WhatsApp's new privacy policy is so bad it might be illegal • Hacker News Board

Re: WhatsApp's new privacy policy is so bad it might be illegal

#231

Post by webinvest » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 3:41 AM UTC

Sunspark wrote: post #72

aloknnikhil wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It maybe a bad argument but it's a practical view. Governments around the world (see: India, China) have strict laws around crypto. By law of association, any service that remotely mentions this is severely scrutinized. I can hardly blame my friends if they want no part of this.

Crypto is so strange. You claim ownership over a string of 1s and 0s. Exclusive rights.

Not too different from the 1s and 0s in your bank account. I bet you use cash for less than 1% of your transactions. Everything else is 1s and 0s.

Re: WhatsApp's new privacy policy is so bad it might be illegal

#232

Post by emptysongglass » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 6:46 AM UTC

chii wrote: post #223

emptysongglass wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My life is rich in social engagements and I don't need Facebook to do it. And now that I'm off Facebook, the friendships I do have have grown immeasurably in closeness. My overall stress has plummeted. I strongly believe that platforms like Facebook and Twitter are extremely harmful to social cohesion and mental health.

> My life is rich in social engagements i don't care what or how your life is - this discussion is about the general case. Not everyone has a rich social life, and these messaging apps/services do help people engage with others which would otherwise have not. And to change can be disruptive - casually dismissing these concerns is not the way to solve the problem connected with these platforms.

> i don't care what or how your life is

Please try and be a little kinder.

I'm not dismissing these concerns. The social harms of these platforms far outweigh whatever gains are wrung from them. They are a net negative to society and to public discourse, full stop. The longer we defend the legitimate reasons people have to stay netizens of these platforms, the darker their shadow weighs over our consciousness.

My country has a former prime minister on Facebook's oversight board because everyone here uses Facebook. That's not in anyone's interest but Facebook's because now it's convinced us that it can be brought to heel, as if it was Facebook, the company, that was the problem.

That's a treacherous misdiagnosis: the issue is the platform itself. It must be dismantled if society is going to heal from the psychic traumas unknowingly and knowingly caused by our participation.

Re: WhatsApp's new privacy policy is so bad it might be illegal

#233

Post by dtx1 » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 9:13 AM UTC

intrasight wrote: post #225

dtx1 wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean Apps on your phone relying on SMS?

I mean the native apps whatever they are. I've an iPhone and an Android phone, and they both message just fine.

Do they encrypt the data end-to-end? Are they private and privacy friendly? If the answer is no, then they don't message 'just fine' but are an obvious liablity.

Re: WhatsApp's new privacy policy is so bad it might be illegal

#234

Post by intrasight » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 12:37 PM UTC

kevincox wrote: post #227

intrasight wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the icon at the bottom besides the phone icon :) I can't imaging asking a friend or relative to install an app so that I can message them. I'm sure the response would be "you can already message me". I send text. I send photos. I guess I could install it on both of my phones and message myself to see what it adds. I'm just having a hard time imaging what it could be.

So you don't care about security or reactions... How about group chat? That is a very useful feature that SMS doesn't provide.

The iPhone is my daily device that I use for messaging. iMessage gives me reactions and group. I had assumed that the Android message app did the same.

Re: WhatsApp's new privacy policy is so bad it might be illegal

#235

Post by intrasight » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 12:44 PM UTC

dtx1 wrote: post #233

intrasight wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean the native apps whatever they are. I've an iPhone and an Android phone, and they both message just fine.

Do they encrypt the data end-to-end? Are they private and privacy friendly? If the answer is no, then they don't message 'just fine' but are an obvious liablity.

I'll have to research RCS some more, but it seems that it is.

https://www.pocket-lint.com/phones/news/144258-what-is-rcs-m...

Re: WhatsApp's new privacy policy is so bad it might be illegal

#236

Post by kevincox » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 1:33 PM UTC

intrasight wrote: post #234

kevincox wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you don't care about security or reactions... How about group chat? That is a very useful feature that SMS doesn't provide.

The iPhone is my daily device that I use for messaging. iMessage gives me reactions and group. I had assumed that the Android message app did the same.

If you are using iMessage you are using a custom messaging app. The only difference is that it was pre-installed on you phone.

Re: WhatsApp's new privacy policy is so bad it might be illegal

#237

Post by spurgu » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 3:45 PM UTC

matkoniecz wrote: post #222

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you stopped using cash? Think of all the drugs and organized crime that rely on it. You are being incredibly close-minded and only listing the cons of cryptocurrencies.

Cash is widely used for nonscammy purposes and I had plenty of good contacts with it. My sole contact with cryptocurrencies is endless spam in mailbox, endless scam attempts in communities that I moderate and information about ICO and other scams. And investments gambling. And very rare cases of cryptocurrencies being useful for something. And repeated info about being utter failure for payments. For comparison cash/…

Not taking sides here, just to nitpick that payment settlement takes a lot longer than that with credit card. It's like calling a bitcoin transfer with 0 confirmations "done", and which case it's actually faster than credit cards.

Re: WhatsApp's new privacy policy is so bad it might be illegal

#238

Post by spurgu » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 3:46 PM UTC

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #92

nopato wrote: post #13

To be honest I feel a bit disenfranchised. I’ve used all my energy to convert all my friends to signal when the WhatsApp privacy policy fiasco happened and now they’re saying it was a waste of time since they don’t want anything to do with bitcoins.. I can’t blame them as I also don’t want this on my messaging app. I feel like I will just give up and use WhatsApp and assume that I only had privacy pre-internet.

What in the world? They don’t have to use it. This has to be one of the worst arguments I’ve ever seen. Did your friends throw their iPhones in the trash when ApplePay came about?

Yeah, the feature will be opt-in as far as I've heard. Most of the people I've convinced to switch to Signal will either be unaware of it or not care.

To me it looks like people here are vastly overreacting.

Re: WhatsApp's new privacy policy is so bad it might be illegal

#239

Post by spurgu » Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 3:55 PM UTC

foolinaround wrote: post #2

In Jan, there was a big outcry, i thought all would move to signal. I have about 25% of the conversations in signal, but especially for groups, whatsapp is so sticky, that they seem to have broadly failed in signal, and are back to whatsapp. I continue to have individual conversations on signal with most friends, but the idea of being able to leave whatsapp seems to be much tougher than I thought.

For me it went from 30% FB, 60% Whatsapp, 10% Signal in January to 0% FB, 10% Whatsapp, 90% Signal today. I might get rid of the 10% after May. So it's possible. That said I'm only talking about maybe 15-20 contacts, so small sample size.

Re: WhatsApp's new privacy policy is so bad it might be illegal

#240

Post by St0n3d » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 12:15 AM UTC

MOUNOPANO wrote: post #28

aflag wrote: post #5

I was really hoping these privacy concerns would dissuade people from using WhatsApp. But I have a hidden agenda: I hate their web app. I just want a chat software I can use from anywhere.

Telegram dude

Telegram is horrendously insecure, it’s equal to or probably even worse than Facebook Messenger. It should be avoided like the plague by anyone seeking strong privacy protection.