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Facebook Stops Collecting WhatsApp User Data in Europe After Government Pressure (theverge.com)

Posted by msmash on from the nothing's-bigger-than-law dept.

Facebook has stopped collecting WhatsApp user data across Europe, bowing to pressure from privacy watchdogs across the continent. The shift in policy means that European users of the messaging app will no longer have information -- including phone numbers -- relayed to Facebook, but the social network says it may only be a temporary suspension while the laws are debated. From a report on The Verge: "We hope to continue our detailed conversations with the UK Information Commissioner's Office and other data protection officials," Facebook says, confirming that it "remain[s] open to working collaboratively to address their questions." Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014, but only started to collect data from its users in August this year. That move drew criticism from Europe's data collection authorities, 28 of whom signed an open letter sent last month in which they urged WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum to suspend data collection until the legality was worked out.

24 comments

  1. How nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "but the social network says it may only be a temporary suspension while the laws are debated."

    Oh how nice of them.

    1. Re:How nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What features does WhatsApp even provide over, say, e-mail?

    2. Re:How nice by psycho12345 · · Score: 1

      Cheap SMS over data. Check out how much you have to pay for texting in some countries, as well as international rates. You usually have to pay some exorbitant price per text, or pay extra per month for unlimited international texting.

      Also, it is self configuring, because your username/login is your phone number + IMEI number.

    3. Re:How nice by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      "Also, it is self configuring, because your username/login is your phone number + IMEI number."

      _A_ phone number. I use iWhatsApp on my cheap tablet, I just used a prepaid used Sim-card I bought at eBay., to sign it, then you can throw it away. (the sim-card, not the tablet. :-)

    4. Re:How nice by unixisc · · Score: 2

      Also, as of the latest update, one can also do video chat. Actually, the reason WhatsApp caught on was not only free SMS over one's internet connection, but also, that one could send photos and short video clips. While this could also be done on iPhones, Androids and Windows Phones, the messaging was not uniform: Androids or Lumias couldn't get iMessage, iOS couldn't get Windows messages and so on. WhatsApp levels it for all of them. And as of this week, people can also do video chats, which makes it the first cross platform video chat client for not only iOS and Android, but Windows Phone as well

    5. Re:How nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      -delivery and view confirmation
      -vender lockin (is started as an essentially non federated xmpp service)
      -lockin to 1 mobile device
      -video
      -audio

    6. Re:How nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not so in every country, e.g. I can have two hours voice + unlimited SMS for 2 euros per month (which is automatically billed some time in the middle of the month). The same carrier offers unlimited voice + 50 GB of 4G traffic (!) but 3 GB of 3G traffic if you use that, for 10x the price. I don't want to add such a recurring automatic bill that costs money to cancel so I'd rather get a SIM card and pay for some traffic at will with cash (we call that prepaid).
      Found 1GB of prepaid 4G traffic on another carrier, one month : 10 euros.
      Now it's down to 5x the price (I also need some 4G phone with Android >= 6)
      Another carrier does 2h of voice + 1GB traffic for 11 euros a month (recurring fee), unlimited SMS is mentioned in the details.

  2. Yes they've already transferred most of the data by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A single dump of people's phone contacts is a whole lot of data FB can use, contacts tend to change slowly. They'll now just wait to see what the law ends up doing.

  3. Bullshit by sexconker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't believe for half a fart that they've stopped. They're either still doing it and lying about it, or still collecting it but waiting for some "oopsie" "bug" to send it all up to the mothership at some point, at which point they'll say they've deleted it and expect us to believe it.

    1. Re:Bullshit by Sique · · Score: 1

      If they get caught doing it (e.g. if Facebook for instance suggests WhatsApp contacts as new friends to european users), they are in boiling hot water.

      --
      .sig: Sique *sigh*
    2. Re:Bullshit by sexconker · · Score: 2

      Really, will they shutdown Facebook in Europe?
      Will they be forced to pay fines that are more than they get from selling the data? (Not just have fines declared - actually pay out.)
      Will they be unable to blame this on a bug, a user traveling, a user's "friend"on Facebook providing that info, or Facebook otherwise obtaining that info legally (but in a way that they can't reveal so as to protect their business interests)?
      Will they extradite Zuckerberg and his cronies and put them in jail in Europe?

      They'd be in tepid water at best.

    3. Re:Bullshit by Sique · · Score: 1

      Yes. They will pay fines. Probably per user in the EU, which can go into the hundreds of millions.

      --
      .sig: Sique *sigh*
  4. Still collected via UK FR DE US feeds by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As many of you are starting to realize, there are seven active NSA collector building complexes active in the territorial US, and the UK, France, and Germany all operate active feeder units as well, collecting all WhatsApp, FB, and cell traffic, including all phone backups for both Droids and Apple and desktops, primarily at the carrier and network interconnect levels.

    So it's really a moot point. Your data is still being collected, but they're lying to you about it.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
    1. Re:Still collected via UK FR DE US feeds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      they don't want duplicate data

    2. Re:Still collected via UK FR DE US feeds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And where are these buildings in those countries?

  5. Scary by edxwelch · · Score: 1

    At this stage it's only a matter of time before Facebook and Whatsapp gets hacked.
    It's scary to think that all your private conversations could suddenly become public.

    1. Re:Scary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's scary to think that all your private conversations could suddenly become public.

      Never write anything that you wouldn't shout down the hallway.

      Assume that nothing is private and behave accordingly. You do not have to be paranoid, just keep secrets to yourself -and stop worrying about the mildly embarrassing shit that you do everyday.

  6. Brexit by Avarist · · Score: 1

    So explain to me on this newsday how Brexit was necessairy due to evil EU and oh so democratic British parlament? All I keep hearing is the EU being genuinely concerned about it's citizen well being and privacy, perhaps sometimes making small mistakes but always with the best of intentions. In the meanwhile the UK is using 1984 as a guidebook.

    --
    In Capitalist US, the commerce controls the Government.
    1. Re:Brexit by ffkom · · Score: 2

      Brexit was necessary to allow David Cameron to gamble for a stronger position in his ruling party. He just didn't imagine how many of his people would believe the weird lies of the "Leave" campaign, and was way too confident the Brexit would be turned down, anyway. After all, the EU was the perfect scape goat for UK politicians, who were voting for plan X in the EU comission, but told the people of UK at the same time how evil the EU was to go for plan X. They did that many times, on many topics. And were surprised that this made the Brexit voters an easy prey for the "Leave"-campaign.

  7. End-to-end encrypted?? by scsirob · · Score: 1

    Can anyone perhaps explain what data Facebook can glean from communications that according to WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted? If that is true, how are they reading your communications?

    --
    To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
    1. Re:End-to-end encrypted?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uhm i dunno maybe they have the keys? (derp)

    2. Re:End-to-end encrypted?? by mvdwege · · Score: 2

      Because one end is the WhatsApp servers. The communication is not peer-to-peer, but relayed.

      Essentially, after acquiring WhatsApp, Facebook turned it into a man in the middle to datamine all connections going through it. And quite probably that was the WhatsApp business plan all along: build up a network interesting enough for one of the big data miners to acquire.

      --
      "I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
    3. Re:End-to-end encrypted?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Used to be, now it's end-to-end Axolotl encryption (at least for Android users, maybe for iOS as well). These guys are talking about the data WhatsApp gathers from your phone, not the content of your messages.

    4. Re:End-to-end encrypted?? by mvdwege · · Score: 1

      All very nice, but the traffic is still not peer-to-peer. So:

      1. We only have WhatsApp/Facebook's word that they don't MITM it.
      2. They still get to do social network analysis on your traffic.
      --
      "I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?