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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.

8 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 Z00L00K · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    2. Re:Too big to comply by KiloByte · · Score: 4, Informative

      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.
  2. They have one doubt by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Funny

    They have one doubt about the needful?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. Re:Goodbye by puto · · Score: 4, Informative

    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
  6. WhatsApp "reverts back" saying it will comply by knwny · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.”