time group chat with... a conference call among 6 friends? Hey guys, I know ALL of you chat with WhatsApp, but can we move to email just for me and my concerns around security that you don't care about at all? Seriously... you can make completely unreasonable suggestions until you're blue in the face but it's not going to change reality. There are very real social press…

Wasnt it $19 billion?

Re: Facebook Ordered to Stop Collecting Data on WhatsApp Users in Germany

#243

Post by fwn »

thr0waway1239 wrote: post #217
erikpukinskis wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can escape into noise, but it's work. Privacy is an arms race between information and noise.

That's a nice way to put it, but it may not be that inevitable. Here is a very simple idea: next time you talk to one of your friends who works at FB/Goog/etc. ask them pointedly how they can work at a place which obviously lacks any morals/ethics. Their first reaction would be to defend their actions, of course, but if a few people start doing this, my guess is that the message will start going up slowly but surely.…

> After all, what are they going to do? Stop having friends?

They probably opt for more tolerant friends. ..but that's just a guess.

Re: Facebook Ordered to Stop Collecting Data on WhatsApp Users in Germany

#244

Post by germanier »

briandear wrote: post #158
retox wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that the German people generally are very wary of data being moved around and collected 'unnecessarily'. I think a ploy like this would only backfire on FB.

And oddly, Germany requires to to declare your religion to the government. So I guess the question would be: what is considered necessary? If Facebook needs data to offer a free service, that seems necessary unless Facebook employees are volunteers and servers run on kitten sneezes and rainbows.

This is not a requirement by the government. The question is asked on behalf of the communities of faith that explicitly tasked the government with that. That is a right religious communities have guaranteed by the constitution.

The government is not asking you if you are a member of a religious community that has not choosen to use that service.

Re: Facebook Ordered to Stop Collecting Data on WhatsApp Users in Germany

#245

Post by smokeyj »

ryandrake wrote: post #213
bikamonki wrote: post #147

You can go get an off-contract sim card, use it on a clean Android, create a fake gmail account in order to download and install Whatsapp. Now you make connections (you add family and friends to your contacts) and start communicating. By now both FB and Google know who you are simply b/c other people in your network, not concerned with privacy, have you saved on their contacts list, pressumably under your first and l…

You could always, I dunno... stop using Facebook and WhatsApp and other software that you find harmful. I know, totally crazy idea. Just throwing it out there.

It seems the population is literally addicted to FB hence the cognitive dissonance. If anything should be lobbied for it's better mental health services related to social media addiction.

Re: Facebook Ordered to Stop Collecting Data on WhatsApp Users in Germany

#246

Post by ominous »

DavidWanjiru wrote: post #126
ominous wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where does it say that Facebook will respect that blog post?

We could ask this question recursively ad infinitum. Because their intention to respect wherever it says they'll respect the blog post can be questioned too.

qed.

Re: Facebook Ordered to Stop Collecting Data on WhatsApp Users in Germany

#248

Post by chopin »

bad_user wrote: post #205
briandear wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Post office really isn't voluntary. When I get my required tax forms from France, if I don't have the post office, I'm unable to complete an action required by the State. That means the Post Office isn't voluntary unless you want to break the law. When my kid's school requires What's App in order to submit required documents, then there might be a claim that What's App rises to the importance of the Post Office or th…

ING, a bank, is starting to require WhatsApp instead of email for customer service, in the Netherlands I think. You're not that far off ;-)

Such a requirement would terminate my relationship with them immediately...

Re: Facebook Ordered to Stop Collecting Data on WhatsApp Users in Germany

#249

Post by Fargren »

ryandrake wrote: post #225
sygma wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Using the messaging service is a voluntary decision Yes, it is voluntary, but it would be socially alienating not to be on that service. Here's a relevant talk [0] by Moxie Marlinspike talking about that. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG0KrT6pBPk&feature=youtu.be...

Now, going without Facebook or IM is "socially alienating"? People's social lives must be pretty fragile these days if they really require things that did not even exist for the majority of humanity's existence.

Clothes "did not even exist for the majority of humanity's existence" and it is socially alienating to not use them. Not a great argument.

Re: Facebook Ordered to Stop Collecting Data on WhatsApp Users in Germany

#250

Post by germanier »

rmc wrote: post #55
kriro wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes I wonder if the strategy of announcing "due to the anti commercial data privacy demands in Germany we are forced to suspend all German WA accounts for the next couple of days" is ever discussed at Facebook. I'd be interested to see the political pressure it would create. I think the network is strong enough that people won't switch to other apps instantly and there would be a pretty big "just gimme back my…

Extreme non-techies will say "WhatsApp is broken, use this app instead". People who read the news will know it's about the US companies wanting to spy on your data (remember Germans don't have US 4th Amendment rights), and will switch apps.

I'm not convinced German constitutional protections are weaker than the 4th Amendment. The constitution even includes a right to the guarantee of confidentiality and integrity of information technology systems as ruled by the constitutional court. https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Entscheid...
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