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Iran asks its people to delete WhatsApp from their devices

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Re: Iran asks its people to delete WhatsApp from their devices

#211

Post by pcthrowaway »

MoonGhost wrote: post #141
hexomancer wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s the alternative? Live under the delusional islamic theocratic dictatorship forever? If you think the islamic republic can be replaced through peaceful protests you have another thing coming, they have already killed thousands of protestors and they have no problem killing because they actually believe they are doing god’s work and the protestors are infidels that deserve to die. I take my chances for a probabl…

If ayatollah gets nuke regime becomes forever like in North Korea. And Israel may suffer first because nuke strike is the only chance for Iran right now. Hope they don't have it and ayatollah goes to Moscow.

The thing about nukes is that they're completely useless at defending against an internal revolution

Re: Iran asks its people to delete WhatsApp from their devices

#212

Post by SoftTalker »

jen729w wrote: post #209
SoftTalker wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the company that built a secret localhost listener on Android so that they could track users across websites even in private mode. Do not believe this for a second. I'm much more inclined to believe they track everything in high precision and also MITM all the messages. Especially now that they are inserting ads.

> Especially now that they are inserting ads. I'm no apologist for Facebook, none of whose services I use. But get your facts straight. They are not 'inserting ads' in your chats , as you imply. AFAIK they are adding adds to the never-used 'Updates' tab. Annoying from an ad perspective, no doubt. Vastly different from a are-they-MITMing-your-messages perspective.

Thanks for clarifying. I don't use any Meta stuff so I only read about it.

Re: Iran asks its people to delete WhatsApp from their devices

#213

Post by philistine »

bdangubic wrote: post #164
EGreg wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They usually just do a mea culpa: Camera: https://www.bitdefender.com/en-us/blog/hotforsecurity/facebo... Audio: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41424016 Conversations: https://www.vice.com/en/article/facebook-said-it-wasnt-liste... Mass surveillance: https://thehill.com/video/facebook-spying-on-users-new-repor... Across the web: https://www.wired.com/story/ways-facebook-tracks-you-limit-i... Beacon: https://www…

I will never understand how anyone in their right mind can use any product owned by Meta…

Imagine a small local non-profit with 5000 likes on their page. They might be trying their darnedest to improve their newsletter numbers, but they still need to be on Facebook.

Imagine that times a billion.

Re: Iran asks its people to delete WhatsApp from their devices

#214

Post by grafmax »

jonplackett wrote: post #45
yuvalr1 wrote: post #44

I'm surprised reading that the Iranian's regime concerns are centered on WhatsApp sharing information with Israel. It is much more likely that WhatsApp have 0-day vulnerabilities used by the Mossad to gain the info than WhatsApp actively sharing it.

They are probably concerned it would be the platform of choice to communicate during a revolution that Israel is outspokenly trying to foment.

[flagged]

Re: Iran asks its people to delete WhatsApp from their devices

#216

Post by x0x0 »

bdangubic wrote: post #164
EGreg wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They usually just do a mea culpa: Camera: https://www.bitdefender.com/en-us/blog/hotforsecurity/facebo... Audio: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41424016 Conversations: https://www.vice.com/en/article/facebook-said-it-wasnt-liste... Mass surveillance: https://thehill.com/video/facebook-spying-on-users-new-repor... Across the web: https://www.wired.com/story/ways-facebook-tracks-you-limit-i... Beacon: https://www…

I will never understand how anyone in their right mind can use any product owned by Meta…

Signal lagged so far in polish and features that getting friends and family to use it was doa. So I can choose to communicate with friends and family on the apps they use, or I make it very difficult for them to communicate with me.

That ends with them mostly not communicating with me, not with them switching apps.

Re: Iran asks its people to delete WhatsApp from their devices

#217

Post by lxgr »

femto wrote: post #148
chgs wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren’t groups end-end encrypted still, with key exchange on joining groups?

Does the WhatsApp program generate and store/mange the private keys? If so, it would be possible for the program to send private keys on request, effectively backdooring the endpoint. Such an arrangement would allow Meta to put its hand on it heart and truthfully say it is end-to-end encrypted (on the network), whilst still providing a way around it.

Yes, but users can compare fingerprints (sure, most probably don't, but it's definitely a deterrence against MITMing all conversations by default), receive warnings whenever fingerprints change etc.

There's also supposedly a key transparency service deployed (similar to Certificate Transparency), but I haven't looked into that in detail.

Re: Iran asks its people to delete WhatsApp from their devices

#218

Post by Cheer2171 »

bdangubic wrote: post #164
EGreg wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They usually just do a mea culpa: Camera: https://www.bitdefender.com/en-us/blog/hotforsecurity/facebo... Audio: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41424016 Conversations: https://www.vice.com/en/article/facebook-said-it-wasnt-liste... Mass surveillance: https://thehill.com/video/facebook-spying-on-users-new-repor... Across the web: https://www.wired.com/story/ways-facebook-tracks-you-limit-i... Beacon: https://www…

I will never understand how anyone in their right mind can use any product owned by Meta…

Because the entire rest of society has wrapped itself around Facebook, Whatsapp, and Instagram. It is easy to be a free software purist until you need to know if your child's school has a snow day. Websites and mailing lists are dead. I cannot be involved in my child's school or any of the informal social networks around the parents and teachers without using Meta's platforms. I cannot volunteer at a non-profit I care deeply about without using Meta's platforms, because that's what they have to coordinate.

Are you going to suggest to me that I should force them onto Signal and a pile of other DIY platforms? I dare you. Look a burned out parent in their bloodshot eyes first.

Re: Iran asks its people to delete WhatsApp from their devices

#219

Post by gnarlouse »

Saris wrote: post #9
rdrd wrote: post #7

I find the wordsmithery on Meta's statement the most interesting: “We do not track your *PRECISE* location, we don’t keep logs of who everyone is messaging and we do not track the *PERSONAL* messages people are sending one another," it added. “We do not provide *BULK* information to any government.”

If you read around their points, it sounds like they track general location, log group messages, and provide specific information on request to a government.

Yep. Learning to read legal is an invaluable modern skill.

Re: Iran asks its people to delete WhatsApp from their devices

#220

Post by akdev1l »

Cyph0n wrote: post #182
lurk2 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> like Microsoft did with PRISM or AT&T did with 641A, most likely no one would find out People did find out.

Only because a select few people had the balls to blow the whistle. Imagine if Snowden decided to just do his work and move on? How much longer would it have taken for these facts to be revealed to the public?

Also people found out and nothing happened?

So literally no downside to putting a backdoor and lying about it

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