Why we don't sell ads – WhatsApp Blog

Post by justinpaulson » Mon, Apr 20, 2015, 1:50 PM UTC

mike-cardwell wrote: post #46

Psion7 wrote: post #38

WhatsApp isn't about putting ads into the app but for better data collection. That is why Facebook bought them. Facebook sells ads and targeting data and one of the best ways to analyse a persons life to better target them for ads is from their personal, non-public communication. You will talk about many more things in private conversation with friends and family than you will publicly on your Facebook profile. A sim…

Except, as far as I know, Facebook/WhatsApp shouldn't be able to read the messages people send each other over the WhatsApp network because of end-to-end encryption: https://whispersystems.org/blog/whatsapp/

Post by scotu » Mon, Apr 20, 2015, 1:51 PM UTC

Justsignedup wrote: post #56

Psion7 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They say the network communication is encrypted between end points but they don't say analysing is not being done prior to encryption on your end . What I mean is it is possible for the communication over the network to be encrypted between Bob and Alice but everything Bob writes to Alice could easily be used by WhatsApp/Facebook prior to being sent. They could even go as far as to encrypt it and just transmit your s…

Whatsapp is encrypted in transit. It is still stored on their servers. So they can read your messages. Edit: Link -- https://www.eff.org/secure-messaging-scorecard

Post by justinpaulson » Mon, Apr 20, 2015, 1:52 PM UTC

Post by motoboi » Mon, Apr 20, 2015, 1:59 PM UTC

Justsignedup wrote: post #56

Psion7 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They say the network communication is encrypted between end points but they don't say analysing is not being done prior to encryption on your end . What I mean is it is possible for the communication over the network to be encrypted between Bob and Alice but everything Bob writes to Alice could easily be used by WhatsApp/Facebook prior to being sent. They could even go as far as to encrypt it and just transmit your s…

Whatsapp is encrypted in transit. It is still stored on their servers. So they can read your messages. Edit: Link -- https://www.eff.org/secure-messaging-scorecard

Post by motoboi » Mon, Apr 20, 2015, 2:07 PM UTC

sososoko wrote: post #31

mschuster91 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can do end-to-end encryption just like with emails. Just the metadata (sender, recipient) needs to be plaintext.

Ahh, i think i get it. but that brings us back to my question; how is the data store on the server, Encrypted or plaintext? if its encrypted would that mean decryption happens per each session. e.g. when using whatsapp web ( could it be why they need the phone to be online? )