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WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app

arstechnica.com

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Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app

#231

Post by joshspankit »

samfisher83 wrote: post #228
oli5679 wrote: post #201

The founder of Whatsapp (1) claims that Facebook promised Whatsapp would not be monetised, and that Facebook and and Whatsapp's data would not be combined. This information was also provided to European antitrust regulators (2) missed out on $850 stock option grants vesting by quitting early over disputes with Facebook about monetisation strategy (3) promoted #deletefacebook on Whatsapp following the Cambridge Anlaly…

Why did he think Mark wanted to pay 19 billion for whatsapp? To not make any money.

Maybe he thought he was one of the only ones to “get through” to Mark, and that Mark’s verbal agreements meant something

Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app

#232

Post by codeduck »

CincinnatiMan wrote: post #197
frereubu wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't do group chats in the same way using SMS messages. People who receive an SMS have no idea who else the message was sent to, so they can't even "reply all".

The person you're replying to probably meant MMS which can be used for group texting as you're describing.

MMS is not a common technology in Europe.

Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app

#233

Post by fitblipper »

remexre wrote: post #206
seesawtron wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Social life is impossible without the mainstream technology. Sure you can find alternatives but if no one uses it other than you, you end up being sidelined. The technology gets enforced and leaves one with no choice but to accept it or be a red flag. Shouldn't it be possible to delete your whatsapp chat and contacts data regularly from the cloud? Eg. one could delete the whatsapp account, clear data on cloud and mak…

Signal's not like... "tech for tech people." It's very much usable for nontechnical family members, etc.

While I agree with this 90% of the way, their backup, restore, and phone changing process is very much "tech for tech people".

I've had the joy of trying to explain to my elderly dad why his text message history is lost because he chose Signal as the default sms system, didn't make a backup, didn't sync that backup to the cloud or manually copy it to the new phone, and didn't write down the very long decryption code.

Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app

#234

Post by lisper »

johnchristopher wrote: post #226

When will the market be ripe for people/average joe to buy or rent a block data service à la s3/minio so they can plug their app (calendar, photo sharing, blog, messages, etc.) to it instead of being forced to pay for services with their privacy ? They'd just pay for cloud storage that can be used by any apps using buckets/volumes as external storage instead of paying for dropbox like dumb storage. If I had money I w…

Not dumb at all, just really hard. I've taken a couple of shots at this and been defeated by it every time.

Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app

#235

Post by holografix »

johnchristopher wrote: post #226

When will the market be ripe for people/average joe to buy or rent a block data service à la s3/minio so they can plug their app (calendar, photo sharing, blog, messages, etc.) to it instead of being forced to pay for services with their privacy ? They'd just pay for cloud storage that can be used by any apps using buckets/volumes as external storage instead of paying for dropbox like dumb storage. If I had money I w…

How would you stop the app from retaining your date once they have access to it?

Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app

#236

Post by the_arun »

MattPalmer1086 wrote: post #223
frereubu wrote: post #22

I'd love to give up WhatsApp, but network effects are key here. I tried moving my extended family off WhatsApp onto Signal a couple of years ago and it failed miserably because the app wasn't nearly as easy to use, and they had all their friends on Whatsapp. Has anyone here had any success moving a large group of people onto something like Signal or Telegram? If so, do you have any tips?

I've used Signal for years, and for most of that time only had about three people who also used it in my contacts. My wife recently got her entire extended family to use Signal. She has always refused to use WhatsApp. They all love Signal now, and use it all the time. However, this was during a family crisis. During the Covid lockdowns, many companies I know used Signal as their preferred non corporate communication…

I am moving to Signal too. Group by Group. May not happen over night, but in few weeks

Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app

#237

Post by hntcz »

johnchristopher wrote: post #226

When will the market be ripe for people/average joe to buy or rent a block data service à la s3/minio so they can plug their app (calendar, photo sharing, blog, messages, etc.) to it instead of being forced to pay for services with their privacy ? They'd just pay for cloud storage that can be used by any apps using buckets/volumes as external storage instead of paying for dropbox like dumb storage. If I had money I w…

No, not dumb. That's what I wrote my BSc project on.

Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app

#238

Post by nalekberov »

frereubu wrote: post #22

I'd love to give up WhatsApp, but network effects are key here. I tried moving my extended family off WhatsApp onto Signal a couple of years ago and it failed miserably because the app wasn't nearly as easy to use, and they had all their friends on Whatsapp. Has anyone here had any success moving a large group of people onto something like Signal or Telegram? If so, do you have any tips?

It’s just not worth it.

Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app

#239

Post by gameswithgo »

frereubu wrote: post #22

I'd love to give up WhatsApp, but network effects are key here. I tried moving my extended family off WhatsApp onto Signal a couple of years ago and it failed miserably because the app wasn't nearly as easy to use, and they had all their friends on Whatsapp. Has anyone here had any success moving a large group of people onto something like Signal or Telegram? If so, do you have any tips?

dont use apps at all. works fine.

Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app

#240

Post by OJFord »

> [The spokeswoman] said there will be no change in how WhatsApp shares provides data with Facebook for non-business chats and account data.

That sounds a lot less alarming, in the third to last paragraph, than the headline or first few paragraphs?

Don't get me wrong, I ditched Facebook years ago, and wouldn't use WhatsApp but for family and a pre-Corona club I wouldn't have (much at all) contact with otherwise. That quote just makes me much less annoyed than my initial reaction was. Which is of course her job, but assuming it's true...

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