It’s just common sense.
You'd think right? But most of south american and southeast asia political scandals were cause by political figures using whatsapp and messages "leaking" thanks to a "hacker".
European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp
31–40 of 93 posts
Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp
#32The problem with these efforts is always the same: organizations make their own messenger, and the fact that these organizations then have control over their own messenger ... means their employees won't use it. And that's ignoring that you can bet your firstborn they cut corners developing these messengers, so they're not pleasant to use to boot. In 2026 you still hear complaints of government employees that they on…
That doesn’t really apply in the EU, because your manager or even your org don’t have any right to read your messages, that would constitute a crime actually.
I suspect the reason would be far simpler - people use what they are used to, and WhatsApp is the de-facto standard Messenger app all over Europe.
Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
I expect the downvotes are because rather than simply calling attention to and providing an interesting perspective on another area of weakness, you're also suggesting it's a mistake to address this one while the other exists, which suggestion isn't being well-received.
I don't need a diagnosis of my point. Perhaps I should explain further. I'll say that it's more that the assertion that WhatsApp is a big issue is false. Civil servants know stuff is on the record, for example through screenshots from colleagues and the like which is a higher risk than actual control and security issues over WhatApp, so it's more of a distraction from the real security and ethical posture problems. M…
How many EU civil servants are there in London these days, I wonder?
Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp
#34[flagged]
"What have the Romans ever done for us?"
Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp
#35[flagged]
Could you give an example of someone that could be called a "civil servant" without euphemism?
Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp
#36The problem with these efforts is always the same: organizations make their own messenger, and the fact that these organizations then have control over their own messenger ... means their employees won't use it. And that's ignoring that you can bet your firstborn they cut corners developing these messengers, so they're not pleasant to use to boot. In 2026 you still hear complaints of government employees that they on…
> the fact that these organizations then have control over their own messenger ... means their employees won't use it. Not sure what you mean here; I happily use whatever work email and messenger systems are provided for work. Most people do. I don't actually mind that IT services have access; they are in any case covered by GDPR. In some cases there has been a legal crackdown on back channels: https://www.ft.com/con…
> (Remember not to type crimes into a computer, people)
Please ignore that. It’s daft talk. Definitely record your abuses of power.
Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp
#37Governments want to move away from “platforms over which we have no control,” says Dutch minister. Sure, that is fair enough. But why is EU not setting up their own servers for whisper or activity pub or whatever OSS protocols and just make that their only official and approved communication channel?
They're setting up matrix servers. Nato uses matrix.
Too bad the UX is dogshit and the end users lose their keys every 90 days. Even though they're explicitly warned, loudly and clearly, to not lose the keys.
Matrix software stack isn't idiot proof; Signal is.
Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp
#38Governments want to move away from “platforms over which we have no control,” says Dutch minister. Sure, that is fair enough. But why is EU not setting up their own servers for whisper or activity pub or whatever OSS protocols and just make that their only official and approved communication channel?
I'd really want to see more examples of https://social.bund.de This is the Mastodon server of the German Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI). Embrace decentralization.
Here is one of the French government: https://social.numerique.gouv.fr/
Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp
#39Governments want to move away from “platforms over which we have no control,” says Dutch minister. Sure, that is fair enough. But why is EU not setting up their own servers for whisper or activity pub or whatever OSS protocols and just make that their only official and approved communication channel?
They do, actually.
For example the French government has its own Matrix platform https://www.tchap.gouv.fr/ and its own Mastodon instance https://social.numerique.gouv.fr/.
Re: European civil servants are being forced off WhatsApp
#40The problem with these efforts is always the same: organizations make their own messenger, and the fact that these organizations then have control over their own messenger ... means their employees won't use it. And that's ignoring that you can bet your firstborn they cut corners developing these messengers, so they're not pleasant to use to boot. In 2026 you still hear complaints of government employees that they on…
> the fact that these organizations then have control over their own messenger ... means their employees won't use it. Not sure what you mean here; I happily use whatever work email and messenger systems are provided for work. Most people do. I don't actually mind that IT services have access; they are in any case covered by GDPR. In some cases there has been a legal crackdown on back channels: https://www.ft.com/con…
https://youtu.be/9Klj0H6YMLQ?si=L7DrQgF0pI07zLE9
“Videotaping this crime spree is the best idea we ever had!”