<story><title>WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash</title><url>https://www.reuters.com/article/facebook-whatsapp-privacy-idUSL4N2KP0XY</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Mediterraneo10</author><text>The niche that Whatsapp filled and which brought it to massive adoption was not the same as Skype&amp;#x27;s. In South America (and Asia, too, if I understand correctly), Whatsapp was a way to avoid SMS charges on your mobile phone. Because now it is the only way many acquaintances and businesses can be contacted, it will remain entrenched even with this hostile new privacy policy.&lt;p&gt;Skype, on the other hand, was about audio- or videoconferencing from a computer, and so it wasn’t quite as much a part of the ordinary person&amp;#x27;s life as Whatsapp.</text></item><item><author>pmlnr</author><text>&amp;gt; I&amp;#x27;m so disappointed in this. Whatsapp is a functional tool. It was successful since it worked.&lt;p&gt;One decade ago:&lt;p&gt;s&amp;#x2F;Whatapp&amp;#x2F;Skype&amp;#x2F;g&lt;p&gt;s&amp;#x2F;Facebook&amp;#x2F;Microsoft&amp;#x2F;g</text></item><item><author>egwor</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m so disappointed in this. Whatsapp is a functional tool. It was successful since it worked.&lt;p&gt;Facebook has entirely failed to utilise it - to allow external systems to connect in so that businesses can do business on there. The voice calls are also a disaster.&lt;p&gt;They&amp;#x27;ve now come along to start messing with the privacy to start selling ads.  It is insane that they&amp;#x27;re able to make such a mess of this. Is there a word for anti-innovation?&lt;p&gt;Considering that they&amp;#x27;re linking Facebook ad platform with the chats, and they&amp;#x27;re forcing this upon everyone, why isn&amp;#x27;t this covered by the monopoly laws? Most of us paid some money for the app.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ethbr0</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;In [country] (and [other country], too, if I understand correctly), [Skype] was a way to avoid [international call] charges&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;^ That&amp;#x27;s why GP was saying they&amp;#x27;re similar</text></comment>
<story><title>WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash</title><url>https://www.reuters.com/article/facebook-whatsapp-privacy-idUSL4N2KP0XY</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Mediterraneo10</author><text>The niche that Whatsapp filled and which brought it to massive adoption was not the same as Skype&amp;#x27;s. In South America (and Asia, too, if I understand correctly), Whatsapp was a way to avoid SMS charges on your mobile phone. Because now it is the only way many acquaintances and businesses can be contacted, it will remain entrenched even with this hostile new privacy policy.&lt;p&gt;Skype, on the other hand, was about audio- or videoconferencing from a computer, and so it wasn’t quite as much a part of the ordinary person&amp;#x27;s life as Whatsapp.</text></item><item><author>pmlnr</author><text>&amp;gt; I&amp;#x27;m so disappointed in this. Whatsapp is a functional tool. It was successful since it worked.&lt;p&gt;One decade ago:&lt;p&gt;s&amp;#x2F;Whatapp&amp;#x2F;Skype&amp;#x2F;g&lt;p&gt;s&amp;#x2F;Facebook&amp;#x2F;Microsoft&amp;#x2F;g</text></item><item><author>egwor</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m so disappointed in this. Whatsapp is a functional tool. It was successful since it worked.&lt;p&gt;Facebook has entirely failed to utilise it - to allow external systems to connect in so that businesses can do business on there. The voice calls are also a disaster.&lt;p&gt;They&amp;#x27;ve now come along to start messing with the privacy to start selling ads.  It is insane that they&amp;#x27;re able to make such a mess of this. Is there a word for anti-innovation?&lt;p&gt;Considering that they&amp;#x27;re linking Facebook ad platform with the chats, and they&amp;#x27;re forcing this upon everyone, why isn&amp;#x27;t this covered by the monopoly laws? Most of us paid some money for the app.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>lotsofpulp</author><text>&amp;gt; In South America (and Asia, too, if I understand correctly), Whatsapp was a way to avoid SMS charges on your mobile phone.&lt;p&gt;It was the same in the US, especially for avoiding costly international SMS&amp;#x2F;MMS charges.  It basically allowed me to communicate with international family and friends, since they might not have been as technically inclined to deal with logins and spam on apps like Skype.&lt;p&gt;In addition, at that time, WhatsApp was the best way to share contacts.  It’s still one of the best ways, I think, since you don’t have to worry if the other person is iOS or Android.</text></comment>