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WhatsApp privacy policy update to allow data sharing with Facebook services

Mendrox

Mendrox

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
9,439
orava said:
Signal is open source (and non profit) and everyone can check what it is doing under the hood. Currently the number is used for sending the verification code.
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I know I posted that myself except for the open source code which you can look at yes. You still have to use a mobile phone number which goes against anything they want to do in my opinion.
I am just saying that nothing is for free and someday Signal will fuck up too. If people really change to Signal (Millions) they will have to pay a ton of more money. Servers are not for free and if people don't donate they will get into trouble someday.
Sorry I know the Signal developer has a great mind and is all for privacy seeing the Facebook debacle back then when they bought WhatsApp, but expectations should still be low for the future. It's also always funny when something like this comes out and people still use their Android phones with shit apps or Google Mail and all and think they still have privacy. Not to mention surfing here, on Twitter, Reddit or any other site with Share Widgets on the bottom.
 
PanickyFool

PanickyFool

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,947
I have had signal for a while. Just made it default. Between the Chinese Government, Facebook, or Google I do not know what is worse.
 
KBadOne

KBadOne

Member
Oct 28, 2017
726
I use Whatsapp but don't have any other Facebook service, how is that going to affect me?
 
SwampBastard

SwampBastard

The Fallen
Nov 1, 2017
11,014
I've gotten the majority of my social circle to use Telegram in the past couple years, but it seems like Signal is the place to be. The main reason for picking Telegram was that it was a much nicer user experience at the time we switched (mostly used Hangouts prior to that), but I'm not sure there's a huge difference between them anymore.

I only have WhatsApp on my phone for work, but I frequently go a couple months without using it.
 

Deleted member 14518

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
3,731
Most people use Whatsapp in my country and there's no way I can ditch it. I've long since accepted there that my data will be mined on social media and act accordingly.
 
HMD

HMD

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,300
Moving from Whatsapp would literally be impossible for me unfortunately, I need it for everything from work to even essential services, not even bringing up the social aspect on how Whatsapp is probably installed on 99.9% of all smart phones in my country.

It's a shitty situation and I hope Facebook (and big tech in general...) is broken up soon.
 

Deleted member 6230

User-requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,118
I only talk to a handful of people on that app and most of them are already on signal. Good riddance
 
tulpa

tulpa

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
3,878
DUFFMCWALIN said:
Who cares?
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imagine saying "who cares" as a response to someone telling you that they would lose contact with their friend group. ridiculous. trying to convince people to drop Facebook-related services will never, ever work. it just won't. the entire point to the anti-trust action that's (rightfully) being pursued against them is that their apps are so ingrained in people's lives that it would be impossible to just delete them without losing contact with a large portion of their social circle. you can't expect people to do the regulators' work for them.
 
Xiao Hu

Xiao Hu

Chicken Chaser
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
1,497
Unfortunately, WhatsApp is too big over here in Europe, particularly with Android phones. I would happily banish most Facebook related products from my phone.
 
Easy_G

Easy_G

Member
Dec 11, 2017
1,665
California
I'm making the switch to Signal. The main chat groups I have on WhatsApp are all open to switching, and maybe 10% of people were already switched or planning on it, which was nice. It's actually really great having it integrate with SMS so that I can have one fewer apps now.

One question: can you link devices between an Android and an iPad? I've tried and it doesn't seem possible.
 

Deleted member 8901

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
2,522
I just deleted my WhatsApp account. I got enough of my contacts on iMessage or Signal at this point that I can probably get by. And honestly, if someone wasn't willing to contact me through SMS/iMessage or Signal instead of WhatsApp then they probably didn't need to contact me in the first place.
 
RainbowIslands

RainbowIslands

Member
Oct 25, 2017
717
Somewhere...
Kinda have to stay in whatsapp since that's what my family and everyone I know overseas use. :S I'll click "agree later" until the last day they force me in February.

KBadOne said:
I use Whatsapp but don't have any other Facebook service, how is that going to affect me?
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Doesn't Facebook create shell/dummy accounts for people who don't have an account? They still congregate your data, they just have less sources of info as to who you are.

MercuryLS said:
Lets hope people eventually start to make the move like how everyone dropped Firefox for Chrome, I'm not hopeful though.
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Which is sad since Chrome also collects a lot of data and is linked to your google account :|
 

Deleted member 26039

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
2,550
tulpa said:
imagine saying "who cares" as a response to someone telling you that they would lose contact with their friend group. ridiculous. trying to convince people to drop Facebook-related services will never, ever work. it just won't. the entire point to the anti-trust action that's (rightfully) being pursued against them is that their apps are so ingrained in people's lives that it would be impossible to just delete them without losing contact with a large portion of their social circle. you can't expect people to do the regulators' work for them.
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Okay, I'm fine with this viewpoint. But it needs to be consistent across all structures, not just an app. Don't get mad at people when they don't recycle or drive their car. Push for legislation. This is also basically admitting consumer led movements are doomed to fail.
 
jelly

jelly

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
33,841
NarohDethan said:
It really sucks but Whatsapp is the default method of communication here, so unless it goes down I don't see any viable alternatives.
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Probably a few things, your address book which people will upload to populate their contacts in Whatsapp, your IP when using the app, the device ID linking all that to your browsing and other app usage on that device. What you say in the message is pretty whatever to that. As others have said Google, Facebook have profiles for everyone even if you don't use their services.
 

