Changes to WhatsApp terms and conditions

Computer Help and Discussions Software
1

Users may do well to read about coming changes here

https://blog.whatsapp.com/10000627/Looking-ahead-for-WhatsApp

And by connecting your phone number with Facebook's systems, Facebook can offer better friend suggestions and show you more relevant ads if you have an account with them. For example, you might see an ad from a company you already work with, rather than one from someone you've never heard of.

Also read here

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/25/whatsapp-to-give-users-phone-number-facebook-for-targeted-ads

WhatsApp’s billion-plus users will be notified of the change to its privacy policy from 25 August. They will have 30 days to decide whether to opt out of their information being used for ad targeting on Facebook, but will not be able to opt out of their data being sharing with the social network.

2

But as we announced earlier this year, we want to explore ways for you to communicate with businesses that matter to you too ...

Maybe I should get out more, but I can't think of any businesses that matter to me, or that I actually want to communicate with, whilst receiving pics of my grandkids via WhatsApp. ;)

We can only wait to see how this pans out in reality.

Edit: Who owns Facebook:

It may surprise a few as to who actually does own this outfit, and what they're individually worth.

3

I skipped installing Whatsapp because of the old TOS.

The new TOS seem worse, they just don't match up with a privacy/security oriented software, imho.

I may be reading it wrong, would welcome correction if I am.

The current TOS as of 27 Aug 2016 : 

https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/#terms-of-service

Some excerpts, the bold emphasis is mine:

Whatsapp collects:

  • your mobile phone number

  • the phone numbers in your mobile address book on a regular basis

  • including those of both the users of our Services and your other contacts

  • You confirm you are authorized to provide us such numbers to allow us to provide our Services. (much more important than it might seem)

- We receive information other people provide us, which may include information about you ... your phone number from their mobile address book

  • we may create a favorites list of your contacts for you

  • device-specific information [including] device location information

  • third party services use their own TOS

This is a privacy app?

4

I can only speak of WhatsApp from my own experience, and re the Facebook connection, I discovered an option just recently in "Settings/Account" to choose not to have my WhatsApp details shared with Facebook.

A no-brainer for me as I don't use Facebook. But, the option was there, and once you tick off your choice, it disappears.

If you are an existing user, you can choose not to have your WhatsApp account information shared with Facebook to improve your Facebook ads and products experiences. Existing users who accept our updated Terms and Privacy Policy will have an additional 30 days to make this choice by going to Settings > Account.

https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/

I'm not a WhatsApp fan boy, although I do think it's a fantastic app, and unlike a lot of others, still doesn't hit you with ads at every turn. In fact so far it hasn't hit me with any ads at all.

Re the privacy side, I'm becoming a lot more of a realist about how much privacy we actually have in this world and in the real one.

For instance, how many councils quite legally sell your "private" information to commercial interests? I know mine does, because I questioned a spam caller as to how they got my number, and she admitted their company buys them from local councils.

A recent example ...

Local councils sell on YOUR details for £64,000:

As long as WhatsApp continues to encrypt all exchanges of information between users, and I believe they don't store this type of info on their servers (as per their privacy policy), then I care less what they do with my smart phone number, which they must have presumably for me to use the service.

Very little is really private these days to the point where you'd have to retire from the world to achieve real privacy.

This is just something you have to either accept, or simply not use the various services. In my case, with my family living in another country, WhatsApp and Skype are well worth any negative privacy issues. No big deal is the way I look at it now.

By the way, this isn't a contra-argument to my good friend Logins post above, just my take on what one has to accept to reap the very good benefits of very good free software.

Now Facebook is something else, but I no longer use it so won't go there. :)

5

Dennis, you're post is quite right in all particulars, imho.

In case it isn't obvious, I posted that above because Whatsapp was initially hailed as a sort of ultimate privacy app.

And it is quite good, as you say.

But one is never sure who reads these forums, so i thought I might just mention a couple of the privacy "leaks".

My main concern is children, as you probably know.

I worry that they may think some app or the other is ultra secure and say or do something foolish that will plague them forever.

OK. Done. Crawling back into my lead-lined cave now. :lol: :lol:

6

OK. Done. Crawling back into my lead-lined cave now.

That odd looking lump at the back is me by the way. :ph34r:

Been here a while ...

7

Germany gets tough on Facebook' data collections on WhatsApp

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/technology/whatsapp-facebook-germany.html?_r=0

8

WhatsApp is to offer free video calls to its one billion users, taking on the likes of Apple's FaceTime and Microsoft's Skype.

The company -- part of Facebook -- said it will be making WhatsApp video calling available "in the coming days" to users of Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone devices.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/whatsapp-is-taking-on-apple-facetime-and-skype-with-free-video-calls-for-one-billion-users/