Looks like it will wreck WhatsApp.
Buy a rival and wreck for its own purpose.
As they say history will repeat itself.
Who has whatapp. Are you going keep or delete it ?
Mod: Article for context. Added poll below.
Facebook wants it all... even all privacy info in WhatsApp....
Poll Options
- 40I'm going to keep using WhatsApp
- 31I'm going to delete WhatsApp
- 60I don't use WhatsApp
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I see signal getting hammered with heaps of new login requests
Am not associated with WhatsApp. iPad made me do it….
not surprised its a better messaging system and not Spyware like Facebook cancer is
According to the article it already is…
"Thanks to the news of the service privacy policy changes — not to mention a terse endorsement from Elon Musk — secure messaging app Signal reported delays in issuing verification codes “because so many people” are trying to join right now."
I don't use WhatsApp, pretty much everyone I communicate with is via iMessage/Facetime but unfortunately majority won't care and will click the 'I agree' button without even reading it. That's precisely why they get away with this.
Don't use WhatsApp, don't use Facebook. What's wrong with text messages?
pay for SMS, MMS. this is free, faster and better to manage messages. Suggest use Signal, on andriod is replaces the SMS app, so SMS people that dont have signal and use that app for people who do.
In what world do you pay for MMS and SMS. Also not sure how it's faster, or better to manage messages. It's not exactly rocket science.
SMS messages aren't encrypted at any level so don't even think about sending anything confidential. (The same is true for e-mail which everyone really should stop using to send sensitive documents…)
Why would I be sending something confidential through SMS? However as you say, email isn't encrypted and it's used for confidential stuff 24/7.
So then why not just use Whatsapp lol
Circular logic there.
@plmko: I don't need to encrypt my SMS, and I don't want to be involved with anything at all that has anything to do with Facebook. If someone wants to somehow intercept my SMS and find out that I'm grabbing a chicken from Coles on my way home, I hope they use that info wisely.
@brendanm: You might be careful with what you send but you can't always trust others. I'd rather just eliminate the problem altogether and live a less stressful life where I don't need to evaluate whether I (or others) should send something over SMS or not.
There are many alternatives to WhatsApp that provide secure and private messaging. Signal has been mentioned several times and I also made a separate post with other alternatives below.
SMS's have been encrypted Apple to Apple for years (sent via face time) and recently became encrypted Android to Android last year (sent as MMS), as long as there is only a single receiver.
Nothing.
Some apps allow extra features which some people like and become dependent on (like better group chat or encrypted group chat). But if a product is free, monetisation is usually from user data.
For most people SMS (now actually MMS with RCS) is fine.
Haha, I use WhatsApp and was under the impression that all the data was already being shared with Facebook.
No such thing as free lunch. If you want something, you have to give something. Fortunately, you can kinda choose what to give- every now and them, write/do some crazy shit and confuse them.
WhatsApp, if we are to believe them, is end-to-end encrypted. This means that your message cannot be read by anyone but your recipient(s). The concern is over their misuse of metadata and their invasive harvesting of data that has nothing to do with messaging.
pls add one more option: I don't want to use WhatsApp
If you use Telegram, make sure to use Secret Chats otherwise you're actually losing one of the benefits that WhatsApp gives you which is end-to-end encryption (E2EE). Telegram doesn't support E2EE encryption in group chats or to their desktop version. Due to this, I'd actually avoid Telegram… When I used Telegram briefly I had to constantly battle friends who would start chatting without Secret Chats which was a huge headache.
If anyone wants to find an alternative, I'd actually skip Telegram and go with:
1. Signal (most widely adopted but requires a phone number which they're working on removing as the main identifier)
2. Threema (has a small upfront cost)
3. Element + Matrix (slightly confusing to understand for the average person)
4. Session (collects almost no metadata but it's not that big; developed by an Australian NGO though!)Comparison of popular options on IntelTechniques.
IMHO https://element.io/ is probably the best option if privacy (i.e lack of being monitored and your data being mined, not necessarily the need for secrecy) is your goal. It has end-to-end encryption and is decentralised, so no single government/organisation can take it off-line. You don't need to disclose anything, not even an email address, to use it.
I know Facebook owns WhatsApp, but if you don't link the two then how does one get the others data? will you be forced to sign into WhatsApp using Facebook from now on?
Facebook pretty much knows everything about everyone already. Let's say you have 10 friends who have your phone number in their contact list and each of them has given access to the Facebook app installed on their phone. Well your friends have allowed Facebook to cross-check multiple times that you own the phone number. Facebook's algorithms are much more advanced and invasive than that but that's just one example.
