[sagher]

Hello all dear members: 
I am starting this tread on this core issue started last week when after affiliation of Whatsapp with facebook community. and the content are in following link as it is too long to add as text in post so you can read it with detail in this link : 

Whatsapp New Policy

So the key content is that whatsapp now openly accepted that they collect all of your data whatever in your mobile. even your internet connection your router information your friends & family circles. etc.. 
So the most danger part is that :

Law, Our Rights, And Protection

We access, preserve, and share your information described in the "Information We Collect"” section of this Privacy Policy above if we have a good-faith belief that it is necessary to: (a) respond pursuant to applicable law or regulations, legal process, or government requests; (b) enforce our Terms and any other applicable terms and policies, including for investigations of potential violations; © detect, investigate, prevent, or address fraud and other illegal activity or security and technical issues; or (d) protect the rights, property, and safety of our users, WhatsApp, the other Facebook Companies, or others, including to prevent death or imminent bodily harm.

Rumer about that facebook is planned in future to add ADs in whatsapp and share your data with facebook paid companies as needed. 

i am looking for more views and your personal reviews on it. and how can we protect ourself.

[tbelldesignco]

I've never been a big fan of WhatsApp, but with Facebook now controlling it, I will be steering clear of the platform all together. Facebook left a bad taste in my mouth after the way they acted when Apple enforced the Privacy Label so users can see what exactly what an app has access too and is sharing along with iOS and iPadOS users having the ability to turn off ad tracking.

We as consumers vote with our time and money, if we do not like the ads and the policy of the platform, we can vote by not giving them time and money to generate ad revenue. I think part (d) has to deal with the stand that these companies are making on the events that happened at the United States Capitol this last Wednesday and they are trying to do their part to mitigate violence against our elected officials, I could be mistaken though.

[fitkoh]

i am looking for more views and your personal reviews on it. and how can we protect ourself.

I think the first generation of social networks will soon be left behind.

For me, it's less a matter of intrusive ads, and more a matter of information control. I don't like that the individuals that own these giant media outlets have so much control over the information that people have access to. I don't like that public opinion and popularity are measured in analytics that are largely affected by twitter bots. I don't like that Mark Zuckerberg's personal bias (regardless of whether or not I agree with it) decides what information shows up my facebook stream. I don't like the "independent fact checkers" that decide whether or not something is true. People should be allowed to decide for themselves. I read 1984, and I don't want to continue the trend towards doublethink.

Fortunately the internet continues to evolve, and a new generation of social media is emerging. Meet mastodon: a decentralized federated social network with  no ads and no single corruptible individual making all the decisions.

I predict (and hope) that going into the future we will see more community owned open source solutions taking up the flag of keeping people connected where platforms like facebook and twitter have become agents of polarization, radicalization, and division. These services, which initially brought so many people together and enabled so much communication, are now just filled with people are arguing and disagreeing and pushing their position on everyone else.

[sagher]

@tbelldesignco : yes i agreed if the story is just ends with ADs. because everyone wish to get more and more revenue for there apps and platforms. but sharing personal information location and interesting contents contacts call logs virtual IP information storage content are horrible. and also preach for law of public privacy security law. it's also a way to spoil someone. interfere in personal lives.

[deanhills]

I wonder why there is so much hysteria about this topic?  When the company that owns your SIM card has total control over your privacy details.  And is allowed to sell that information to other parties. It even has the right - depending which country it is - to provide your personal information to Government agencies. Like how many of us get spam messages because of our information that has been shared by our SIM card provider to third parties and those third parties with other third parties?  For example in South Africa one of the providers (that I know off, there are more out in the world), has an arrangement with third party games providers, so much so, if you have a billing agreement with your SIM Card Provider, where you get your phone service as part of a monthly account rather than prepaid, if you should opt for any of the services that are rubbed under your nose through spam messages and by accident click on a games link (some of those links are deliberately designed to trap so you have to be really savvy not to click on it), you could be charged, without even knowing you are charged directly via the third party games company through your SIM Card Billing.  No popups come up, or agreement window or anything like that to ask your permission, or to warn you you're now being charged.  First you know of this is when you receive your bill from your SIM provider at the end of the month. And then that SIM provider pleads innocence, and says it's your fault and can't undo it because the billing comes via a third party - like it takes months to get out of an arrangement like that. I saw that happening to an 83 year old lady.  Imagine the stress she went through - it took her 6 months to resolve and she's still waiting for compensation. Imagine all of the old people who can barely use a smart phone with their fingers.  Like shocking! When I was in Canada I had an almost similar experience with being spammed by phone calls and messages.  

OK, so on the WhatsApp topic, isn't it better just to make sure Facebook doesn't have your personal info?  Like as far as I understand anyway, this only affects new users and business users.  That as an existing user you will still have the option to opt out of becoming part of Facebook if you are a WhatsApp user.  My limits would be if I would see any Facebook messages popping up on my WhatsApp.  So far I haven't seen any of those messages popping up.  No spam at all.  But yes, PLENTY of spam messages from my SIM CARD provider.

