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.

Comments

Too big to comply

[The-Ixian]

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

Re:Too big to comply

[Z00L00K]

Considering that many corporations have outsourced their support (customer and internal IT) to India it's a very risky thing to annoy the government of India because they can decide to cut all network communication and then a lot of major corporations will hit the crapper.

Re:Too big to comply

[Oswald McWeany]

Law? The government of India is trying to tell an American company what to do.
They have no more jurisdiction over WhatsApp than the North Korean government has over me. And that's a good thing.

They're perfectly entitled to tell Facebook what WhatsApp can do when it is operating in India. Just like the Kim administration could decide to feed you to the dogs, like he did his uncle, if you were to step foot in North Korea.

Re:Too big to comply

[SvnLyrBrto]

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.

Re:Too big to comply

[KiloByte]

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.

Re:Too big to comply

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

They have one doubt

[Hognoxious]

They have one doubt about the needful?

Let them so we can move the jobs back to usa

[Joe_Dragon]

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

What about EU users

[Carewolf]

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.

Re:Goodbye

[puto]

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.

What's worth $19 billion?

[matbury]

Why did FB pay $19 billion for? Some personal messaging software? Encryption algorithms? Somehow, that doesn't sound likely to me. How much would that cost to code, and do it better from scratch? Dear Indian govt and WhatsApp users, what do you think is worth $19 billion to FB? And how likely do you think it is that they'll give that up?

WhatsApp "reverts back" saying it will comply

[knwny]

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.”