WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app • Hacker News Board

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

#41

Post by Retric » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 10:18 PM UTC

gotem wrote: post #34

srfvtgb wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fortunately I don't live in a place where WhatsApp is completely pervasive. I personally had luck saying "if you want to contact me use Signal, iMessage or at the very least SMS" and when people asked why, I would cite Cambridge Analytica.

Which turned out to be a bunch of hyped up marketing talk. Why does every person in SV I know seem to love the narrative that we’re being mind controlled by micro-targeted FB ads, which to be fair is what I used to believe. Everyone on HN switches between “ads don’t work and targeting is BS” to “ads are manipulating our entire country by taking our data”

Not everyone on HN is the same person. So, different people can believe each without any contradiction.

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

#42

Post by bigiain » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 10:19 PM UTC

solnyshok wrote: post #7

ouch. first I thought that it is about FBI, then realized it is about Facebook. They should merge sometime in future, anyway.

Some argue this has already happened...

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

#43

Post by Akronymus » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 10:21 PM UTC

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 personally moved to Element/Matrix with a large community. It works quite well.

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

#44

Post by personlurking » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 10:21 PM UTC

So, the part below is new, or not new? And what is "user content" exactly? All messages, images and audio?

_______

>WhatsApp, according to the App Store, reserves the right to collect:

Purchases

Financial information

Location

Contacts

User content

Identifiers

Usage data and

Diagnostics

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

#45

Post by stainforth » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 10:21 PM UTC

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?

Network effects as a emergent principle has been discovered to violate the promises of capitalist economics. We have a right to come together and set the limits and terms by which a few can extract from the many.

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

#46

Post by dijit » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 10:22 PM UTC

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 contact the majority of my friends with telegram, the UX is similar enough and people get on board quite quickly- the difficult part is convincing someone to install /another/ messaging app- if they have network effects too then it's a hard sell.

But once most people have both it gets easier.

Signal (UX wise) is not really super great for my family, I burned a lot of my "technical expert advisor" capital and reputation by pushing that too hard.

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

#47

Post by blue_box » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 10:22 PM UTC

DiederikvandenB wrote: post #36

Does this also apply to European customers, given GDPR?

Seems like, no. On their EU Privacy Policy, it says:

“Today, Facebook does not use your WhatsApp account information to improve your Facebook product experiences or provide you more relevant Facebook ad experiences on Facebook.“

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

#48

Post by _ink_ » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 10:23 PM UTC

srfvtgb wrote: post #29

A lot of people mention Telegram, as far as I can tell, it's a worse Signal. What advantages does it have over Signal?

I think the UI is better. Encryption is worse. But I like how they structured their data centers. They have sprinkled them into different countries and they claim that servers from different jurisdictions are necessary to access the data. So if an agency wants to access it, they have to get warrants from different countries. With all the war on encryption going on, e.g. forcing companies to include backdoors, I think this is the way to go.

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

#49

Post by twobitshifter » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 10:24 PM UTC

rohan1024 wrote: post #9

The sooner they take such actions the better it is for everyone in the long run. Someone somewhere will come up with an alternative that is better than anything we have today. And sorry but Signal is not the pinnacle of messaging. I like what Matrix is doing but they are far away from becoming mainstream. Within 2-3 years a new platform will rise and it will fix flaws of existing messaging apps. This will then be fol…

I just installed element today (the new name for riot) It’s interesting and may have some features like rooms that will build interest outside of just being an IM tool. I do miss the days of AIM/Jabber/Google Talk/ where everything just worked. Bringing that experience to phones should be the goal rather than jumping from service to service.

My friends from Europe and Brazil are locked into WhatsApp, my American friends seem to prefer FB messenger. They’re really using 2 versions of the same company’s products which are “incompatible” at this point. Facebook could make them compatible with one another and with each other only OR they could do the socially beneficially thing and use an open protocol. Unless employees at FB push for this, they’re likely to take the former route.

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

#50

Post by bilekas » Wed, Jan 06, 2021, 10:24 PM UTC

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?

IMO telegram has the best feature and usability parity as Whatsapp..

As for converting people who are not that interested, I can tell you from experience talking about privacy generally doesn't sell it.