The truth about your WhatsApp data
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Backlash on WhatsApp in recent days after posting Whether the overhauled privacy policies appear. Let me try to explain what happened.
Some feel that the messaging app will now force those using it to hand over their personal data to Facebook owned by WhatsApp.
that's not quite right.
WhatsApp policies changed cosmetically and not in ways that give more data to Facebook. The bottom line is that Facebook already collects a lot of information about what people do on WhatsApp.
The confusion was a result of Facebook's cluttered communications, mistrust of the company and broken US data-protection laws.
Here's what changed with WhatsApp, and what not:
Facebook purchased WhatsApp in 2014, and since 2016, almost everyone using the messaging app has been sharing information about their activity with Facebook.
Facebook knows the phone number being used, how often the app has been opened, the resolution of the device screen, the approximate location from the internet connection and more, as my colleague Kashmir Hill Explained five years ago.
WhatsApp works properly and Facebook uses this information to help a shoe company show you an advertisement on Facebook.
Facebook cannot peer over the contents of texts or phone calls because WhatsApp communications are broken. Facebook also says that it does not keep records on the people people are contacting in WhatsApp, and WhatsApp contacts are not shared with Facebook. ()This wired article It is also useful.)
There is a lot of positivity in WhatsApp. It is easy to use, and the communications in the app are secure. But yes, WhatsApp is Facebook, a company that many do not trust.
There are options including signal and telegram – both of which New users have increased recently. Digital Privacy Group Says Electronic Frontier Foundation Signal and WhatsApp are good choices for most people. Also went through the wall street journal Pros and cons of many popular messaging apps.
WhatsApp has recently notified the app users about the revised privacy rules. Facebook is trying to make whatsapp To chat with an airline about a missed flight, browse for handbags and pay for luggage.
WhatsApp's policies changed to reflect the possibility of including the activity of business transactions between Facebook apps – for example, a handbag you browse in WhatsApp may pop up later in your Instagram app.
Unfortunately, WhatsApp did a terrible job stating what's new in its privacy policy. It took me and Kash a good amount of reporting to understand, a data-privacy rock star.
I also want to touch on the deeper causes of misunderstandings.
First of all, it's a hangover to be Facebook's history Horseman With our personal data and careless How is it used By company or Are partners with. It is no wonder that people believe that Facebook has changed WhatsApp policies in a gory way.
Second, people have come to understand that privacy policies are misleading, and we don't really have the power Companies collect less data.
"This is a problem with the nature of privacy law in the United States," Kash said. "As long as they tell you they're doing it in a policy that you probably don't read, they can do whatever they want."
This means that digital services including WhatsApp provide us with unfair options. Either we relinquish control over our personal information, or we do not use the service. enough.
Clear more whatsapp confusion
Another misconception floating about WhatsApp – and again, it's WhatsApp's fault, not yours – is that the app is removing an option for people right now to refuse to share their WhatsApp data with Facebook .
not quite right.
Yes, when Facebook made major changes to WhatsApp's privacy policies in 2016, there was a brief moment of choice. People can check a box to order Facebook not to use their data from WhatsApp for business purposes.
Facebook still happens Collect Data of whatsapp users as i mentioned above, But the company won't Use Data "to improve your ads and product experiences" to make friend recommendations.
But that option in whatsapp Existed for only 30 days in 2016. It was a lifetime ago in the digital years, and nearly four million Facebook data scams.
For anyone who started using WhatsApp since 2016 – and that many are – Facebook is collecting a lot of information without an option to refuse.
"Many people did not yet know," Genni Gebharat of Electronic Frontier Foundation told me. And, he said, we are not to blame.
Understanding what happens to our digital data seems like it requires advanced training and a law degree in computer science. And Facebook, a cash-strapped company of oodles and a stock price of over $ 700 billion, cannot explain what people were doing in a way that people could understand.
Before we leave …
More digital results from the Capitol crowd: Youtube Blocked President Trump's account from posting new videos For at least the next seven days, my colleague Dai Wakbayashi wrote. Like Facebook and Twitter, YouTube cited the possibility of false or inflammatory claims from Mr. Trump's videos to increase the risk of violence cited by President Trump.
Still more digital results from the Capitol crowd: Gizmodo Mapped hundreds of users of the social network Parler In the crowd that burned the Capitol last week. This happened because of Parlar Loose protection, Which allowed researchers to download data that included records of people's positions and GPS coordinates.
Some people make good money online. Not many: This is true on YouTube and Instagram – and only on OneFans, the website where people can charge others to access sexually explicit images. My colleague Gillian Friedman Only talked about her experiences with women the creator.
Hug it
A larger Trend in TikTok videos Last few weeks People sing and do satanic – Yes, those old-time sailor songs. This seasick video is delightful, As it is Electronica version.
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