"All your data belongs to us" - Whatsapp is now completely Facebooked

JMP

Well-Known Member
Adept
I wish WhatsApp was not so rampant in India. Have tried mutiple times to make my friends install another messenger, along with WhatsApp, but no, they'd rather serve the Zuck than do what's right.
 

msankadi

Well-Known Member
Adept
Yep read this... Sad but not unexpected turn of events..

Don't really understand the obsession with whatsapp as well... I think telegram is better in every feature compared to whatsapp... Its just that the first mover advantage was so big that it is almost impossible to move away from wa now. When even parents and older generation moved to whatsapp, it was game over for others. Telegram has recently caught up a bit, largely because of piracy thriving on it now.
 

tech.monk

Well-Known Member
Disciple
msankadi said:
Don't really understand the obsession with whatsapp as well... I think telegram is better in every feature compared to whatsapp... Its just that the first mover advantage was so big that it is almost impossible to move away from wa now. When even parents and older generation moved to whatsapp, it was game over for others. Telegram has recently caught up a bit, largely because of piracy thriving on it now.
Click to expand...
Many are not like us; where they are onto multiple platforms.

Viable alternatives iMessages (for iOS gang) and Google RCS (for Android gang), these platforms also gather data - see the article about Google knowing which apps are opened and when you did.

WhatsApp Beaten By Apple’s New iMessage Privacy Update

WhatsApp has just been caught out by Apple's latest strike at Facebook...
www.forbes.com www.forbes.com
 

Emrebel

Well-Known Member
Adept
has anyone tried signal?

Signal Messenger: Speak Freely

Say "hello" to a different messaging experience. An unexpected focus on privacy, combined with all of the features you expect.
www.signal.org www.signal.org
 

kalph09

Member
Disciple
+1 for Signal app. Unfortunately, WhatsApp has grown so big it's really hard to have friends, relatives move over to Signal.

As someone working closely with Information Security. This news does not come as a surprise to me. Poorly laid out data protection/privacy laws. Both American and Chinese companies have made a killing in India by sucking up data we freely hand over. We often forget that ad-free apps given to us for free are paid with our data.
 

sauravghosh

Well-Known Member
Adept
I haven't accepted their dumb ass terms obviously, clicked on Not now. Wondering when the next pop up will come. Does it even matter anyway, probably when we are inside the app using it they are taking our consent anyway!
 

vink

Active Member
Disciple
in my experiance, no use of suggesting other apps like signal, riot etc to friends, most of them just habitual to whatsapp and now inseperable.
and once people got to somthing free and popular they just cant leave it.
privacy is widespread joke in india.
 

Tejas01

Well-Known Member
Adept
I only had my cousin on signal as he did not use whatsapp for the same privacy reasons.
As pointed out, once you are habituated to an app, it's really difficult to let go. Fb is playing the same game like Jio. Spoil users with cheap data until they are addicted and then start charging them later.on.
 

burntwingzZz

Well-Known Member
Adept
reliance is known to do that i am using my BPL number till now , in mumbai BPL was the low cost operator and than reliance was offering free group calls when it was launched ...
 

Shubham1401

Well-Known Member
Adept
Its really hard for making everyone move away from Whatsapp. Government intervention is the only thing that can help us now.
Hate Facebook and its subsidiaries. :(
 

Ankit Gupta

Banned
Recruit
Honestly, there are lots of Indian messenger apps but looks like people are now addicted to WhatsApp and they would never like the idea of seeing a change. Hike used so many marketing techniques in the past to get past WhatsApp. It offered so many new stickers which were specifically meant for the Indian audience but it appeared that WhatsApp was like some foreign culture which lured the Indians more than the Indian culture. And now, Mark has full control over all the information that people put over Facebook and Instagram.
And somewhat, even the people are responsible for the issues they face. If you are boarding a flight or watching a movie, what is the need of updating it on Facebook? It looks like you are trying to make people feel jealous but you are compromising with your security with such acts. Even if a person boards a metro or checks-in a hotel, they have the urge to tell it to the world. Well, offering all your information even to your Facebook contacts could be really dangerous and I think people understand this only when they face some issue out of it.
 

skoka123

Well-Known Member
Adept
The main reason WhatsApp surged ahead of apps like Hike is the calling and then video calling. It simply replaced Skype, regular telephony, SMS all in one swoop. Heck, I use Whatsapp to call my family and friends because of the poor cellular coverage indoors.

The major challenge moving out of WhatsApp is not relatives but the groups that we are on. I can always asks friends and relatives to contact me by phone or signal or telegram but how do you migrate all the WA groups and members?
 

red dragon

Justiceforall
Veteran
What if someone doesn't have a FB profile, what exactly whatsapp going to do with his/ her data?
Can they really snoop into our personal conversations? What will they do with the useless info of two common nobody's chats?
Just came across the spreaed of pirated content in Telegram.
Don't you think it will be banned sooner or later?
 

t3chg33k

Well-Known Member
Adept
red dragon said:
What if someone doesn't have a FB profile, what exactly whatsapp going to do with his/ her data?
Can they really snoop into our personal conversations? What will they do with the useless info of two common nobody's chats?
Just came across the spreaed of pirated content in Telegram.
Don't you think it will be banned sooner or later?
Click to expand...
WhatsApp is still end-to-end encrypted, so it is not as if they are going to snoop on the messages. However, with this change, they can sell all your other personal information to businesses like your name, contact info and interests. They can also use your contact list to associate whom you interact with and what kind of content is preferred by you and all your contacts. This is the same as what FB does with its website and analytics even for people who no longer have a FB account. They build an association using all the other contacts that you interact with as well as information like your location and IP address.

Telegram gained popularity mainly due to all the piracy channels. It's creator Pavel also created Vkontakte (Russian FB equivalent). However, unlike Zuckerberg, he fled Russia for Dubai when Russian secret services asked him to share the data on his network, hence he has a reputation as a privacy advocate.

Whatsapp is based on the Signal protocol and the Signal Foundation received $50 million funding from WhatsApp's co-founder Brian Acton to become a better alternative than WA. It is a more logical alternative. However, as Zuckerberg has shown with Oculus, Instagram and WhatsApp, he doesn't care if some people flee because of privacy concerns since he knows most will be bound to these platforms as they are cheap or free. The fact that all the founders of the companies FB has acquired left their companies soon after and advised against using their product speaks volumes about FB.
 
Last edited:

deezcnuts

Well-Known Member
Disciple
red dragon said:
What if someone doesn't have a FB profile, what exactly whatsapp going to do with his/ her data?
Can they really snoop into our personal conversations? What will they do with the useless info of two common nobody's chats?
Just came across the spreaed of pirated content in Telegram.
Don't you think it will be banned sooner or later?
Click to expand...
Fb makes shadow profiles for those not directly using their services.

Shadow profiles: Facebook has information you didn't hand over

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told lawmakers you control all the data you give the social network. But the company gets information about you from many sources.
www.cnet.com www.cnet.com
 

JMak

Well-Known Member
Adept
To just get the feel of waters outside the soon to be getting muddy whatsapp lake, I have registered with signal and telegram both..
Lets see how many of my contacts will take the plunge...
 

BluDev

Member
Disciple
Well why not use WA .
But stop using FB and insta

That would hit them much harder and be a more secure step to take
But I bet humanity can't give up FB and Instagram due to their self gratification nature.