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WhatsApp To Share Some Data With Facebook (bloomberg.com)

Posted by msmash on from the privacy-woes dept.

Two years ago when Facebook bought WhatsApp, the instant messaging client said that the deal would not affect the digital privacy of its users. Things are changing now, WhatsApp said Thursday. The Facebook-owned app will share with the company some member information, as well as some analytics data of its users. Bloomberg reports: WhatsApp announced a change to its privacy policy today that allows businesses to communicate with users. The messages could include appointment reminders, delivery and shipping notifications or marketing material, the company said in its revised terms of service. In a blog post, WhatsApp said it will be testing these business features over the coming months. The strategy is an important step for Facebook as it attempts to make money from its most expensive acquisition. In addition to the messages from businesses, WhatsApp said it would begin sharing more information about its users with the "Facebook family." The data, including a person's phone number, could be used to better targets ads when browsing Facebook or Instagram, WhatsApp said.

6 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. "Some" data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Try all the data. Privacy is dead, and has been for quite a while.

    1. Re:"Some" data? by The+Real+Dr+John · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is why mergers and buyouts are such a problem. People need to start boycotting companies that do this kind of thing. Also time to bring back anti-trust laws and break up any companies that are "too big to fail".

      --
      A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
    2. Re:"Some" data? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It was always a stupid-sounding idea to use Whatsapp (I mean that as a totally independent fact, relative to whether or not Whatsapp was actually any good or not). From the very beginning, it was just someone's proprietary app that used an undocumented protocol. Nobody who is trying to do things right, is going to use anything like that.

      Of the proprietary messengers, WhatsApp was the least bad. It was founded by people who grew up in the Soviet Union and left with an abiding hatred of surveillance, had a very strong privacy policy, and did end-to-end encryption. Also, using Erlang on FreeBSD, it had a lot of geek cred. Unfortunately, when Facebook bought it there wasn't much chance of it keeping the philosophy of the founders. On the plus side, they did donate $1m from the sale price to the FreeBSD Foundation.

      I used to be a big advocate of XMPP, but it's largely been mismanaged into the ground by a lack of leadership in the standards body and a lack of decent reference implementations for the client side. Tox seems like the best bet at the moment for producing something that is both secure and open, yet with implementations that you can give to normal humans and get them connected.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    3. Re:"Some" data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What matters is alternative action routes, rather than information.
      If Facebook provides me with great benefits (emotional, social, financial, whatever) and you say it is bad, what am I to do? To give up these benefits?
      If you provided some alternative: "google knows too much about you, when you want to be forgotten use duckduckgo" it's easier to act upon your advice.
      What is the alternative you propose? How can I be informed of social activities and promote my products without Facebook?
      For me, I took the choice long ago, for others, we need to provide a way out.

  2. Repeat after me... by HungryMonkey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you're not paying for the product, you are the product. Surprise, surprise.

  3. Repeat after me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Nothing Facebook says can be trusted. Same goes for any company whose product or service you aren't paying for, and lots of the ones you do pay for, too.

    Two years ago when Facebook bought WhatsApp, the instant messaging client said that the deal would not affect the digital privacy of its users. Things are changing now

    Things always change. Companies always break their promises, er, "update their terms of service." Look at how many statements Microsoft made about Windows 10 that turned out to be utterly false, for example. Welcome to America, the show where the rules are made up and promises don't matter.