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Germany's data chief tells ministries WhatsApp is a no-go

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Re: Germany's data chief tells ministries WhatsApp is a no-go

#221

Post by Hokusai »

toohotatopic wrote: post #206
bromuro wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Opening a startup in Germany, Italy or Spain means enter a world full of bureaucracy and complicated rules: you need enough money to start and an accountant hopefully knowing their stuff. Taxes are so high that you will likely struggle (or just close) the first two years and you will eventually start accumulating tax debts. Errors On the other side, some european countries came to rescue with some smart solutions — l…

>you need enough money to start That's true everywhere, isn't it? >Taxes are so high that you will likely struggle (or just close) the first two years You pay taxes on profits. Especially during the first years you should have so many expenses that taxes shouldn't be a problem.

I’m sorry that you are being downvoted. Your comment is informative and contributes to the discussion.

Re: Germany's data chief tells ministries WhatsApp is a no-go

#222

Post by dividedbyzero »

Markoff wrote: post #68
jacquesm wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People also use money, mobsters do too. They breathe air, mobsters do too. I don't think mobsters using something that is otherwise legal to use is going to stop adoption.

if you hear money, mafia/murder are not the first words which come to your mind if you hear Threema in Slovaka - mafia and murder are first words which isntantly come to your mind, because nobody else use this app, everyone is already on Whatsapp, Messenger or Viber and nobody ever heard about Threema besides few nerds until media started to publish transcriptions of Threema chats from mafia where they are ordering m…

In Germany, you usually hear about Threema as the app that you should use if you care about data protection. Signal isn't as well known, but it's gaining traction. Neither currently has even the slightest connection to mobsters, as far as I'm aware.

Re: Germany's data chief tells ministries WhatsApp is a no-go

#223

Post by dividedbyzero »

chakalakasp wrote: post #131

If you like WhatsApp but don’t like Facebook having your meta-data, and don’t like the fact that your Google Drive back-ups are not E2E encrypted, then use Signal. WhatsApp’s encryption algorithm is based on the protocol that Signal invented, so you get the same and E2E security — but without the potential for Facebook snooping on you.

In my case I'd also lose about 98% of my contacts, who're non-technical and don't care enough about some very abstract threats to abandon their social network or use yet another messenger app in parallel. Also, since it's not well-known here, people tend to be very suspicious of it at first, because it's not known to be super safe like Whatsapp.

Re: Germany's data chief tells ministries WhatsApp is a no-go

#224

Post by orr721 »

jacquesm wrote: post #67
Markoff wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

threema is not open source and it is not free, Signal (better some European fork) without recent baggage would be better option user base is extremely slow, in Slovak media Threema is associated with mafia and murder of journalist, it will be hard to convince people to use same app as mobsters

People also use money, mobsters do too. They breathe air, mobsters do too. I don't think mobsters using something that is otherwise legal to use is going to stop adoption.

https://spectator.sme.sk/c/22231150/threema-as-evidence-in-t... https://china-cee.eu/2019/10/11/slovakia-political-briefing-...

The parent did not say it is a mafia app. But it's use really is strongly associated with mafia in Slovakia. That for sure will never make it very popular choice for people in Slovakia don't you think?

You can look for yourself, the only thing which pops-up on google when you search for threema and slovakia are the murders and mafia dealings with government officials and lawyers.

BTW the Threema encryption was not broken. The messages were extracted from an unlocked iPhone X of the main mafia operative (Kočner).

Re: Germany's data chief tells ministries WhatsApp is a no-go

#225

Post by annadane »

chpmrc wrote: post #109
greggman3 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> great desktop app Beg to differ. The Windows WhatsApp App has full permissions to use your entire machine, change your register, use your camera and mic without notification, read and or modify all your files, scan your network, watch all network traffic, catalog all the apps you have and see what they are doing, and use/access any all peripherals No, that is not a "great app". Especially coming from Facebook.

Use the web app then. Once you're on the page use one of the "shortcut" features of Chrome or Edge and you can open it as a separate app.

