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WhatsApp's new privacy policy is so bad it might be illegal

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141–150 of 244 posts

Re: WhatsApp's new privacy policy is so bad it might be illegal

#141

Bizarre story given the new privacy policy in the EU changed nothing wrt what data is shared with Facebook.

Last I checked it was a lot of words for no change at all. If the change is so small, they could have allowed EU users to opt out (and maybe miss out on some features), they would have avoided the outcry.

Re: WhatsApp's new privacy policy is so bad it might be illegal

#143
post #13

To be honest I feel a bit disenfranchised. I’ve used all my energy to convert all my friends to signal when the WhatsApp privacy policy fiasco happened and now they’re saying it was a waste of time since they don’t want anything to do with bitcoins.. I can’t blame them as I also don’t want this on my messaging app. I feel like I will just give up and use WhatsApp and assume that I only had privacy pre-internet.

What?! How does anyone using Signal get any news about the "bitcoins"? None of my friends I converted even heard about it.

Re: WhatsApp's new privacy policy is so bad it might be illegal

#144

In Jan, there was a big outcry, i thought all would move to signal. I have about 25% of the conversations in signal, but especially for groups, whatsapp is so sticky, that they seem to have broadly failed in signal, and are back to whatsapp. I continue to have individual conversations on signal with most friends, but the idea of being able to leave whatsapp seems to be much tougher than I thought.

It works the other way around too though! Create Signal equivalents for your WhatsApp groups, add the subset of the WhatApp members that also have Signal, and then if you have something fun to share, do so in the Signal group. That way you're meeting people where they are, while simultaneously using an app you can get behind as well, leaving it to others (and their FOMO) to meet you where you are.

Re: WhatsApp's new privacy policy is so bad it might be illegal

#145
post #46

That big privacy policy update everyone was complaining about was--again--only about providing hosted e2e clients in the cloud for Facebook Business customers, and had nothing to do with end user to end user chats: the goal was to solve the experience problem of a company wanting to provide a chatbot and realizing "omg, I have to host all of the chat client parts myself and build some way for random people in my orga…

I have said this before. The contract you sign with facebook allows them to send all your stuff from whatsapp to facebook. Any of it.

Who cares what they say their intent is?

It was so clearly, so obviously written to deceive, I wonder whether the defenders have ever actually read the new privacy agreements they are supposed to sign.

It says that in the future (e.g. as soon as the EU allows it), Facebook will merge all Whatsapp and Facebook data. And it will share whatever it can do now.

They do NOT say they will not share the data with Facebook. They use the same sentence, carefully worded, saying that they don't share the data right now, but might later.

Why the funk do you think they write it that way?

Some people also believe sentences like this: "We at company X deeply care about your privacy".

Not everyone is so naive.

Re: WhatsApp's new privacy policy is so bad it might be illegal

#146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Telegram is LESS secure than WhatsApp. https://www.wired.com/story/telegram-encryption-whatsapp-set...

Only if you trust Facebook to implement E2E encryption well in their proprietary code.

> I'm sorry, but that's not how computer software works. Anyone who knows what a basic block is can straightforwardly verify the claims WhatsApp is making.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11432096

Re: WhatsApp's new privacy policy is so bad it might be illegal

#147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only if you trust Facebook to implement E2E encryption well in their proprietary code.

I’ll take that risk over no default e2ee on Telegram any day.

that sounds a bit like you'd prefer a certificate guaranteing that you will never die over one that pays when you do.

Re: WhatsApp's new privacy policy is so bad it might be illegal

#148

My personal experience is that I moved some friends to Telegram and kept family in WhatsApp.The time using the phone decreased, I found having 2 messengers more beneficial as I will switch only when there is some relevant conversation or topic happening.

Telegram is LESS secure than WhatsApp. https://www.wired.com/story/telegram-encryption-whatsapp-set...

PRIVACY =! SECURITY

Re: WhatsApp's new privacy policy is so bad it might be illegal

#149

Quicksy.im / Conversations.im developer here. I promise I’ll never implement crypto currency into my messenger apps.¹ Even if I break my promise you could just use a fork of my app since XMPP servers don’t prevent third party clients from connecting. ¹: I don’t have to either because I have a working business model that’s not a ponzi scheme

Is there a way to sign up to it which is as simple for tech-illiterate people as WhatsApp/Signal? I recall the last few times I, a developer, have tried to functionally use any sort of XMPP based thing it has been a confusing and inconsistent experience.

Re: WhatsApp's new privacy policy is so bad it might be illegal

#150
post #40
post #13

To be honest I feel a bit disenfranchised. I’ve used all my energy to convert all my friends to signal when the WhatsApp privacy policy fiasco happened and now they’re saying it was a waste of time since they don’t want anything to do with bitcoins.. I can’t blame them as I also don’t want this on my messaging app. I feel like I will just give up and use WhatsApp and assume that I only had privacy pre-internet.

Good thing then that there won't be any bitcoins in Signal.

https://signal.org/blog/update-on-beta-testing-payments/
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