There need to be steps taken to make WhatsApp into a utility in countries where it is being used as such. If your life cannot function with WhatsApp, then governments cannot cede control to foreign corporations. In India, Brazil, and Some European countries that is the case, as public services and infrastructure have shifted onto WhatsApp. It doesn’t mean Facebook can’t make money on WhatsApp, but it does mean they can’t unilaterally change the rules.
WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash
171–180 of 303 posts
Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash
#172Meanwhile I've switched my family and friend to Signal with great success.
Do you still have Whatsapp installed? I have seen family and friends _add_ Signal but few actually _removing_ Whatsapp from their phone. Which is not a success.
I don't think it's possible for most people to make this a one-pass activity without it causing a lot of friction for them, but over time you can build a critical mass of your social circle on non-FB platforms that allow you to _then_ delete WhatsApp with less friction.
Step 1 for family & friends is being available on multiple platforms, because that in turn gives _their_ circle less tie-in to WhatsApp. It's only when their circle also make themselves available that they would have a painless option to remove WhatsApp, but IMO, that's OK.
It is a success, but playing the long game.
Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
XMPP gtalk was awesome, and killing it was foolish; my _entire_ gtalk contact list suddenly stopped appearing, and that didn't just include people in IT. Dancers, musicians, teachers, et al were using Adium/Pidgin to chat, and suddenly it didn't work. The web chat they provided was incredibly slow on mid and low end PCs, but most of my friends didn't even get as far as trying it. Google talk stopped working in Adium…
Fun fact: xmpp gtalk still works with 3rd party clients.
Well something broke it at some point where it no longer worked. There's plenty of threads going back years over years where folks are befuddled about connectivity issues.
And there's that Android users were coerced to use Hangouts, which did not have XMPP. Rather than switch to Hangouts, most of my friends kept using Whatsapp and Messenger.
Ie:
https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/20mz48/google_xmp...
Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash
#174Meanwhile I've switched my family and friend to Signal with great success.
The WhatsApp fiasco has been great because Signal is now widely-known and I haven't needed WhatsApp anymore for international calls.
Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash
#175It's really hard for me to understand why and how something fails or succeeds to grab the public's attention. I've been complaining and refusing to use WhatsApp for years, mostly because it's centralized at the worst possible company. But a boycott of one is not a powerful move and no one cared. Now, for whatever reason, nothing has effectively changed and millions suddenly care. I mean, I'm glad they finally do, do…
>It's really hard for me to understand why and how something fails or succeeds to grab the public's attention.
If you can collectively get outraged about something with a group of people, you tend to feel "woke" and belonging to a cause.
We are to the point in media, especially online smaller publications, where if you see a story that you feel like you should get outraged about, you can safely discard it as either false or at best extremely biased.
Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash
#176Too big to fail. WhatsApp should be transferred to something like the UN. It is no longer a cool startup/app. It is the main communication infrastructure for the majority of the planet. Yet it's in the hand of unblinking cyborgs.
> It is the main communication infrastructure for the majority of the planet. The majority of the planet doesn't use the internet. Only a slight majority of the planet even has the option to use the internet.
Sorry if I wasn't clear. I was speaking about human beings, not the planet in a celestial/natural sense. Hope that makes sense.
Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash
#177Sometimes, I wish someone would hack into the FB C-Levels homes and live-stream their lives to the world - like everything they say and do, just to make the world a bit more open, connected and transparent.
How is that in any way similar to the proposed WhatsApp changes?
It concerns the generic "information asymmetry" - we want your relations, dreams, illnesses, loves, pulse, voice, basically anything we can get - but let silence be the only thing you will know about us.
Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Facebook has entirely failed to utilise it - to allow external systems to connect in so that businesses can do business on there. They weren’t allowed to do that under old TOS, and the whole point of this update is to allow data sharing when contacting businesses, that will allow building business tools. https://faq.whatsapp.com/general/security-and-privacy/answer...
Yeah I don't understand the outrage? It brings more functionality like Messenger to interface with businesses - which I have found value in. For instance United service there was quicker and better than using the phone line to change/re-book flights. Maybe I'm missing something?
The outrage is due to Facebook being involved. No one (very rightfully) trusts Facebook with their data. I doubt there would have been any outrage at this level if an independent WhatsApp was doing this.
Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Facebook has entirely failed to utilise it - to allow external systems to connect in so that businesses can do business on there. They weren’t allowed to do that under old TOS, and the whole point of this update is to allow data sharing when contacting businesses, that will allow building business tools. https://faq.whatsapp.com/general/security-and-privacy/answer...
I understand the objective on making (more) money. Why have 1bn users and make $1 per user? Isn't it better if then have 200mn users and make $20 per user? For me this 'shedding freeloaders and privacy-oriented-users' helps them more than not. We have discussed pricing and volumes of customers before in this forum, multiple times, and for multiple products/services. Is it better to have 1000 users and make $1 from ea…
Social Networks have network externalizations.
The presence of the 'freeloaders' makes the value of the network.
Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash
#180I'm so disappointed in this. Whatsapp is a functional tool. It was successful since it worked. Facebook has entirely failed to utilise it - to allow external systems to connect in so that businesses can do business on there. The voice calls are also a disaster. They've now come along to start messing with the privacy to start selling ads. It is insane that they're able to make such a mess of this. Is there a word for…
>They've now come along to start messing with the privacy to start selling ads
Selling user data and advertising is pretty much the end goal of most "free" applications that suddenly pop up on the scene, and that end goal is set from the start (whether to monetize the app yourself or sell/get acquired by a company that will monetize it).