I understand you're trying to be helpful but the parent comment is still correct that one should not trust Whatsapp

Re: Germany's data chief tells ministries WhatsApp is a no-go

#226

Post by eeZah7Ux »

dijit wrote: post #190
vbezhenar wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought that in US salary is significantly higher than in EU. Probably that's the main differentiator.

It tends to be a fabrication of people miscalculating. You look at the total income sum "Wow!, 120k is twice 60k!" and you judge based on that. It's similar to items appearing cheaper in the US because they do not include taxes, salaries "the sum" does not accurately reflect the quality of life. The number is higher but it doesn't reflect purchasing power accurately. It's hard to explain, but I did these calculations…

> It tends to be a fabrication of people miscalculating

No: salaries are obviously higher.

Cost of living can be also higher and quality of life depends on that and many other things.

Incidentally, I know a number of engineers who turn down offers to move to the US.

Re: Germany's data chief tells ministries WhatsApp is a no-go

#227

Post by pjmlp »

shankr wrote: post #215
pjmlp wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 3000 lucky ones announced today.

Most probably bigger severance package than your yearly salary.

I am willing to bet that other than a few selected ones in management positions, the majority will get pennies.

Re: Germany's data chief tells ministries WhatsApp is a no-go

#228

Post by eeZah7Ux »

vinay427 wrote: post #132
dijit wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish I had more than one upvote, this capitulates perfectly my feelings on the situation. I see the same sentiment echoed in our American friends w.r.t. Chinese spying. Huawei is dangerous and must be stopped, but the NSA having broken encryption a bunch of times, sending NSL's to chip makers and such is fine. And that is not seen as hypocritical. We as Europeans have no technological industry without the USA, and…

Plenty of European countries are complicit in similar acts of their own, and many more tacitly assist. I don't think many deserve being painted as a victim of this situation. There's an article right now on the FP about the Netherlands helping GCHQ break Argentinean encryption. In any case, I think the hypocrisy makes sense if you consider that the people saying this are from places (the US + close allies) that proba…

> ... European countries are complicit ... don't think many deserve being painted as a victim of this situation

This is not a dichotomy. Very often victims are made complicit to keep them quiet (e.g. in bribery, extortion...).

Not many countries in the world dare refusing to cooperate with the USA

Re: Germany's data chief tells ministries WhatsApp is a no-go

#229

Post by kshacker »

zelphirkalt wrote: post #41
maltelandwehr wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The appeal of WhatsApp was free text messages, which is still not a thing in many countries. Plus free international text messages. That’s is how they grew to a billion users without being a success in either the USA or China.

I think it'll have to be more precise, to make a point. E-Mail is also a form of text message and it has been free basically forever.

How about group email on demand? Setting up a group takes a few seconds, so does exiting or blocking. Ever imagine doing that with yahoo groups? I have some permanent groups but we have created and dropped so many need based groups. No need to accept the group by logging in here and clicking this and so on.

Re: Germany's data chief tells ministries WhatsApp is a no-go

#230

Post by dijit »

eeZah7Ux wrote: post #226
dijit wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It tends to be a fabrication of people miscalculating. You look at the total income sum "Wow!, 120k is twice 60k!" and you judge based on that. It's similar to items appearing cheaper in the US because they do not include taxes, salaries "the sum" does not accurately reflect the quality of life. The number is higher but it doesn't reflect purchasing power accurately. It's hard to explain, but I did these calculations…

> It tends to be a fabrication of people miscalculating No: salaries are obviously higher. Cost of living can be also higher and quality of life depends on that and many other things. Incidentally, I know a number of engineers who turn down offers to move to the US.

Objectively, pendantically, you’re right. The actual sum of money being paid to you the employee is higher.

However, if you are “earning more” but also “paying more” then your purchasing power is lower. And when people mention salary, what they really mean is purchasing power.

It’s also true that US companies don’t have to pay certain overages that are required in the EU.

For example. I earn 60k (SEK) per month, my employer pays out 90k (SEK) due to insurances, social securities, pension plans and so on.

And things like that can’t be factored in easily, as it’s not usually known to the employee- so it’s often apples to oranges.

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