Have you decided to delete WhatsApp? Or are you going crazy about how WhatsApp can be so lazy about data privacy? If the answer to the above questions is yes, then you should read this article.
The Internet went crazy on the new WhatsApp privacy policy and Twitter gets flooded with tweets about how people should leave WhatsApp and jump to other alternatives.
Elon Musk tweeted “use signal” and the app crossed 7.5 million downloads but in all this havoc, did you tried reading the privacy policy or understand what exactly it means?
If the answer is no, then Let’s find out!
The Initial Days of Whatsapp Privacy Policy:
Facebook bought WhatsApp in 2014 for $19billion! Crazy money for such a simple and free app right?
Wrong! In 2014 WhatsApp had a user base of 500 million and thousands of people were joining WhatsApp every single day.
Facebook didn’t invest in a simple free app that lets people chat rather they invested in the user base that WhatsApp was acquiring. The initial plans of Facebook were to show ads on WhatsApp, but the co-founder of WhatsApp was against the ads.
This led him to quit the company and start another messaging app called “signal”. Yes, this is the same app that Elon Musk was talking about.
Here’s What WhatsApp is Saying:
Let’s put an end to all the confusion and see what Whatsapp has to say about all of the rumors going around.
- Whatsapp can hear calls or read messages?: WhatsApp clearly clarified that all the messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted and no one can access them. Whatsapp can’t hear the calls or read the messages.
- Logs of messaging and calling: Whatsapp clearly stated that keeping the logs of calling and messaging of 2 billion users can be a big privacy and security risk therefore they don’t save this data.
- Can WhatsApp share your location data: Whatsapp stated that when someone shares their location details on WhatsApp, no one can access that information apart from the person it is sent to.
- Whatsapp stated that for additional privacy one can go for disappearing messages. One needs to turn it on and the messages get deleted after seven days.
So What is Changed?
Whatsapp has clearly said that messaging with businesses is different than talking to your family or friends. Some of the large business has to use hosting services to manage their chats with their customers.
Therefore to manage such large chats, WhatsApp is giving the option to businesses to use Facebook’s secure hosting services.
But when a user interacts with a business, WhatsApp will store that information for its own marketing purposes. This information can be used to show personalized ads to you.
The Bigger Problem:
But is getting personalized ads a problem? Well for a lot of people it’s not a very big issue. As WhatsApp, if a free app and advertisement is their only source of making money.
The bigger problem is this data getting hacked! Numerous big companies have faced cyber-attacks and tons of data has been hacked.
This could lead to serious problems as this makes extremely sensitive data available in the wrong hands which can be used for the wrong purposes.
So what should the people do?
Shall we delete WhatsApp?
Well if you are a fan of shorter answers then the answer is, No!
Whatsapp helps us stay connected to our family and friends and leaving WhatsApp just because of a movement on social media is not exactly the right thing to do. So what shall we do?
Follow digital privacy and don’t do anything stupid! Here’s what you should know:
- Keep strong passwords for the various accounts that you have. Don’t simply use your name or your phone numbers as a password. The best habit is to use a random password generator to generate the most secure passwords.
- Don’t keep your passwords saved on WhatsApp chats. This can be a big mistake. This will destroy your effort of keeping a strong password. Instead, use password managers like LastPass or 1password.
- Track the permissions the app is taking. Check what permissions do the apps on your phone take and if you don’t use an app a lot and if it’s taking a lot of permissions then go to the setting and disable the permissions.
- Remove the messages and camera permission from the apps which do not needs it and are still asking for the permissions.
- Don’t put your information on random websites on the internet, they can be phishing pages trying to steal your data.
The Final Message:
Never rely on a single app.No one knows when they change their privacy policies and something bad happens. Be comfortable with the change.
Start using apps like Signal or other alternatives to the popular apps trying to steal data.
Data security is a big issue for the time. The more online the generation gets the more important data security will become.
Till the Indian government comes if, with strong digital privacy law, you yourself are liable to stay safe online.
Make sure you follow all the cybersecurity guidelines.
That’s it for this article, Stay safe! And if you ever need help with consumer complaints, Voxya is always there for you!
