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WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

reuters.com

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Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

#21

Post by pedrocr »

saddlerustle wrote: post #3

It's absurd this article doesn't try to describe what the changes actually are . The privacy policy change doesn't functionally change anything about what data is collected or shared with Facebook. Metadata collection for ad targeting has been allowed by the privacy policy since 2016.

The article is a short piece that basically says "Remember that kerfuffle about Whatsapp TOS that lead Facebook to put it on hold? It's back on". For that purpose the paragraph it does include describing the kinds of changes at stake should be enough. It's not an in-depth piece explaining the nature of the changes and in which cases they are indeed just "clarifications" as Facebook claims.

Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

#22

Post by londons_explore »

As I understand it, the actual T&C change is pretty minor (the ability for Facebook to have the contents of your messages on their server only in the case you are talking to a business which uses Facebook for commercial messaging)

Since this change seems pretty minor, why can't Whatsapp cancel the T&C changes, make a big announcement that they have caved to user demands, and then get some third party to host their commercial messaging efforts? Said third party could get permission to handle user data the way every other 'use chat for customer service' company does...

Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

#23

Post by base »

buro9 wrote: post #11
sumanthvepa wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've done that too. But for some reason, my business communication still happens on WhatsApp. Until that happens Facebook is safe.

that is the one I found easiest to move. Business is already conducted well on email, and if it needs sync chat for larger orgs then Slack steps in, and if it needs personal private sync chat then Signal steps in.

The issue a lot times is clients, for example if you work with small business.

Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

#24

Post by Icathian »

londons_explore wrote: post #15

I really don't understand facebook's approach to this change... Whatsapp is part of facebook, the most data driven of companies. Surely they wrote 10 variations on the 'please accept the new T&C's' screen, and did A/B testing on each, user studies, etc. And they wouldn't have deployed if there was any risk to their business... Yet it seems the users hate it enough that there is a risk to their business... So what wen…

My assumption is that the cost/benefit math means that this is still worth it for them to do. Put as much lipstick as you can on that pig and go to market with it is not an internally inconsistent or illogical path. Even if it sucks for us as consumers.

Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

#25

Post by musha68k »

mfer wrote: post #10

In the book, "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism"[1], it talks about the MO for the big tech companies. How they push and often subtly change things slowly. The book provides a number of examples of this. I never expected FB to walk back the privacy change. I even expect their full expectations to be in place in a couple years. It's what they have successfully done in the past. [1] https://bookshop.org/books/the-age-…

Indeed, a powerful trick out of the manipulator’s playbook. Also thinking of “Death by a thousand cuts”, “slowly boiling a frog”, etc.

“Creeping normality (also called gradualism, or landscape amnesia[1]) is a process by which a major change can be accepted as normal and acceptable if it happens slowly through small, often unnoticeable, increments of change. The change could otherwise be regarded as objectionable if it took place in a single step or short period.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creeping_normality

Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

#26

Post by uniqueid »

throwaway556179 wrote: post #16

Sometimes, I wish someone would hack into the FB C-Levels homes and live-stream their lives to the world - like everything they say and do, just to make the world a bit more open, connected and transparent.

  A photographer claims he was accused of breaching
  privacy by Facebook after taking photos of Mark
  Zuckerberg cleaning up his dog’s poo.
https://metro.co.uk/2018/04/03/pictures-mark-zuckerberg-didn...

Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

#28

Post by kar1181 »

I think as a starter concerned (UK) citizens should write to their MP.

I wrote when the first news broke and got a pretty prompt reply it was being looked at. Then Facebook announced it's pause and the issue went silent.

Now it's rearing up again we need to likewise make sure it's on the radar of our MPs.

Re: WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

#29

Post by yuriko_boyko »

majke wrote: post #8
saddlerustle wrote: post #3

It's absurd this article doesn't try to describe what the changes actually are . The privacy policy change doesn't functionally change anything about what data is collected or shared with Facebook. Metadata collection for ad targeting has been allowed by the privacy policy since 2016.

More than that. (1) The policy differs per country. But how is it different in practice between the EU and USA and Brasil? It's not public knowledge. (2) It's absurd the policy doesn't describe anything useful. I tried to find if the contact book is being sent to facebook and if so, for how long. The wording is so opaque it's impossible to figure out. https://twitter.com/majek04/status/1348574409968275456

The contacts have been shared since 2016. You can get your account info in the Account option, but they make it a pain to get it. Mine took 3 days for an HTML page.
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