Slashdot Mirror
WhatsApp Won't Comply With India's Order To Delete User Data (engadget.com)
An anonymous reader shares an Engadget report: WhatsApp's decision to share user data with Facebook has provoked the ire of yet another foreign government. Last week, India's Delhi High Court ordered WhatsApp to delete any data collected from users who opted out of the company's new privacy policy before September 25th. According to Mashable, however, WhatsApp has no plan to comply with the court order and it will have "no impact on the planned policy and terms of service updates." In August, privacy groups in the US spoke out against the change, which allows WhatsApp to pass account information like mobile phone number, contacts, profile pictures and status messages to its parent company. Facebook claims that sharing information between the two will help it to improve the experience and fight abuse across both platforms, while WhatsApp defended the change by saying that all messages on the service will remain encrypted.
Blocking won't work, but fines will hit Facebook where it hurts. They conduct business in India, have infrastructure and offices there so there's plenty of property on the line if Facebook tried to decline to pay. If you're the second most populous country in the world (almost tied for the first place), ignoring you is not a good idea. Perhaps the average customer in India is nowhere as rich as in the western world, but that's no African hellhole either.
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
Whats app does not have the the small limits for sms,mms, as telephone networks do. Whatsapp allows you to message worldwide with other whats app users, as well as calling without cost as long as you are on wifi. It has a been a boon to those of us with family and friends in other countries. It allows for communication across different networks.
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
UPDATE: Sept. 30, 2016, 12:51 a.m. IST WhatsApp has issued a new statement in which it says it "will" comply with the order from the Delhi High Court. A WhatsApp spokesman said, “WhatsApp will comply with the order from the Delhi High Court. We plan to proceed with the privacy policy and terms update in accordance with the Court’s order. The Court’s emphasis on the importance of user choice and consent is encouraging.”