Indian Students Score a Partial Win in Facebook Privacy Dispute (bloomberg.com)

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Indian Students Score a Partial Win in Facebook Privacy Dispute (bloomberg.com)

Posted by msmash on Friday September 23, 2016 @04:00AM from the big-win dept.

WhatsApp announced last month that it would stop begin sharing some of users' information -- phone number, contact information of people in your address book etc -- with Facebook. Two Indian students last month expressed their concern over this, adding that WhatsApp was "severely" compromising their privacy and those of other billion plus users, and that it was reneging from its original promise. They approached Delhi High Court, and after hearing from everyone, the bench of chief justice told WhatsApp that it must delete data of users who are opt out of privacy policy changes before September 25. Bloomberg adds: The Delhi High Court on Friday ruled that WhatsApp has to delete all data on users who choose to stop using the service before Sept. 25, when the new policy takes effect. Also, it can only share data collected after that date. However, going forward, WhatsApp is free to share information on users who haven't opted out. The court also asked India's government to consider if it was feasible to craft regulations to oversee WhatsApp and other messaging apps, though it didn't specify what form they could take.

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I'd be mad too by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 04:02 · Score: -1

Having people know you live in India, an overcrowded 3rd world country, would be quite embarrassing.
1. Re:I'd be mad too by BarbaraHudson · 2016-09-23 04:24 · Score: 1
  
  Many, if not most, users of WhatsApp in India use it as a cheap way to communicate with relatives in other countries, since telecoms charge per text even in-country. Even at $0.01 per text, with the average teenager sending over 100 texts a day, that adds up if you have a bunch of kids on a family plan. With the average income being ~$120 a month, that's going to be significant.
  
  --
  "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
2. Re: I'd be mad too by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 04:53 · Score: 0
  
  All the Indian students at school use WhatsApp. I always thought it was an Indian thing, until I only recently learned that it is actually a Facebook thing.
3. Re: I'd be mad too by Grishnakh · 2016-09-23 05:13 · Score: 1
  
  It'd be better if they (and anyone else interested in privacy while texting) switched to Trillian. It's free, open-source, and not tied to some giant corporation that makes money by advertising and data collection.
4. Re:I'd be mad too by unixisc · 2016-09-23 05:42 · Score: 1
  
  Not b'cos it's cheap, but b'cos it can do 2 things
  1. Send photos and videos in messages to people regardless of which phone they have - Androids, iPhones or Lumias
  2. In some cases, use it to make VOIP calls or even leave voice messages
  Otherwise, the only way to send multimedia is MMS, which has quite a surly reputation in India - being synonymous w/ porn. iPhones are not very popular, except w/ the millionaires there, and so people can't freely use iMessage.
5. Re: I'd be mad too by unixisc · 2016-09-23 05:43 · Score: 1
  
  Or Telegram
6. Re: I'd be mad too by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 06:04 · Score: 0
  
  They aren't popular because no one can afford them there, it's a dirty 3rd world country.
7. Re:I'd be mad too by Hognoxious · 2016-09-23 06:22 · Score: 0
  
  MMS, which has quite a *surly* reputation in India
  That word doesn't mean what you think it does.
  P.S. is "with" really that hard to type?
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
8. Re: I'd be mad too by zlives · 2016-09-23 10:56 · Score: 1
  
  but then whom do you sue?
Awesome! by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 04:02 · Score: 0

Finally, something to stop Facebook from spreading it's tentacles unchecked!
1. Re:Awesome! by unixisc · 2016-09-23 05:48 · Score: 1
  
  If FaceBook wants to mine phone numbers, then WhatsApp should assign phone numbers to people that they can use - along the lines of Google Voice - which is separate from the actual phone number of the cellphone used, and which is only usable through WhatsApp. That way, people would have their main cellphone# which they voluntarily share w/ associates, and a separate number (like a junk email account) that can get all the junk calls, which from which they can select the calls they wanna accept
Eh? by myrdos2 · 2016-09-23 04:06 · Score: 4, Funny

WhatsApp announced last month that it would stop begin sharing some of users' information
Well which one is it? It's like I don't do understand it!
1. Re:Eh? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 04:16 · Score: 0
  
  i hope the editors are volunteers. i'd hate to think they get paid for such substandard work.
2. Re:Eh? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 04:20 · Score: 0
  
