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Setting the record straight

blog.whatsapp.com

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Re: Setting the record straight

#2

Post by Myrmornis »

If partnering with Facebook meant that we had to change our values, we wouldn’t have done it.

With no disrespect intended towards the whatsapp team, given the terms of the deal, it's a bit hard for them to say "If partnering with Facebook meant X we wouldn't have done it" unless X is "life would not have been as staggeringly beneficial to us".

Re: Setting the record straight

#3

Post by jvdh » 

  Respect for  your privacy is coded  into our DNA, and  we built WhatsApp
  around the  goal of knowing as  little about you as  possible: You don’t
  have to give  us your name and  we don’t ask for your  email address. We
  don’t know  your birthday.  We don’t  know your  home address.  We don’t
  know where you  work. We don’t know  your likes, what you  search for on
  the internet  or collect your GPS  location. None of that  data has ever
  been collected  and stored by WhatsApp,  and we really have  no plans to
  change that.
I don't recall them ever being accused of tracking all this information. The problem is the metadata; They know who you are talking to and for Facebook this is exactly the kind of information that they want. They want to enhance their social graphs and have a better view of who interacts with who. This is auspiciously lacking in their statement.

Re: Setting the record straight

#4

Post by sgloutnikov »

Myrmornis wrote: post #2

If partnering with Facebook meant that we had to change our values, we wouldn’t have done it. With no disrespect intended towards the whatsapp team, given the terms of the deal, it's a bit hard for them to say "If partnering with Facebook meant X we wouldn't have done it" unless X is "life would not have been as staggeringly beneficial to us".

Given the terms of the deal, I think Mr. Zuckerberg "Made an offer he [they] can't refuse".

Re: Setting the record straight

#6

Post by tiquorsj »

Wow. Not the response I expected. I'm not sure if the naivety is authentic or we should feel punked. They didn't partner with anyone. They were bought. Not changing will be allowed as long as it benefits the buyer.

Re: Setting the record straight

#9

Post by rdl »

To support your public commitment to privacy: OTR or better for WhatsApp, and/or a third party client so we could do this, please.

I'll excuse the metadata issues for a while if you build the app in such a way that confidentiality is protected independent of your infrastructure, and if pushing a "bad" app to clients is detectable. It's still a pain if targeted malware is pushed to individual clients, as those clients are unlikely to detect it. There are some emerging ways to address that, but first things first.

You have literally billions of dollars; it would take at most millions to implement this. Making an app with 450 million uses around the world somewhat more secure would be supremely meaningful, even if it's not perfect.

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