@mitty, new terms of service for WhatsApp. IIRC; you will have to agree to your WhatsApp data being shared with Facebook. If you don't agree, you won't be able to use WhatsApp. From https://www.techspot.com/news/88207-whatsapp-forcing-users-s…
This week, Facebook-owned WhatsApp started giving users a pop-up alert that looks a lot like an ultimatum for people who want to continue using the app. Essentially, it says that people need to agree to new terms of service by February 8 or risk losing access to your WhatsApp next month.
The revamped set of requirements is also a reversal on a one-time decision in 2016 that allowed users to opt out of having their account data turned over to Facebook. This includes phone numbers, friends' phone numbers, profile names and pictures, status messages and activity status, as well as detailed diagnostic data from app logs. However, the new policy means Facebook reserves the right to share the data collected within its family of online platforms.
Keep Whatsapp for the chicks.
I thought chickens preferred twitter?
Facebook criticizes tik tok but they are even worst. I stop using Facebook after noticing that the app was able to listen to my daily conversations. For example, i was ranting at my little one for not eating mango. Opened Facebook app and got all theses add about mangoes… not even talking about when I suggested to my partner to get some holidays at a certain place… so if you use the app, you have no more privacy…
TLDR
Why are you so committed to these social apps? Is it a trendy thing?
Do you really need it… and as it is… it will control your life.Get some control in your life. Say "NO… I don't need it!" and delete from your life.
So… do you not have a phone? The main benefits of secure messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal is that they replace the older and insecure protocols which no one should really be using anymore. (In a similar way, more than 90% of the internet today runs over the encrypted HTTPS instead of HTTP.)
I've had a smart phone since 2012. Never go online with it.
I only have a call/sms (non-data) sim and side-load apps and games downloaded from my PC.My point is that you shouldn't be making regular calls or sending SMS messages if you can help it because they're not encrypted. Many people claim that they have no need for secure messaging and calling but it's one of those things where you don't realise you needed them until it's too late.
Using them is almost no effort. Install the app that's most widely adopted that isn't super invasive (i.e. not Facebook-owned) and is end-to-end encrypted (important) and send messages and call your friends over that app if they also have it. Communicate with all your other friends insecurely if they don't.
I don't understand the whole thing where people raise their hands like they're preparing for a fight whenever someone brings up secure communication.
@CircularIllusion: I've been sending SMS since the mid 90s. Never had a problem, but then again I'm not organising a coup or sending launch codes.
@Speckled Jim: Mass surveillance wasn't really a thing until the last decade. You claim that you've "never had a problem" but that's because the effects are usually subtle enough that you won't notice. There are entire agencies dedicated to creating profiles on everyone using whatever data is available. When you apply for a job it's not uncommon for your prospective employer to do a background check on you. What affects whether you get the job or not might be something you've openly said that you didn't think mattered that much at the time.
Generally, malicious actors try not to let their victims know that something has gone wrong. To give a real world analogy, if someone went to your house to physically steal something, they would leave as little evidence as possible.
@CircularIllusion: Mass-surveillance has been around a lot longer than the "last decade".
The dog-and-pony shows of "terrorism" was simply the pretext to other events, including the admission of mass-surveillance. When I mentioned five-eyes network in 2006, people thought I was nuts.
Not so nutty now, eh?But yeah, for secret-squirrel stuff, paper (burn after reading) or word-of-mouth.
@Speckled Jim: There was a lot less information on the average person before everyone carried a phone in the their pocket and things like social media took off. Mass surveillance may have existed back then but there was significantly less on everyone. Not to add that a decade ago, only the technically literate were online.
Also, dude, just use encryption technologies with forward secrecy (i.e. Signal). You don't need to go crazy passing physical notes or anything. Don't know why you're giving so much resistance.
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden
Here's a reason: I use it every day and I'm not dead yet.
@CircularIllusion: A decade ago was 2011. Pretty sure most people were online, even computer-illiterate ones.
@Quantumcat: Sort of, not really. We can get a rough idea by looking at Facebook's user count. While I'm generalising quite a bit, there are many people who are only on the internet for Facebook. You're also taking "a decade ago" very literally. Yeah, I should've said 12 or so years ago but that wouldn't have changed much.
@CircularIllusion: I was thinking more around 1998 and earlier for "only computer literate people were online"
As a long term Signal user I can recommend it - until Facebook buys it.
attempts at only secure communication get you flagged as a possible terrorist because thats what all monitoring is predicated on…
Some tips about privacy from the pro’s
https://www.smh.com.au/confidential-news-tips
As you can see nothing is 100% confidential
Better option, Facebook is cancer
https://apps.apple.com/au/app/signal-private-messenger/id874…
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcri…