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Reporting a user to WhatsApp forwards a copy of recent messages from that chat

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Re: Reporting a user to WhatsApp forwards a copy of recent messages from that chat

#91
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It tells you clearly on the report screen, before you submit, as I recall.

~~Suppose law enforcement reports a user to build a case against them, then the user's message could be subpoenaed right?~~ ~~Even worse, 3 letter agencies~~ Forget I said anything

No. If Alice reports Bob, the report only includes the most recent messages from Bob to Alice as forwarded from Alice's local copy of their chat. No other messages are made available to WhatsApp. None of Bob's other messages to other people are included, nor could they be since Alice wouldn't have them. In your scenario, if Alice was law enforcement or cooperating with law enforcement, her reporting Bob and then them subpoenaing WhatsApp would only grant them circuitous access to messages from Bob they already had on Alice's device.

Re: Reporting a user to WhatsApp forwards a copy of recent messages from that chat

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not GP, but: although I'm not currently doing this consistently (I don't have the resources to set up build servers and there aren't many build servers for my distro yet) the distro I use does make it pretty straightforward to do this: https://guix.gnu.org/manual/en/html_node/Invoking-guix-chall... If I want to do this for any particular package as a one-off, it's two commands.

Reproducible builds are a step up but remember that it requires you to build with the exact same binary-identical toolchain. If that’s already compromised your guix challenge isn’t really doing anything of value. Again, I’m not saying these aren’t valuable things that make attacks more difficult/expensive but the uncomfortable truth is we haven’t figured out how to truly establish zero-knowledge trust. So on that spe…

I mean, sure, we're not there yet. If the Guix folks are able to get a bootstrap path going all the way from something like stage0, though, we'll be in a pretty good place I think: http://bootstrappable.org/projects/mes.html

Maybe the current state is closer to WhatsApp than where we'd really like to be, but that should be a challenge rather than a reason to give up.

Re: Reporting a user to WhatsApp forwards a copy of recent messages from that chat

#93

I hate Facebook and WhatsApp as much as anyone else who cares about privacy. But there's nothing wrong in this particular change. It happens when you report someone as spam, and you get a clear notification about what's going on. There's a "cancel" button as big as the "report" button, so you can bail out if you disagree.

Also, I think this is kind of needed. For example, if you report a user for sending a dick pic it's kind of important if they were sexting or not.

What can't you just block him? Why is the a report option at all? These are direct messages, why are they treating it like a public platform?

Re: Reporting a user to WhatsApp forwards a copy of recent messages from that chat

#94
post #34

Misleading. Only sends them if one of the users sends them to WhatsApp. There’s nothing broken in the technology here.

What is misleading about it? I included ' can read when you report'.

You send them the messages, by opt-in, your version seems to suggest something else. Simplest thing is to just stick to the guidelines and use the original title, then add the thing you want to highlight in a comment. The other way ends up taking a non-clickbait title and making it clickbait.

Re: Reporting a user to WhatsApp forwards a copy of recent messages from that chat

#95
post #60
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

E2EE is a lie, Facebook hold the private encryption keys server-side so they're able to decrypt messages at any time.

> E2EE is a lie, Facebook hold the private encryption keys server-side so they're able to decrypt messages at any time. This is a pretty bold claim. Do you have a citation for this?

It is a bold claim, indeed. What about WhatsApp Web though? I wonder how that works. I guess it connects to the device via a 3rd party (Facebook's) to send the data over HTTPS? Does it use public-key authentication where the key is only known to the WhatsApp Web client? Either way, it is a compromise on E2EE.

Re: Reporting a user to WhatsApp forwards a copy of recent messages from that chat

#97
post #68
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your wording choice for the title makes it seem otherwise. It makes it sound like it's some big warning or big deal. Perhaps choose your words more carefully?

Please suggest a better title. I'll try to improve. Many users have complained. There is a 80 character limit. Btw I meant it as a warning. Your messages may be uploaded when you report a user

(Edit, for context: the original submission title was “WhatsApp can now read your recent messages when you report a user”)

By selecting a specific part of the article to highlight in the title, you introduce your own bias before people even begin reading.

Stick to the Submissions Guidelines [1], and use the original title.

“WhatsApp beta for Android 2.20.206.3”

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

> Please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize

Re: Reporting a user to WhatsApp forwards a copy of recent messages from that chat

#98
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, I think this is kind of needed. For example, if you report a user for sending a dick pic it's kind of important if they were sexting or not.

What can't you just block him? Why is the a report option at all? These are direct messages, why are they treating it like a public platform?

It is a public platform. You don't need to be invited to send someone a message.

Re: Reporting a user to WhatsApp forwards a copy of recent messages from that chat

#99
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't telegram by default not encrypted? I thought only "private" chats are being e2ee.

Yes. That is what 'stores everything in the cloud' means. Even the e2ee thing is not audited properly. They are just more trustworthy, have open source apps, better usability [ and unlimited storage :) ] . Signal > Telegram > Whatsapp

I would use Whatsapp before Telegram personally

Re: Reporting a user to WhatsApp forwards a copy of recent messages from that chat

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I pulled up the conversation on my phone and showed you the display, it's a bit more than just a fake Photoshopped screenshot.

How so? Editing a video to do that is not any harder than photoshopping a screenshot.

Or a website. Especially on the desktop, F12 many a fake website makes.
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