RedDevil

Member
Dec 25, 2017
4,121
To me it reads that it reads like they just begun to admit that they're doing it, also I recall reading that this will only be a thing outside EU. Not sure what's the deal for people who use WhatsApp but doesn't use Facebook.
 
MercuryLS

MercuryLS

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,578
RainbowIslands said:
Kinda have to stay in whatsapp since that's what my family and everyone I know overseas use. :S I'll click "agree later" until the last day they force me in February.


Doesn't Facebook create shell/dummy accounts for people who don't have an account? They still congregate your data, they just have less sources of info as to who you are.



Which is sad since Chrome also collects a lot of data and is linked to your google account :|
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yeah, I only use safari now.
 
hateradio

hateradio

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,742
welcome, nowhere
Their ultimate goal is to allow anyone on IG/WA/FB to chat with anyone else on IG/WA/FB, regardless of what app you're on.


I wish that they do get broken up, but who knows if that integration would cease to exist.


I use WA less and less these days. I should probably install Signal again.
 
Hours Left

Hours Left

Member
Oct 26, 2017
18,400
Hopefully a crackdown on Facebook is on the horizon with the Biden administration. They should not be allowed to own Instagram and WhatsApp.
 
Sanka

Sanka

Banned
Feb 17, 2019
5,778
Whatsapp is definitely here to stay and any one who thinks differently probably lives in a country where they don't use whatsapp in the first place.
 
R2RD

R2RD

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Member
Nov 6, 2018
2,784
I've seen some people moving to Telegramdue to this but they have Facebook and Instagram accounts they haven't delete so I don't understand what's the point 🤷🏽‍♂️
 
artsi

artsi

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,683
Finland
I'm on Facebook and Instagram anyway, so I'll continue using WhatsApp because that's what everyone uses here despite everything.
 
Mukrab

Mukrab

Member
Apr 19, 2020
7,486
DUFFMCWALIN said:
Stop using Facebook's apps for Christ's sake. Find another way to talk to your family once a year.
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The problem here is that everyone was using it already before facebook bought it. For us its easy, we would easily change right now, but most people won't and you won't convince them, so you either stay on whatsapp and facebook messenger, or you move on to something else but doon't have your contacts to actually communicate through the new app.
 
Twinduct

Twinduct

Member
Oct 27, 2017
505
Whats App is way to entrenched to get people to move.
Most of the people using it doesn't care anyway and only techies will be fighting the good fight.

An example, if I have to get my mom to move away from whatsapp, she would have to convince:

- Her friends
- Extended family
- Community forum (around 3 different sets of full groups)
- The 5-6 groups she's part for various school/ teacher & parent groups (she's granny to 9 kids)
- Convince various Hospitals that uses Whatsapp to verify your health record so you can enter a hospital
- Convince her customer base on her small scale printing business (that solely uses whatsapp as communication)

At the end 99% of the people won't care for this as they already don't care about being on facebook.
 
IDreamOfHime

IDreamOfHime

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,421
The EU and post Brexit UK are exempt from this, so I don't see how Facebook gets to bully citizens from other countries into accepting. Bonkers they're just allowed to.
 
Keyser S

Keyser S

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
8,480
fdst1983 said:
But what kind of information are they going to share?
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Joni

Joni

Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,508
fdst1983 said:
But what kind of information are they going to share?
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I was wrong by the way, the optout was only available if you had WhatsApp before 2016. Otherwise it has already been sharing "phone number, logs of how long and how often you use WhatsApp, information about how you interact with other users, device identifiers, and other device details like IP address, operating system, browser details, battery health information, app version, mobile network, language and time zone." Anything shared inside chats they don't have access.
 
effingvic

effingvic

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,159
Signal is down due to the massive influx of new users. Whatsapp is the only FB product I use so once my group chats are all on Signal, I can finally delete this shit.
 
DBT85

DBT85

Resident Thread Mechanic
Member
Oct 26, 2017
16,253
KBadOne said:
I use Whatsapp but don't have any other Facebook service, how is that going to affect me?
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Hos is it actually going to affect anyone even if they do use it? Like, everyone I know uses WhatsApp. It replaced SMS in the UK. How does Facebook knowing what time I messaged my mum or my wife make any difference to me? I have no idea. They must be able to get something from it otherwise they wouldn't bother.

I do have telegram. If I could get my family group chat on that it would account for probably 80% of the traffic to my phone lol
 
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