BTW.  When I first started to use my Smart Phone in 2016, I noticed that Samsung and Google must be in cahoots with Facebook too.  Like they were trying to force me to sign up with Facebook.  One of the first things I did when I started using the phone was to disconnect and delete Facebook and all of the other platforms - like Instagram that think they own the world and right to be there under my nose.  Initially I used the phone with my e-mails with my Google account, but after a while, the way the phone is set up with Google, I decided to delete that e-mail app too. I only do e-mails through my desktop because of how insecure I feel about privacy on my phone. But yes, I'm on Whatsapp for family and friends.  Common sense says that Whatsapp is going to be OK for a while because of how many users it's lost and it will try to get them back.  But yes, maybe when things have quietened down Whatsapp will do what Zuckerman of Facebook intended for it to be done - like fully integrated with Facebook.  Bottomline here is whatsapp belongs to Zuckerman.    

People are complaining about Whatsapp, but I think Google is worse.  All Android phones are deeply connected to Google.  So if we talk about privacy, then include all media platforms that are in the same category as Facebook.  I'd put Google and most popular browsers on top of the list.  Microsoft for sure with Windows.  Like all of the "FREE" services, that aren't really that free at all if one thinks about it.  Most of all the Air Time we get from our SIM provider is just as bad with safeguarding our private information.  There should be stricter rules about the safekeeping of our private info with our SIM providers.  Yet no one talks about it?

Bottom line for me.  Be careful before you provide your phone number to any provider.  Question mark it when you're asked for it.  Particularly "in the name of security".  Or get a separate phone number with which to manage your smart phone dealings with the media.  Be as savvy and with it as Zuckerman is. And particularly don't go for the herd mentality. I still wonder to this day why people feel they have to subscribe to Facebook in their own names. And most of all be forced to give up their phone numbers. Surely there should be some legislation against that?

[tryp4vps]

...... i am looking for more views and your personal reviews on it. and how can we protect ourself.

I am afraid the only way to protect ourselves is to move away from Whatsapp.

Don't use it. And move to better communication apps such as Telegram.

Sadly it is very difficult to do it now because too many of my friends are still using Whatsapp.

[deanhills]

Don't use it. And move to better communication apps such as Telegram.

Telegram is a better communication app for today.  Whatsapp was also in that category before Zuckerman bought it and its owners became millionnaires overnight after they sold it to Zuckerman.  I think the problem should rather be sorted out at its root, when the purchase happens.  Hopefully with all of the hoopla about this someone will wake up and confront the issue where it needs to be confronted, instead of enriching the owners of Telegram and Signal and just shifting the users from one evil to another one that may look "innocent" today, but get to growing into evil tomorrow the more users they get and the more pressure they get from their share holders to perform on the stocks exchange.

[tiwil]

If I'm not mistaken, this policy only apply towards Whatsapp Business account. My non-business Whatsapp nor my family have seen the pop-up asking approval for the new policy. I only have the pop-up in my Whatsapp Business account which I don't use as a business account, LOL.

Well, we all use Google. Most of our phone (I mean Android phone ) are powered by Google product. Therefore we agree to share our information to Google. They even track us when our GPS is on. Well, there is no option for this since other phone either sucks or very expensive (yes you, Apple). But for Whatsapp, there is Signal and Telegram that Dean has pointed out. We can use that since they only ask for fewer information. But not all will use that, especially elder, and we're forced to use Whatsapp, again. It's just the same as cPanel vs other panel. Whatsapp have high user and they can do whatever they want. The only way to destroy this is to use other product, but I think will not be possible for this case.

[sagher]

If I'm not mistaken, this policy only apply towards Whatsapp Business account. My non-business Whatsapp nor my family have seen the pop-up asking approval for the new policy. I only have the pop-up in my Whatsapp Business account which I don't use as a business account, LOL.

Well, we all use Google. Most of our phone (I mean Android phone ) are powered by Google product. Therefore we agree to share our information to Google. They even track us when our GPS is on. Well, there is no option for this since other phone either sucks or very expensive (yes you, Apple). But for Whatsapp, there is Signal and Telegram that Dean has pointed out. We can use that since they only ask for fewer information. But not all will use that, especially elder, and we're forced to use Whatsapp, again. It's just the same as cPanel vs other panel. Whatsapp have high user and they can do whatever they want. The only way to destroy this is to use other product, but I think will not be possible for this case.

@tiwil : this is not like that. specially non business accounts and specially Asian region accounts got this policy update and end date to accept this policy is February 2021. after then your doesn't longer use WhatsApp if you still deny the policy. mean! WhatsApp make it by-force or you leave to any other way.

[tiwil]

@tiwil : this is not like that. specially non business accounts and specially Asian region accounts got this policy update and end date to accept this policy is February 2021. after then your doesn't longer use WhatsApp if you still deny the policy. mean! WhatsApp make it by-force or you leave to any other way.

I'm located in Asia. Everyday I use Asia ISP, so if it's the case in yours then it should also appear in mine. But I don't get any policy asking for approval on my non-business account. It only appears in my business account twice (I don't explicitly accept both of them tho ).

None of my family also get the notification (notification = policy approval), all of them use non-business account. So I guess it's not just me, but everyone in my family don't get it. Only the business account.