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WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

reuters.com

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Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

#281

Post by pmlnr »

oever wrote: post #270
pmlnr wrote: post #90

A group of my friends asked to set up a groupchat recently, our requirements varied. Among them: - needs to be simple (not all of them are techies) - need to be possible to run on desktop without any mobile need - not Facebook (my requirement) So I went and set an XMPP server up on the same machine I have my email and webserver, and wrote a quick guide on how to install blabber.im (a Conversations fork), and register…

Could you share your XMPP setup? What server? What clients for the various operating systems and what setting?

I just went for prosody, though after a few months ejabberd looks nice as well, with built-in turnserver and irc transport. In Prosody, those are external, coturn and biboumi.

Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

#282

Post by CTOSian »

Bakary wrote: post #265
qznc wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ignored? Lots and lots of people installed Signal or Telegram. Some of them will stay.

If Fb is going forward with the change, then they've realized that those people are a rounding error.

exactly, how many people care about the TOS? most of the people I know use their phones like zombies, just clicking on the apps and to any "OK" button they see...

Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

#283

Post by CTOSian »

rapnie wrote: post #59

A question to anyone that already made the jump away from Whatsapp: Do people that used to msg me still see my entry in their own accounts list, after I closed it? And if they do, do they get notified if still sending msgs there, or are these just shown as forever unread?

>Do people that used to msg me still see my entry in >their own accounts list, after I closed it?

I recently asked the WhatsApp to provide me "my account info", well, on the reply (data) were OLD phone numbers from friends that they don't use anymore -closed their old WhatsApp and opened new- and belong now to other people!! what was absurd, those numbers AUTOMATICALLY were added to my contact list! I even could not remove those contacts only by block and report. Just to have an idea what data goes to the f Facebook

Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

#284

Post by MattJ100 »

pmlnr wrote: post #281
oever wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you share your XMPP setup? What server? What clients for the various operating systems and what setting?

I just went for prosody, though after a few months ejabberd looks nice as well, with built-in turnserver and irc transport. In Prosody, those are external, coturn and biboumi.

Yeah, built-in TURN/etc. in Prosody is unlikely to happen. We believe in modularity, smaller footprint, separation of concerns and the "do one thing" philosophy. Coturn is a decent battle-tested TURN server and works just fine :)

Rather than trying to reimplement stuff that other projects have done quite nicely, we're focusing on trying to grow the community, network and ecosystem with projects like easy onboarding[1] and Snikket[2].

[1]: https://blog.prosody.im/great-invitations/ [2]: https://snikket.org/

Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

#285

Post by pmlnr »

MattJ100 wrote: post #284
pmlnr wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just went for prosody, though after a few months ejabberd looks nice as well, with built-in turnserver and irc transport. In Prosody, those are external, coturn and biboumi.

Yeah, built-in TURN/etc. in Prosody is unlikely to happen. We believe in modularity, smaller footprint, separation of concerns and the "do one thing" philosophy. Coturn is a decent battle-tested TURN server and works just fine :) Rather than trying to reimplement stuff that other projects have done quite nicely, we're focusing on trying to grow the community, network and ecosystem with projects like easy onboarding[1…

I like the modularity of prosody; the choice is similar to postfix vs exim. I merely wanted to point it out that ejabberd is a more full fledged solution out of the box.

Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

#286

Post by Zash »

pmlnr wrote: post #285
MattJ100 wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, built-in TURN/etc. in Prosody is unlikely to happen. We believe in modularity, smaller footprint, separation of concerns and the "do one thing" philosophy. Coturn is a decent battle-tested TURN server and works just fine :) Rather than trying to reimplement stuff that other projects have done quite nicely, we're focusing on trying to grow the community, network and ecosystem with projects like easy onboarding[1…

I like the modularity of prosody; the choice is similar to postfix vs exim. I merely wanted to point it out that ejabberd is a more full fledged solution out of the box.

This is indeed something of an issue, the duality of Prosody. Should it be a complete solution or a platform for you to build on? Being one when people expect the other leads to disappointed users, and being both is a lot of work for the small dev team. Hopefully Snikket will improve this by attracting those who want the complete solution.

Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

#287

Post by Bakary »

CTOSian wrote: post #282
Bakary wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Fb is going forward with the change, then they've realized that those people are a rounding error.

exactly, how many people care about the TOS? most of the people I know use their phones like zombies, just clicking on the apps and to any "OK" button they see...

Over time, I've come to progressively reject the "zombie/sheeple" criticism of that behavior. People just want to live their lives, and we should focus our attention on the rent-seeking tech companies that try to cynically exploit us instead of victim-blaming. It's true that people could try to be more aware of what is going on, but we ought to work towards a world where we aren't nickel-and-dimed every second of the day by massive corporations.

Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

#288

Post by ethbr0 »

Darmody wrote: post #241
ethbr0 wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on the business. If users cost $0.05 / user to support, that's very different than $1 / user. Software products scale... but they don't scale completely free.

Yes, of course, but we're talking about messaging apps like Whatsapp.

And in the 90s, that would have been bandwidth.

Now, widely used messaging platform also means content moderation team and local law enforcement alignment.

Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

#289

Post by pkulak »

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #277
retromario wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does the Matrix experience compare to Signal, feature-wise? I ran into similar frustrations with Signal's lack of polish in certain areas when trying to move family over. There's something to be said for why WhatsApp is so popular, it feels like the most full-featured and polished communications app.

It's barely tolerable for power users, unacceptable for casual users. In particular, calling doesn't work reliably on Android, no search in encrypted rooms, ... Signal, on the other hand, is basically a drop-in replacement for WhatsApp. Extremely similar UX, basically the same concepts, phone numbers as identifiers allow you to keep your social network if other contacts migrate.

Calling works fine for me. And you can't search any E2E encrypted rooms on any platform. But at least Matrix can store history, that you can then search on your client. Or if you really want search, you can just not encrypt your room, which isn't an option at all with Signal.

But I do agree that Signal is easier, a better WhatsApp replacement for most people, and a wonderful service in general. The more people use it, the better.

Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

#290

Post by ric2b »

tambourine_man wrote: post #41

It'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…

> Now, for whatever reason, nothing has effectively changed and millions suddenly care.

But it has effectively changed, we like to ignore contracts/laws/T&C's and focus on the technology but those things really matter for a large company.

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