[flagged]
European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp
11–20 of 93 posts
Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp
#12The problem with these efforts is always the same: organizations make their own messenger, and the fact that these organizations then have control over their own messenger ... means their employees won't use it. And that's ignoring that you can bet your firstborn they cut corners developing these messengers, so they're not pleasant to use to boot. In 2026 you still hear complaints of government employees that they on…
> organizations make their own messenger, and the fact that these organizations then have control over their own messenger ... means their employees won't use it Legally mandate its use for official communications.
So the managers also demand their employees don't use it you mean? Because then it can be used against them in court? (cfr. email "retention policies" legal departments demand these days?)
Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp
#13[flagged]
I expect the downvotes are because rather than simply calling attention to and providing an interesting perspective on another area of weakness, you're also suggesting it's a mistake to address this one while the other exists, which suggestion isn't being well-received.
Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp
#14The problem with these efforts is always the same: organizations make their own messenger, and the fact that these organizations then have control over their own messenger ... means their employees won't use it. And that's ignoring that you can bet your firstborn they cut corners developing these messengers, so they're not pleasant to use to boot. In 2026 you still hear complaints of government employees that they on…
> organizations make their own messenger, and the fact that these organizations then have control over their own messenger ... means their employees won't use it Legally mandate its use for official communications.
And they'll keep doing what Boris Johnson was doing when in power: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-covid...
They'll do it anyway.
Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp
#15European civil servants are also usually banned from using AI — perhaps with the exception of Microsoft copilot. They live in a bubble where they just don’t know. This goes for most academics as well.
Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp
#16It’s just common sense.
Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp
#17The problem with these efforts is always the same: organizations make their own messenger, and the fact that these organizations then have control over their own messenger ... means their employees won't use it. And that's ignoring that you can bet your firstborn they cut corners developing these messengers, so they're not pleasant to use to boot. In 2026 you still hear complaints of government employees that they on…
I've always found it ironic that people who distrust software from Mark Zuckerberg instead trust software from... 3 guys in a garage. "Those 3 guys in a garage would never sell us out! They are paragons of virtue!"
"We shall trust 27 different sets of 3 to 10 guys in garages and ensure they never become large enough to blackmail a large percentage of the world's governments safe in the knowledge we can in fact arrest them for illegal bs" does have an appeal however.
Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp
#18Governments want to move away from “platforms over which we have no control,” says Dutch minister. Sure, that is fair enough. But why is EU not setting up their own servers for whisper or activity pub or whatever OSS protocols and just make that their only official and approved communication channel?
I'd really want to see more examples of https://social.bund.de
This is the Mastodon server of the German Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI). Embrace decentralization.
Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp
#19[flagged]
I expect the downvotes are because rather than simply calling attention to and providing an interesting perspective on another area of weakness, you're also suggesting it's a mistake to address this one while the other exists, which suggestion isn't being well-received.
I don't need a diagnosis of my point. Perhaps I should explain further.
I'll say that it's more that the assertion that WhatsApp is a big issue is false. Civil servants know stuff is on the record, for example through screenshots from colleagues and the like which is a higher risk than actual control and security issues over WhatApp, so it's more of a distraction from the real security and ethical posture problems. Most of which occur though loose lipped jabbering to each other in the pub.
Security hygiene is terrible. Literally the worst. It scares the shit out of me if I'm honest.
If you think technology is a problem then the social issue are worse!
Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp
#20Governments want to move away from “platforms over which we have no control,” says Dutch minister. Sure, that is fair enough. But why is EU not setting up their own servers for whisper or activity pub or whatever OSS protocols and just make that their only official and approved communication channel?
Actually European Commission has been on its own Mastodon server for a couple years: