Ex-WhatsApp cybersecurity head says Meta endangered billions of users

Post by chias » Tue, Sep 09, 2025, 5:16 AM UTC

solid_fuel wrote: post #47

pixl97 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean the options are 1) leave quietly and tell no one: con - no one on HN gets to talk about it. The next person needing money does it anyway. 2) leave loudly when you're still poor: con - you get blacklisted from tech and die from a preventable disease working at a gas station without insurance. The company implements the policy anyway. 3) leave loudly when your rich: con - people accuse you of selling out the use…

I believe you are forgetting: 4) Don't join Meta in the first place I have consistently told recruiters from Meta to leave me alone. It is a company that has knowingly done massive harm to our culture and our children, and I have no interest in ever working with or for them.

Post by JumpCrisscross » Tue, Sep 09, 2025, 5:46 AM UTC

somenameforme wrote: post #92

bigiain wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't tell if I'm being paranoid or just realistic, when I suspect that FBI/Apple fights over decrypting/unlocking iPhones or iMessage are just part of Apple's security theater. If I were Evil-Tim-Cook, I'd have a deal with the FBI (and other agencies) where I'd hand over some user's data, in return for them keeping that secret and occasionally very publicly taking Apple to court demanding they expose a specific us…

It's possible for it to be a facade, but also real. Apple is a part of PRISM so there's approximately a 100% chance that anything you send to Apple via message, cloud, or whatever else, gets sent onto the NSA and consequently any agency that wants it. But the entire mass data collection they are doing is probably unconstitutional and thus illegal. But anytime it gets challenged in courts it gets thrown out on a lack…

Post by StopDisinfo910 » Tue, Sep 09, 2025, 5:55 AM UTC

cataflam wrote: post #79

zer0zzz wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not sure that’s true. I’m fairly certain UK, France, AU, Canada WhatsApp is not vastly more popular than the blue bubble alternative. At least I believe this was the case a few years ago, based on data I’d seen.

France and UK, from personal experience, whatsapp is big, especially for professional use, or friends/family groups. Blue bubble isn't really a thing ever mentioned in France either, not enough iPhone market share.

Post by throwaway290 » Tue, Sep 09, 2025, 5:57 AM UTC

thaumasiotes wrote: post #98

cataflam wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> outside of the West you probably mean outside of the USA, it's huge in Europe/UK (which doesn't contradict your main point)

I would have thought he meant "inside of the West". Outside of the West you have other channels. Russia: Telegram Taiwan: Line Japan: Line By contrast, WhatsApp is best known to me for being used in Europe, Australia, and India.

Post by 7bit » Tue, Sep 09, 2025, 6:05 AM UTC

neilv wrote: post #104

> Attaullah Baig, who served as head of security for WhatsApp from 2021 to 2025, claims that approximately 1,500 engineers had unrestricted access to user data without proper oversight, potentially violating a US government order that imposed a $5bn penalty on the company in 2020. If it results in a new billion-dollar penalty, maybe it would've saved money to move him quietly to a cushy rest-and-vest advisory positio…