<story><title>Facebook Ordered to Stop Collecting Data on WhatsApp Users in Germany</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/technology/whatsapp-facebook-germany.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bikamonki</author><text>You can go get an off-contract sim card, use it on a &lt;i&gt;clean&lt;/i&gt; Android, create a fake gmail account in order to download and install Whatsapp. Now you make connections (you add family and friends to your contacts) and start communicating. By now both FB and Google know who you are simply b&amp;#x2F;c other people in your network, not concerned with privacy, have you saved on their contacts list, pressumably under your first and last name. Using &lt;i&gt;analytics data&lt;/i&gt; that you inadvertedly share through your usage habits, both companies build a detailed online persona that will never be forgotten. B&amp;#x2F;c we are creatures of habit and social bonds, it is quite easy to determine who you are and what you do, by indirect information like your locations (gps), connections (contacts), online presence (IPs), browsing habits, etc.&lt;p&gt;THERE IS NO ESCAPE. Unless you do what they themselves say you should do if you do not agree with the terms: don&amp;#x27;t use their services.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ryandrake</author><text>You could always, I dunno... stop using Facebook and WhatsApp and other software that you find harmful. I know, totally crazy idea. Just throwing it out there.</text></comment>
<story><title>Facebook Ordered to Stop Collecting Data on WhatsApp Users in Germany</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/technology/whatsapp-facebook-germany.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bikamonki</author><text>You can go get an off-contract sim card, use it on a &lt;i&gt;clean&lt;/i&gt; Android, create a fake gmail account in order to download and install Whatsapp. Now you make connections (you add family and friends to your contacts) and start communicating. By now both FB and Google know who you are simply b&amp;#x2F;c other people in your network, not concerned with privacy, have you saved on their contacts list, pressumably under your first and last name. Using &lt;i&gt;analytics data&lt;/i&gt; that you inadvertedly share through your usage habits, both companies build a detailed online persona that will never be forgotten. B&amp;#x2F;c we are creatures of habit and social bonds, it is quite easy to determine who you are and what you do, by indirect information like your locations (gps), connections (contacts), online presence (IPs), browsing habits, etc.&lt;p&gt;THERE IS NO ESCAPE. Unless you do what they themselves say you should do if you do not agree with the terms: don&amp;#x27;t use their services.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>technofiend</author><text>&amp;gt;THERE IS NO ESCAPE. Unless you do what they themselves say you should do if you do not agree with the terms: don&amp;#x27;t use their services.&lt;p&gt;Or as so many others have called out in the thread - you get legislative relief.</text></comment>