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WhatsApp Won't Comply With India's Order To Delete User Data (engadget.com)

Posted by msmash on from the my-way-and-only-my-way dept.

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.

6 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. Too big to comply by The-Ixian · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Whatcha gonna do about it? Block Facebook? bwahahahaha, we are corporations... we are above the law!

    --
    My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
    1. Re:Too big to comply by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Are you trolling, or terminally fucked in the head ?

      India are telling a US company how to act in India.
      Just like the US tells foreign companies how to act when dealing in the US.

      So yes, they do have jurisdiction over what WhatsApp does in India... and that is a good thing.

    2. Re:Too big to comply by SvnLyrBrto · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I would use the old "and nothing of value would be lost" cliche. But seriously, that doesn't even begin to cover it. I've found outsourced tier-1 support to actually be *worse* than useless over the years. Basically, aside from processing returns for outright defective kit, if you can't immediately get escalated to a tier that's not outsourced, or unless you have an on-site contract, you're better off just going to Stackexchange or similar.

      --
      Imagine all the people...
    3. Re:Too big to comply by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Whatcha gonna do about it? Block Facebook?

      yes, why not? India is a market of 1.3Billion people, about 17.5% of the worlds population. Not a market you want to just walk away from.
      If this turns into a pissing contest, Facebook will lose.
      Facebook cannot count on the public opinion, the government is 'protecting the people' so it is a high risk bet with very high stakes.
      Buying some officials may be the best option, but that won't work in a high profile case that becomes politically sensitive.

  2. Let them so we can move the jobs back to usa by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Let them so we can move the jobs back to usa when india get's cut off.

  3. What about EU users by Carewolf · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The rules in the EU are pretty clear, this is simply not allowed, not before or after any updated terms of service. Google was already forced to stop trying to unify Youtube and Google Plus accounts, so if they can force Google to not do it, I am sure Facebook will be in deep shit too.