  If only there were a way to SEE what you typed BEFORE you posted it...
  Oh, wait...
3. Re:Eh? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 04:21 · Score: 0
  
  You really think /. pays anyone?
4. Re:Eh? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 04:37 · Score: 1
  
  You really think there are editors?
5. Re:Eh? by jenningsthecat · 2016-09-23 04:40 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Well which one is it? It's like I don't do understand it!
  Well, I'll be the first to risk Flamebait mods by saying it: this summary reads as though it was written by someone whose first language was Hindi or something similar. If you read the following sections aloud in the common stereotype of an Indian accent you'll immediately know what I mean:
  "their privacy and those of other billion plus users"
  "reneging from its original promise"
  "approached Delhi High Court"
  "the bench of chief justice"
  "must delete data of users"
  "who are opt out of privacy policy changes"
  
  --
  'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
6. Re:Eh? by Streetlight · 2016-09-23 04:46 · Score: 0
  
  The summary text is unreadable. Only readable texts with proper grammar in summaries should be allowed to be posted.
  
  --
  In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
7. Re:Eh? by retchdog · 2016-09-23 05:16 · Score: 1
  
  you mean "maneshs" just might be a native Hindi speaker? the hell you say. ;-)
  
  --
  "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
8. Re:Eh? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 06:10 · Score: 0
  
  This is insightful?! Who the fuck is rating these comments?
9. Re:Eh? by Zontar+The+Mindless · 2016-09-23 06:22 · Score: 1
  
  Native speakers of English, perhaps?
  
  --
  Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
10. Re:Eh? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 06:31 · Score: 0
  
  +1
11. Re:Eh? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 06:39 · Score: 0
  
  Here we go. Finally, manish posts some news from his home country.
  Slashdot. News from India.
12. Re:Eh? by cayenne8 · 2016-09-23 08:04 · Score: 0
  
  Well, I'll be the first to risk Flamebait mods by saying it: this summary reads as though it was written by someone whose first language was Hindi or something similar.
  Nah..Slashdot just finally outsourced their editors...or maybe just imported H-1B workers to do the work.
  Seems about the same quality I've seen from most of those type of workers so far in real life.....
  
  --
  Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Jurisdiction by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 04:15 · Score: 0

How would the Indian courts exert any clout? Does WhatsApp have offices in India? Do they employ people there?
1. Re:Jurisdiction by BarbaraHudson · 2016-09-23 04:26 · Score: 1
  
  India blocked access to Facebook's free internet plan. No reason they can't do the same with WhatsApp.
  
  --
  "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
The only thing not butchered was the quote by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 04:16 · Score: 0

This was a very poorly-written summary - the worst I've seen in some time. Quality versus quantity, please!
Stop begin by WolfgangVL · 2016-09-23 04:26 · Score: 1

War is piece, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength, stop is begin.

--
You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.
1. Re:Stop begin by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 05:19 · Score: 0
  
  flammable is inflammable. Oh wait, that's true.
2. Re:Stop begin by GNious · 2016-09-23 05:42 · Score: 1
  
  War is piece
  The whut??
3. Re:Stop begin by poofmeisterp · 2016-09-23 06:51 · Score: 1
  
  War is piece
  The whut??
  *click-click* Does the gun I'm pointing make it make sense now? ;)
Remember folks by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 04:32 · Score: 0

...and that it was reneging from its original promise.

Every company without exception can and will do this. Even the diehards. Because one day, management will change and too boost profits so that the current management can justify their bonuses will prostitute their user's or customer's data.
It will happen. And when you add in the big data techniques, our lives become and open book to be exploited and abused.
Companies like facebook, LinkedIN, Google, Yahoo! all do this now.
The Internet and iOS/Android apps are detrimental to our privacy.
1. Re:Remember folks by Grishnakh · 2016-09-23 05:16 · Score: 1
  
  The Internet, by itself, is not detrimental to privacy, it's everyone trusting these giant for-profit corporations like Microsoft and Facebook and Google. If we all used phones and PCs running various Linux flavors or similar, and didn't use anything from Microsoft or Facebook at all, we wouldn't have so many problems like this.
2. Re:Remember folks by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 05:55 · Score: 0
  
