I'll take the second option.
Signal works pretty well for anyone who isn't my family.
WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app
401–410 of 1001 posts
Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app
#402Earlier quoted context omitted.
Social life is impossible without the mainstream technology. Sure you can find alternatives but if no one uses it other than you, you end up being sidelined. The technology gets enforced and leaves one with no choice but to accept it or be a red flag. Shouldn't it be possible to delete your whatsapp chat and contacts data regularly from the cloud? Eg. one could delete the whatsapp account, clear data on cloud and mak…
> Social life is impossible without the mainstream technology. If people won’t go to the trouble of using an alternate way of getting in touch with you then they’re not really your friends.
This is such a bullshit HN comment. I don’t like WhatsApp/FB either but critical mass is important.
Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app
#403Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's not entirely true. They did charge something tiny to use the app (I think it was ~$2/year) but in many countries (outside the US where they were much more popular) they didn't block users who didn't pay. If you didn't want to see annoying reminders you would just pay and get rid of it. Many people I know never paid.
For me it simply displayed "the next year of service is on us" once a year, every year. Paying for WhatsApp was something of an urban legend.
I had paid for at least one year (just $1), may be two (don't remember exactly). I would be glad to pay more, but Facebook played a big game and now we're all stuck with it because at least in India WhatsApp is almost a necessity.
Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app
#404> [The spokeswoman] said there will be no change in how WhatsApp shares provides data with Facebook for non-business chats and account data. That sounds a lot less alarming, in the third to last paragraph, than the headline or first few paragraphs? Don't get me wrong, I ditched Facebook years ago, and wouldn't use WhatsApp but for family and a pre-Corona club I wouldn't have (much at all) contact with otherwise. That…
Could simply mean they are already sharing all data with Facebook.
Yep, it's old news. https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/25/whatsapp-to-share-user-dat...
Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app
#405It has been said that companies that build rely too heavily on the public, free API’s of another service are doomed when that service decides to monetize those API’s. See, for example, API users of Google Maps. I think we are now at the point where this applies to individuals. If a person or group of people rely too heavily on a single free service then they’re going to feel pain when that service finally decides to…
Didn't WhatsApp used to be monetized by default? Something like $1/year?
Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app
#406An interesting strategy from Facebook. Although the privacy related changes were somewhat expected, the timing and aggresive timeline will likely play out in Facebook's favor. While giving users a 1 month grace period to either comply (share their data) or delete their account already seems like a pretty aggressive window that limits the ability for users to fully assess options or migrate existing groups/chats to al…
I’d be surprised if this isn’t just whitewashing some previously shared data.
Also, a preparation for antitrust action - once the data is shared and integrated, even if they are forced to separate WhatsApp, they have all the metadata (which takes 3-5 years to become stale) and now they will have it “legally” (sadly, this extortion is indeed legal. It shouldn’t be)
Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app
#407"As part of the Facebook family of companies, WhatsApp receives information from, and shares information with, this family of companies. We may use the information we receive from them, and they may use the information we share with them, to help operate, provide, improve, understand, customize, support, and market our Services and their offerings. This includes helping improve infrastructure and delivery systems, understanding how our Services or theirs are used, securing systems, and fighting spam, abuse, or infringement activities. Facebook and the other companies in the Facebook family also may use information from us to improve your experiences within their services such as making product suggestions (for example, of friends or connections, or of interesting content) and showing relevant offers and ads. However, your WhatsApp messages will not be shared onto Facebook for others to see. In fact, Facebook will not use your WhatsApp messages for any purpose other than to assist us in operating and providing our Services."
Definition of Services: "all of our apps, services, features, software, and website (together, “Services”) unless specified otherwise."
Ads are the bulk of Facebook's "Services" but it's remarkable how they avoid saying it.
Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app
#408Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure the network effect is strong but let’s not forget how WhatsApp got here in the first place: people installing a strange new app, often shared by their friends via a text message invite link. I remember sitting in a circle with a group of friends one night 10+ years ago while each of us installed WhatsApp and had our first conversations on the app. It was a time when BBM was dominant and cross-platform messaging…
> cross-platform messaging was new. when was cross-platform messaging ever new? ... IRC, AIM, etc ...
Neither was effectively available on phones ever.
This is in relation to iMessage vs BBM vs whatever was popular on Android at the time.
(And they got on boarding, group functionality and UI better than anyone for a very long time)
Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app
#409I'd love to give up WhatsApp, but network effects are key here. I tried moving my extended family off WhatsApp onto Signal a couple of years ago and it failed miserably because the app wasn't nearly as easy to use, and they had all their friends on Whatsapp. Has anyone here had any success moving a large group of people onto something like Signal or Telegram? If so, do you have any tips?
> Has anyone here had any success moving a large group of people onto something like Signal or Telegram? If so, do you have any tips?
I just dropped the link in the title into all the group chats I'm in, said I'm headed to signal and removed myself from the groups.
I was not the first person to do that in these groups. Will it cause a critical mass exodus? Idk. I won't know, I won't be back.
Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app
#410Earlier quoted context omitted.
Signal is "owned" by a non-profit. They can't be sold to a for profit, they learned their lessons from WhatsApp. Lastly, Signal doesn't collect/store any of your data on their infrastructure other than a few hashes required for operation. WhatsApp/facebook on the other hand collect, and likely keep, forever, at much metadata about you as possible. The only way to pay for this free storage is to stay more data so they…
Signal is also open source, so if they do somehow become for-profit, it can always be forked.
You would only be able to fork the client, not the network. Signal doesn't want forks or third party rebuilds e.g. from F-Droid to connect to their main network.
Most people use these apps for the network. The app without the network is useless, but any fork would initially be in this situation.