Hmm, this Dutch website says the effect for EU citizens will not be so big. [0]
https://tweakers.net/nieuws/176412/whatsapp-verplicht-datade...
WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app
871–880 of 1001 posts
Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app
#872Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Twitter, Facebook and Google need to be treated like utilities [...] Our generation is reinventing the wheel here, our ancestors had exactly the same problems with the power, water, gas, telephone and rail networks (at some point in time, all those were unregulated and privately owned) and did exactly that. Critical infrastructure needs to be heavily, regulated if not outright publicly owned.
I think similarly to how europe has forced Banks to interoperate by making them write a protocol that can interoperate, governments need to force social media companies to write down a protocol and use it. I like the analogy with utilities, but the issue is that we pay for electricity, but we don't pay for our usage of social media. As long as that's true we can difficulty do what I'm suggesting above
Exactly that. There needs to be a mandated federation protocol for instant messenger apps that have lets say > 10 million user in the EU.
Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app
#873Facebook has also recently started to require a Facebook account to use Oculus VR. It appears they are starting to crack down on the services they have acquired. I assume this more hardline approach of "give us your data or get out" will continue with any other current or future services created or purchased.
Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app
#874Can an iOS dev tell me what data Facebook can gather if I install WhatsApp on my iPhone but disable every permission except the notifications and mobile data access?
People I talk to and my IP address but what else?
Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app
#875Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, it would force people to use better alternatives such as Signal or Telegram.
Signal is run by someone who hates repeatable builds and open platforms. Telegram is to the russian government what whatsapp is to the US government. That is to say, both options are bad. Of course it is conceptually better to spread your information over many separate information silos so that your data is harder to correlate. That should not be the bar we aspire to though.
I don't think it's the Russian government you should be concerned about when using Telegram. Sure, TG is far from a secure platform, but the Russians have spent considerable effort trying to shut it down so out of all the possibilities, I'd say TG being in Russian hands is among the smallest.
Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app
#876Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am strongly for taking over businesses which are de facto monopolies.
If your public alternative can't win the users then "breaking the monopoly" will worsen the user experience. I don't want to live in that world - consider Telegram, a much better experience than WhatsApp, and it won over many users already. Evidently the monopoly is not as strong as is suggested. Telegram might not exist if there was a risk of losing the company. I don't want to be stuck with bad public software. In…
Network externalities in communication networks make it so that you can create a 10x better application and still have 0 chance of competing.
Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app
#877Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am strongly for taking over businesses which are de facto monopolies.
If your public alternative can't win the users then "breaking the monopoly" will worsen the user experience. I don't want to live in that world - consider Telegram, a much better experience than WhatsApp, and it won over many users already. Evidently the monopoly is not as strong as is suggested. Telegram might not exist if there was a risk of losing the company. I don't want to be stuck with bad public software. In…
At every step of the way, Facebook has leveraged its size and existing troves of data to undermine and buy out the competition. The goals of Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and Google are the same - world domination. Same as any mega conglomerate of years past. The difference now is tech scale and the willingness of regulators to allow it to happen.
Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app
#878Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Twitter, Facebook and Google need to be treated like utilities [...] Our generation is reinventing the wheel here, our ancestors had exactly the same problems with the power, water, gas, telephone and rail networks (at some point in time, all those were unregulated and privately owned) and did exactly that. Critical infrastructure needs to be heavily, regulated if not outright publicly owned.
I disagree. Facebook, Twitter and Google are ephemeral utilities. They will probably be replaced by another company. Privatizing them will just let someone else come along and Embrace, extend, extinguish them.
Them going out of business in 60 years doesn't mean we have to sit on our hands now.
Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app
#879Earlier quoted context omitted.
My experience is similar. I want to add that when I left WhatsApp (~2y ago) I deleted my account. WhatsApp kept accepting messages on my behalf. People didn't know I wasn't getting their messages. I'm surprised I don't see this mentioned to the point I wonder if I did something wrong at the time. In the end, I reopened a WhatsApp account recently because everyone is using WhatsApp in France and I couldn't stand break…
> People didn't know I wasn't getting their messages. They saw 2 ticks, meaning delivered to your device? Or did they see one tick, meaning only delivered to the server? If it's the latter, that's a reasonable choice for the server to make. The server has acknowledged receipt of the message, and failed to send it to your device. If you wanted WhatsApp to advertise to your contacts that your account was inactive, you…
he deleted his account. it's absolutely not reasonable to accept my message without informing me the user I'm sending to is not on the platform anymore
Re: WhatsApp gives users an ultimatum: Share data with Facebook or stop using app
#880Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I'm not going to go preach it to the volunteers who coach my kids' rugby team. Why not? I would.
And tell them what? Please all go install a different app? That only works if you can get everybody on board, it's unacceptable if a parent gets left out because he isn't there that day or cannot get it to work. You would also have to explain to them that Facebook cannot read your messages, but they can see the meta data. And then you have to explain to them what meta data is. I think your kid is not going to appreci…
Wait for them to ask the why, tell them as succinctly as you can that fb is evil and there are alternatives.