  The Internet, by itself, is not detrimental to privacy, it's everyone trusting these giant for-profit corporations like Microsoft and Facebook and Google.
  Don't you worry. That trust is indeed eroding. In the future, people won't trust corps. They either won't care, or use open-source stuff. No corp will be trusted, because they all go bad as they get big. And with open source, we don't really need them around - so we don't have to pick the "least evil" among them.
3. Re:Remember folks by Grishnakh · 2016-09-23 10:19 · Score: 1
  
  Oh come on. We've had a strong open-source movement now for 20 years or so (it really seemed to get in high gear in the late 90s, along with the rise of the internet), and has it really gone very far? Sure, most people have a Linux kernel running on their smartphone, which they have no clue about, but for anything consumer-facing, it's all proprietary and it's gotten worse, thanks to walled garden "app stores" and the rise of Apple. I just don't see any evidence that consumers care about FOSS or are moving to it in any way. They've even moved away from Firefox towards Chrome.
Good grief by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 04:39 · Score: 0

They approached Delhi High Court, and after hearing from everyone, the bench of chief justice told WhatsApp that...
Wow, that's quite some understanding of how the High Court works.
Maybe you should have a l lie down, your brain must be exhausted.
What the ?????? by JustAnotherOldGuy · 2016-09-23 04:52 · Score: 0, Flamebait

"WhatsApp announced last month that it would stop begin sharing some of users' information"
English, motherfucker, DO YOU SPEAK IT?!?!
Look, I know manishs had a severe brain injury and can only edit submissions in Morse code by tapping his catheter against the toilet, but FFS is there NO ONE ELSE on staff who proofreads any of this stuff?

--
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
1. Re:What the ?????? by neo-mkrey · 2016-09-23 06:51 · Score: 1
  
  New Slashdot...same as the Old Slashdot.
hap guru's is URGENT by Hognoxious · 2016-09-23 05:00 · Score: 0

# service sharing stop
# service needful do

--
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Is WhatsApp based in India? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 05:54 · Score: 0

If not, then what exactly is the effect of:

The Delhi High Court on Friday ruled that WhatsApp has to delete all data on users who choose to stop using the service before Sept. 25, when the new policy takes effect.
It's like if a court in Iraq ruled that I had to paint my car red.
What are they gonna do to me (a citizen of the United States, living in the United States) if I don't?
1. Re:Is WhatsApp based in India? by unixisc · 2016-09-23 06:08 · Score: 1
  
  People in India do often have WhatsApp on their phone. Not to mention it's a Facebook owned app. So if a court orders Facebook to take it down and it doesn't, then Indian carriers - Airtel, Reliance, Vodafone, et al - would have to disable those apps or otherwise sabotage them if their networks carry packets to WhatsApp or Facebook servers. Similar to what you'd have to do if you suddenly found yourself in Iraq w/ a car that was not red.
India's smartphone landscape by unixisc · 2016-09-23 06:25 · Score: 1

Uh, Samsung Galaxies are very popular, and pretty much own the market. While Microsoft's Lumia, which is an asterisk in the US, is at par w/ iPhones there.
Reason for this is that for an Indian to get many of the apps and games from the Apple store, they have to have an US account, otherwise, the selection is very mediocre. That's different for Play Store or Windows Store, that have no such restrictions. So while it's true that there are Android phones ranging from a number of price points - from Rs 2k to Rs 60k, the fact that one can get any of the apps on the Play store also helps. On the Lumia side, Microsoft has consolidated its phone lineup and offers the 520, the 650 and 950. But on the app front, most of the popular apps in India that get advertized are advertized as being on all 3 - Play Store, iOS and Windows Store, unlike in the US, where it's just the first two.
Easier solution... by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 07:10 · Score: 0

...pull WhatsApp from India on that day and tell the court "done"
1. Re:Easier solution... by unixisc · 2016-09-23 08:03 · Score: 1
  
  Except that WhatsApp gets a huge percentage of its users from India. Most Americans are fine w/ iMessage or whatever Google messaging app happens to be the order of the day.
When they say "Indian" by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 09:51 · Score: 0

Do they mean like the guy on the Cleveland and Atlanta baseball caps?
Fakebook and privacy!?!? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 15:39 · Score: 0

Fakebook and Privacy go together just like matter and anti-matter!
Same company!!!!1 by Anonymous Coward · 2016-09-23 18:43 · Score: 0

they already have both info.
it was just a notification. whatsapp is facebooo and facebool is whatsapp. opt out of targeted advertising if you want but they still have both info.