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WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

reuters.com

11–20 of 423 posts

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#11

> “The only way to refuse the data transfer for “business intelligence” purpose is to uninstall the application,” the CNIL said in a statement. I mean, Facebook et al are a nightmare, but doesn't this statement apply to almost every app? Nevertheless, I'm sure Facebook is pretty annoyed right now, seeing as their main business goal seems to be "hoard all the data".

[deleted]

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#12

I wonder what the legal argument is behind this ruling. If one newspaper acquired another, couldn't the parent then market to the subsidiary's subscribers even if they continued to operate separately? The parent now owns everything anyway.

The argument is that WA always told us that they wouldn't share our data. This was a reason people signed up, you can't just "Oops we did it anyway" on so many people. At least not on People who have a government with their best interest in mind.

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#13
post #7

> “The only way to refuse the data transfer for “business intelligence” purpose is to uninstall the application,” the CNIL said in a statement. I mean, Facebook et al are a nightmare, but doesn't this statement apply to almost every app? Nevertheless, I'm sure Facebook is pretty annoyed right now, seeing as their main business goal seems to be "hoard all the data".

Well with WhatsApp being so popular in Europe it is almost impossible to uninstall it.

I'm taking baby steps towards Signal. I think 10% now of my regular "apping" is on Signal. There is still some on Telegram as well.

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#14
post #3

» The CNIL said it had repeatedly asked WhatsApp to provide a sample of French users’ data transferred to Facebook but the company had explained it could not do so as it is located in the United States and “it considers that it is only subject to the legislation of this country.” « That's a very interesting quote from Facebook, and explains why the GDPR has a special section explaining that it also applies to foreign…

> the GDPR has a special section explaining that it also applies to foreign companies that process data of EU citizen

Is such a clause enforceable and/or valid? How could the EU punish a non-EU business for violating this? I guess they could block/get an injunction against them within the EU, but that seems like the sort of thing that would get challenged legally.

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#15
post #12

I wonder what the legal argument is behind this ruling. If one newspaper acquired another, couldn't the parent then market to the subsidiary's subscribers even if they continued to operate separately? The parent now owns everything anyway.

The argument is that WA always told us that they wouldn't share our data. This was a reason people signed up, you can't just "Oops we did it anyway" on so many people. At least not on People who have a government with their best interest in mind.

Is there legal precedent for "sharing" when the only entity you're providing the data to is your owner? Presumably if I bought WhatsApp, I would legally be allowed to query some database for someone's phone number if I so chose because I now own the database.

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#16

I wonder what the legal argument is behind this ruling. If one newspaper acquired another, couldn't the parent then market to the subsidiary's subscribers even if they continued to operate separately? The parent now owns everything anyway.

Facebook made a commitment they wouldn't connect the data in order to get permission from competition authorities for the merger. I don't know how legally binding that is.

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#17
post #10

Does anyone know what they do share besides phone number? And what could they share? I know end to end message encryption is a thing, but can the app still supply your messages or analysis of them to FB?

They can presumably not share the content of the messages, but they could share the metadata around them. Who you are connected to, how often you contact them, what time of day, potentially some location information, how long you spend in the app...

they share all location information

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#18
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The argument is that WA always told us that they wouldn't share our data. This was a reason people signed up, you can't just "Oops we did it anyway" on so many people. At least not on People who have a government with their best interest in mind.

Is there legal precedent for "sharing" when the only entity you're providing the data to is your owner? Presumably if I bought WhatsApp, I would legally be allowed to query some database for someone's phone number if I so chose because I now own the database.

This piece is a nice argument for what FB/WA did wrong: https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/27/privacy-groups-call-foul...

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#19
post #3

» The CNIL said it had repeatedly asked WhatsApp to provide a sample of French users’ data transferred to Facebook but the company had explained it could not do so as it is located in the United States and “it considers that it is only subject to the legislation of this country.” « That's a very interesting quote from Facebook, and explains why the GDPR has a special section explaining that it also applies to foreign…

> the GDPR has a special section explaining that it also applies to foreign companies that process data of EU citizen Is such a clause enforceable and/or valid? How could the EU punish a non-EU business for violating this? I guess they could block/get an injunction against them within the EU, but that seems like the sort of thing that would get challenged legally.

It looks to be the same situation with Apple's Irish Taxes, finally Apple had to comply.

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#20
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The argument is that WA always told us that they wouldn't share our data. This was a reason people signed up, you can't just "Oops we did it anyway" on so many people. At least not on People who have a government with their best interest in mind.

Is there legal precedent for "sharing" when the only entity you're providing the data to is your owner? Presumably if I bought WhatsApp, I would legally be allowed to query some database for someone's phone number if I so chose because I now own the database.

You do have to get specific permission to use data for a specific purpose under the GDPR. For instance, there are approved forms to ask customers for permission to add them to a mailing list. In that case, whether or not the company has the data stored somewhere is immaterial if it does not have the correct permission to use it for mailing.
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