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Mandatory WhatsApp Privacy Policy Update Allows User Data to be Shared With Facebook

LiE_ said:
Europe's a big place, are you saying that the majority of Europe is still paying for SMS or just a few countries? I just double checked a few, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, all of these have unlimited SMS included.

Tariffs are based on data allowance now, since the most people don't use SMS.
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SMS unlimited tariffs only count for SMS sent in-country. The second your SMS goes across the border (or you are abroad), you get hit by hefty fees.... which renders SMS borderline useless for anyone with a lot of friends abroad (like me).
 
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I got the pop up in the UK. I clicked the 'x' in the top right. I guess I will be deleting FB and WhatsApp, but it's going to cost me a fair bit of work as I often get contacted for work using these informal methods
 
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contacos said:
i wish! I just got the pop up in Germany
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Yes you do get the pop up because they updated the privacy policy but in fact there are two policies, one for EU

www.whatsapp.com

Privacy Policy - EEA - Revisions

WhatsApp Messenger: More than 2 billion people in over 180 countries use WhatsApp to stay in touch with friends and family, anytime and anywhere. WhatsApp is free and offers simple, secure, reliable messaging and calling, available on phones all over the world.
www.whatsapp.com www.whatsapp.com

and the other for outside the EU

www.whatsapp.com

Privacy Policy

WhatsApp Messenger: More than 2 billion people in over 180 countries use WhatsApp to stay in touch with friends and family, anytime and anywhere. WhatsApp is free and offers simple, secure, reliable messaging and calling, available on phones all over the world.
www.whatsapp.com www.whatsapp.com

What they did outside the EU is illegal in the EU because of the GDPR.

In particular, this line is present in the new EU Privacy Policy which is not present in the non-EU new Privacy Policy:

Any information WhatsApp shares on this basis cannot be used for the Facebook Companies’ own purposes.​


There is a specific page for European users that explains the situation in more detail: https://faq.whatsapp.com/general/security-and-privacy/how-we-work-with-the-facebook-companies
 
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Count me in as another who left FB a year ago, and will now add WhatsApp to the list of accounts I've deleted and will never go back to.
 
i uninstalled insta and fb apps a week ago after the new t&c - what alternatives to WA? telegram?

Oh i still have fb messenger installed on my phone though :/
 
Haven't used WhatsApp since 2014. It's annoying to hear "Do you have WhatsApp?" "Can't believe you don't have WhatsApp" "You're strange, man"

And at work, I have received a work phone and they are forcing me to use it, even though we could all use iMessage or Microsoft Teams to communicate.

I wish more people use Telegram.
 
Zeus65 said:
I would say Signal or Threema. I've used both, The problem is the most of my friends and family use whatsapp and its very hard to get people to switch when they just don't really care about privacy rights or encryption in general.
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Their problem, not yours. If you matter to them, they will make sure to keep in touch, if not, you haven't lost anything. If you give everyone a heads up and alternative ways to contact you, you will find that some people will use that.
 
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Zeus65 said:
I would say Signal or Threema. I've used both, The problem is the most of my friends and family use whatsapp and its very hard to get people to switch when they just don't really care about privacy rights or encryption in general.
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They excuse is usually: "I have nothing of value for them to steal from me."

And I tell them something like this (shortened version, going to the point): "They can build a profile of you containing your physical condition, habits and blood type and organ traffickers will use it when looking for body parts".

That usually makes them think again.
 
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The Game 161 said:
for most people deleting WhatsApp really isn't an option. certainly in UK WhatsApp is the main messaging service. I use mainly iMessage now but thats not the reality for most people here.
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Facebook has found it’s business in being voluntarily indispensable. Folks are “free to use it or not” but they decide to use it anyway. So, like you say, for most people, providing your entire transaction history of EVERYTHING you do to Facebook really isn’t an option.

Manatlt said:
And at work, I have received a work phone and they are forcing me to use it, even though we could all use iMessage or Microsoft Teams to communicate.
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Wow! Where I work there are a lot of developers that would love to use tools like that, but our business is required to set up a messaging server where none of the messages go external.
 
The Game 161 said:
for most people deleting WhatsApp really isn't an option. certainly in UK WhatsApp is the main messaging service. I use mainly iMessage now but thats not the reality for most people here.
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People don't have to be locked into WhatsApp with friends and family. There are other apps and other ways to stay in touch. I don't think many people value their privacy etc. otherwise, they wouldn't be so quick to make excuses.
 
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attilavago85 said:
Their problem, not yours. If you matter to them, they will make sure to keep in touch, if not, you haven't lost anything. If you give everyone a heads up and alternative ways to contact you, you will find that some people will use that.
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Of course you’ve lost something.
Ultimately, if people don’t want to move from a platform that they’ve used for years now, they won’t. And while I’ve suggested moving platforms, I’m not going to become all high and mighty and delete everything at the expense of not speaking to my friends, especially during the times we’re living in.
 
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Apple_Robert said:
People don't have to be locked into WhatsApp with friends and family. There are other apps and other ways to stay in touch. I don't think many people value their privacy etc. otherwise, they wouldn't be so quick to make excuses.
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It’s not making excuses, it’s just facts. If you have multiple groups of friends/family that are using the app, you’re not going to get rid of it.
 
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BMox81 said:
It’s not making excuses, it’s just facts. If you have multiple groups of friends/family that are using the app, you’re not going to get rid of it.
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If you don't want to use the app, you shouldn't feel like you have to. Friends and family should respect your position. If they don't, then they need to be made clear that you want to stay in communication but, WhatsApp is out of the question.
 
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I’ve been trying to make all people I know to install Telegram ever since FB took over WA. Most of them have it now. The only problem I have is that only secret chats are encrypted and are not available via the web or a desktop app.
 
BMox81 said:
Of course you’ve lost something.
Ultimately, if people don’t want to move from a platform that they’ve used for years now, they won’t. And while I’ve suggested moving platforms, I’m not going to become all high and mighty and delete everything at the expense of not speaking to my friends, especially during the times we’re living in.
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If your friendships are only sustained because of an app, and those people are lazy arses who don't want to install a secure application to keep in touch with you, then I would not call them friends. But maybe your definition of friends is different to mine. I have already got a few people to move and everyone I contacted telling them my "high and mighty" decision, was more than understanding of that decision.
 
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ignatius345 said:
That’s because their carriers have price-gouged them for SMS messages and they’ve had to outsource their message infrastructure to an app that Facebook provides “free” (aka in exchange for an all you can eat buffet of data).

Fortunately, US carriers never quite got around to making SMS super expensive so we don’t have to do that.
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That’s not really true. Here in the UK, all carriers offer unlimited SMS, however, MMS is ludicrously expensive. This means that the only viable option to have a group chat between iOS and Android — or share multimedia — is via a third party messaging app. Shame that most people use one owned by Fakebook Inc.
 
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graclarkey said:
That’s not really true. Here in the UK, all carriers offer unlimited SMS, however, MMS is ludicrously expensive. This means that the only viable option to have a group chat between iOS and Android — or share multimedia — is via a third party messaging app. Shame that most people use one owned by Fakebook Inc.
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Wow, didn’t know that! Seems like a time for ONE of them to adopt unlimited MMS as a marketing position.
 
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