Key Points:
- The new policy says how user data is impacted when there is interaction with a business on the platform, and provides more details on integration with Facebook, WhatsApp’s parent company.
- WhatsApp cannot see your private messages but, it can see your business messages and pass on to Facebook for advertisements.
- “WhatsApp respects and protects your privacy. Respect for your privacy is coded into our DNA,” said WhatsApp.
- WhatsApp’s competitor ‘SIGNAL’ became the most downloaded app on Apple App Store on Monday days after Facebook-owned WhatsApp updated its privacy terms.
- Signal is decentralized, Signal does not store metadata and Signal does not save advertising interests.
- The Indian government is formulating a personal data protection bill, which is currently under review of a parliamentary panel. The bill proposes to disallow companies from storing users’ data abroad.
WhatsApp has been in discussions since the past few days due to its ‘Doubtful’ Safety Policy. Amid the concerns over it, WhatsApp on Tuesday had to clarify yet again that the policy changes nothing for those messaging friends and family.
With the most used App after Facebook, owned by the Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg has lost its hold on people due to the new policy, “’Signal’ is the new WhatsApp”. Moxie Marlinspike and Brian Acton own ‘SIGNAL’, which is an encrypted messaging application.
A lot of questions have risen in the minds of the users and concerns are at peak. Let us go about in detail of the issue.
Why is WhatsApp in discussions?
WhatsApp has given out its new privacy policy where the users, if do not accept the policy, can no longer use the application. The policy raised worries among the users as it said that the user’s messages will be visible to the company and details will be passed on to Facebook, the parent company.
What does the New WhatsApp Policy say?
- The new policy says how user data is impacted when there is interaction with a business on the platform, and provides more details on integration with Facebook, WhatsApp’s parent company.
- It is also collecting more information at a device hardware level now.
- While users in the European Union can opt out of data-sharing with Facebook, the rest of the world does not have the same choice.
- WhatsApp seeks the right to share user data like location and phone number with Facebook and Instagram as part of the new privacy terms.
Can WhatsApp see your personal messages?
NO! “The update does not change WhatsApp’s data sharing practices with Facebook and does not impact how people communicate privately with friends or family… WhatsApp remains deeply committed to protecting people’s privacy,” said WhatsApp. So, neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can “see your private messages or hear your calls”.
What data will WhatsApp share with Facebook?
- Account registration information (phone number)
- Transaction data (WhatsApp now has payments in India)
- Service-related information
- Information on how you interact with others (including businesses)
- Mobile device information
- IP address.
- WhatsApp has said that it will share data related to how you interact with businesses on its app.
- WhatsApp will soon allow businesses to use Facebook’s hosting services to manage their communication with users.
- WhatsApp Business accounts will also be able to use Facebook’s Shops platform to display their products on WhatsApp.
- If you shop from businesses that are using the Shops platform, your shopping activity data will be shared with Facebook and it will be used to show ads on Facebook and Instagram.
- When you message a business on WhatsApp, Facebook will be able to use this to data to show your similar ads on its platform.
Does WhatsApp store your messages?
NO! WhatsApp, in its recent clarification said that “once a message is delivered, it is “deleted” from the company’s servers. WhatsApp stores a message only when it “cannot be delivered immediately” — the message can then stay on its servers “for up to 30 days” in an encrypted form as
WhatsApp continues to try to deliver it. If undelivered even after 30 days, the message is deleted.”
What will WhatsApp not do?
WhatsApp:
- Will not keep logs of who anyone is messaging or calling, because it considers a data dump of this kind a “privacy and security risk”.
- Will not see a location you have shared with a friend as that too is protected by end-to-end encryption.
- Will not share a user’s contacts with Facebook, or any other app.
- Will not share data from groups with Facebook for ad purposes and all the communication within is end-to-end encrypted.
“WhatsApp respects and protects your privacy. Respect for your privacy is coded into our DNA,” said WhatsApp.
Talking about WhatsApp’s competitor ‘SIGNAL’, the application has almost reached to their targeted audience in India due to the concerned WhatsApp policy. Signal became the most downloaded app on Apple App Store on Monday days after Facebook-owned WhatsApp updated its privacy terms. WhatsApp has given users until February 8 to accept the policy. It is also working to launch its own payments service.
What is SIGNAL?
- Signal is a cross-platform encrypted messaging service developed by the Signal Foundation and Signal Messenger.
- It uses the Internet to send one-to-one and group messages, which can include files, voice notes, images and videos.
- It can also be used to make one-to-one and group voice and video calls, and the Android version can optionally function as an SMS
- Signal is decentralized.
- Signal does not store metadata.
- Signal does not save advertising interests.
- Signal’s encryption protocol and software design are also available openly for researchers, making it trustworthy, experts say.
“Facebook is probably more comfortable selling ads than buying them, but they’ll do what they have to do in order to be the top result when some people search for ‘Signal’ in the App Store. P.S. There will never be ads in Signal, because your data belongs in your hands, not ours,” said SIGNAL.
Signal, like Telegram, has come up as a viable option. And thanks to the countersignature it has got from the likes of Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma. And despite WhatsApp issuing multiple clarifications that say that the update does not affect the data of regular users, Signal and Telegram are seeing huge numbers of new users.
Use Signal
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2021
How long we will be taken for granted by such blatant double standards ?
Self claimed ad claiming respect of our privacy v/s actual policy.For India 🇮🇳 For Europe 🇪🇺 pic.twitter.com/bT45XwvsO1
— Vijay Shekhar Sharma (@vijayshekhar) January 13, 2021
The Indian government is formulating a personal data protection bill, which is currently under review of a parliamentary panel. The bill proposes to disallow companies from storing users’ data abroad. Until the Personal Data Protection Bill becomes law, it will be hard to police tech companies on how user data should be processed.
