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Facebook charged with misleading EU on $22B WhatsApp merger

arstechnica.co.uk

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Re: Facebook charged with misleading EU on $22B WhatsApp merger

#71

Post by hobarrera »

kuzmin wrote: post #7
matthewcford wrote: post #3

This looks equally bad on the EU, that they lacked the foresight to see that phone numbers in the WhatsApp database could be matched with phone numbers in the Facebook database.

If you read the case decision, specifically paragraphs 137 - 140 it becomes even more ridiculous: http://ec.europa.eu/competition/mergers/cases/decisions/m721... This quote sticks out as a bit of an exaggeration regarding the difficulty of this operation: "Notably, integration of WhatsApp's and Facebook's networks would require matching WhatsApp users' profiles with their profiles on Facebook (or vice versa). This wo…

> This would be complicated without the users' involvement since Facebook and WhatsApp use different unique user identifiers: Facebook ID and mobile phone number, respectively.

For some time now, facebook has been requiring a phone number to register. In some cases, they don't ask for one until you try to add people, or something alike. If you use Facebook Messenger (with no facebook account), you can sign up using ONLY you phone number.

This was just a plain lie.

Re: Facebook charged with misleading EU on $22B WhatsApp merger

#72

Post by hobarrera »

pzh wrote: post #64
parthdesai wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that's why i said users who have listed their phone number. They can get phone number from users who use their phone number to log in but not have listed it in their profile (me), people who have enabled 2FA or from messenger. It's just a simple sql join. Ofcourse not at FB scale but this is me thinking about this problem for 10 seconds and also i'm in probably not even as intelligent as the dumbest guy working a…

And then there are people who just use a Google Voice number on Whatsapp instead of a real phone number, and many don't even have a phone number listed on Facebook. I'm actually surprised that anybody would give their real phone number to Facebook, Whatsapp, or any of the other "social networks"...

> I'm actually surprised that anybody would give their real phone number to Facebook, Whatsapp, or any of the other "social networks"

The only use for my phone number is registering for stuff like WhatsApp. Why would I want one if not for stuff like that?

(note: talking about the number itself, not a smartphone. I use a smartphone for lots of other stuff)

Re: Facebook charged with misleading EU on $22B WhatsApp merger

#73

Post by funnyfacts365 »

hobarrera wrote: post #70

> [Facebook] claimed that it wouldn't be able to knit together user IDs, thereby combining the data of the two services. Facebook REQUIRES your phone number when signing up nowadays (sometimes it asks a bit later - when you try to message peolple. On Facebook Messenger, you sign up using you phone number. On WhatsApp you sign up using your phone number. I think it's pretty obvious that is was trivial to connect the t…

Facebook messenger even tricked people into being the default SMS app on Android... And given all the permissions they ask, they can read the phone number themselves.

Re: Facebook charged with misleading EU on $22B WhatsApp merger

#74

Post by pzh »

hobarrera wrote: post #72
pzh wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then there are people who just use a Google Voice number on Whatsapp instead of a real phone number, and many don't even have a phone number listed on Facebook. I'm actually surprised that anybody would give their real phone number to Facebook, Whatsapp, or any of the other "social networks"...

> I'm actually surprised that anybody would give their real phone number to Facebook, Whatsapp, or any of the other "social networks" The only use for my phone number is registering for stuff like WhatsApp. Why would I want one if not for stuff like that? (note: talking about the number itself, not a smartphone. I use a smartphone for lots of other stuff)

But you can give Whatsapp a Google Voice number instead of your real phone number. That way if they decide to sell it as part of your profile, you can easily change/cycle it (or apply better filtering, DND, etc.)

Re: Facebook charged with misleading EU on $22B WhatsApp merger

#75

Post by shaqbert »

mtgx wrote: post #43
shaqbert wrote: post #41

Mark my words: Just as the robber barons a century ago has lead to antitrust law, today's "data" robber baron tech giants will lead us to data competitive law 15 years from now.

And just like then, the data robber barons will probably be trillionaires by the time that happens, because by then they will have used the data to create super-intelligent AI, which will then create that wealth for them. At that time it won't matter what laws will be passed. The damage will have already been done and their personal trillion dollar wealth will have already been created.

Agreed. Vanderbild, Rockefeller, Morgan, and all the other robber barrons went Scot free. So will Zuck, Larry, Sergey.

Re: Facebook charged with misleading EU on $22B WhatsApp merger

#76

Post by hobarrera »

pzh wrote: post #74
hobarrera wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm actually surprised that anybody would give their real phone number to Facebook, Whatsapp, or any of the other "social networks" The only use for my phone number is registering for stuff like WhatsApp. Why would I want one if not for stuff like that? (note: talking about the number itself, not a smartphone. I use a smartphone for lots of other stuff)

But you can give Whatsapp a Google Voice number instead of your real phone number. That way if they decide to sell it as part of your profile, you can easily change/cycle it (or apply better filtering, DND, etc.)

AFAIK, Google Voice is only available in the US, and this trail is in the EU.
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