News WhatsApp is about to ruin our privacy

Sbb1413

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Since January 2021, WhatsApp is giving us the following notification to agree:
Screenshot_20210112-193858.png
This means that WhatsApp has begun to collect personal data from us, therefore ruining our privacy. Several entrepreneurs, including Elon Musk, have advocated leaving WhatsApp abandoned in favour of the alternatives like Signal or Telegram.
 

Urwumpe

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I think the only real option is to leave both Facebook and Whatsapp...and Instagramm, which is also part of the company. Its already bad enough that my phone does not stop listening, like all modern smartphones.

BTW: Facebook is not allowed to combine Whatsapp and Facebook data in Europe. But I don't recommend trusting them there, since the EU justice is not really the fastest and smartest there....
 

4throck

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I once had YouTube suggest me a music I sang in the car a few hours before. I think they do listen more when you are on the move.

But I suspect your smartphone does more than listening. I'm convinced it does eye / face tracking to record stuff you look at but don't click.
My Instagram suggestions do seem to be affected by it. Harmless to me since I don't use social networks for anything serious or too personal...
 

jedidia

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I can't really see anything alarming in just those couple of sentences. All I see is chat integration for businesses on facebook, which has nothing to do with data protection. Theremay be more sinister things hidden in the full text of course, but the time to read all that isn't worth it for the maybe 5 times a month I use whatsApp...
 

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I once had YouTube suggest me a music I sang in the car a few hours before. I think they do listen more when you are on the move.

I also got weird product suggestions by google after I merely talked to my g/f at home about something. Since then, I am absolutely sure, that at least sometimes, Google does listen more, than it should.
 

kuddel

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The problem with leaving WhatsApp and switching to another product (Threema, Signal or Telegram) is that you have to convince your friends to also switch!
Having a secure messenger app is worthless if you are the only one there ;)
Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and use WhatsApp because "..all the other parents from that Kindergarden group got informed - via the WhatsApp group..."
Sad but true.
My advice: Keep a low profile "in the nets"
 

Sbb1413

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Another method to invite friends to join Signal or Telegram and abandon their WhatsApp is to call them by phone.
 

IronRain

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Another method to invite friends to join Signal or Telegram and abandon their WhatsApp is to call them by phone.
This is not going to work I'm afraid. They would need their friends and family to move over as well otherwise they only have you to talk to. Besides that, clients from work use WhatsApp. As I'm being hired for a managing function, I can't just say "I'm not on WhatsApp". I can advise them to look for other means, but it's totally up to them.

IMO the problem is not only the platforms but peoples mindset as well. I see massive amount of my contacts move to Signal - which is nice of course. But I've seen this with Telegram in 2014 (IIRC) as well. A lot of people switch because it's a popular opinion of sorts. Then, the "inconvenience" kicks in and they all move back to WhatsApp.
Now, where does this popular opinion come from? Facebook, installed as an app on their Huwei/Xiaomi phones. I'm not making this up, I'm seeing this happening with relatives.

BTW, I can recommend "The Social Dilemma" on Netflix. It's from ex-Facebook/Twitter/Google/... employees explaining why we should care about this.
 

Sbb1413

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Yet another notification to accept the updated privacy policy. What should be done?
IMG_20210306_125020.jpg
 

Arvil

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What kills me is that these terms and conditions are so legalese and very vague, you don’t really know the details. I find Star Trek technobabble easier to understand. Like “What the hell does that mean??”
 

Urwumpe

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What kills me is that these terms and conditions are so legalese and very vague, you don’t really know the details. I find Star Trek technobabble easier to understand. Like “What the hell does that mean??”

Well, its not exactly vague - its just only restricting the customer, not the service provider. Facebook just does not want to tell you what they are planning to do with your data. Which officially should be only the meta data of who you are interacting with since the chats should be end-to-end encrypted... but there is not guarantee, that it will stay like that or that the client will not read your communication as well.
 
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