Why you should stop using WhatsApp – A new critical update has been confirmed

WhatsApp may have removed your privacy reaction, but there will be many things to come as some of you lose access to your accounts. And, worse, the onset of WhatsApp nightmare until 2021 has exposed a serious problem for its 2 billion users that seems impossible to solve. Millions more are likely to leave. Do you have to do the same?

As a security professional, it is difficult to advise WhatsApp users to leave the app. The messaging platform has done more than anyone to popularize secure messaging. But it was also acquired by the world’s most stingy data collection machine. And it was always inevitable that there would be a calculation at some point.

WhatsApp has now faced the 2021 privacy reaction, but has done so by focusing on its security credentials, minimizing data sharing with Facebook and ignoring the problem of metadata collection. “Metadata: data about your data,” explains Cyjax CISO Ian Thornton-Trump, “is almost as powerful as the real data “.

Let us not forget that the recent reaction was divided into two parts. First, Apple introduced its privacy tags, exposing WhatsApp to collect much more of our data than Signal, Telegram and iMessage. Whether this data is shared with Facebook is important, but not as important as the foundation for collecting it.

WhatsApp privacy tag is horrible. It is the only primary secure messenger that collects “data related to you”, including your device ID, for “developer advertising and marketing.” It also collects your contact information, user ID, and device ID for “otherly” vaguely vague purposes. Other messengers collect your data to adapt it to functionality. WhatsApp is reaping it for other reasons.

“Other applications” Now WhatsApp has told users, “Let’s say they’re better because they know even less information than WhatsApp; we believe people are looking for apps that are reliable and secure, even if that requires WhatsApp to have some limited data.”

But they are not “limited data.” It’s a long list of data, all linked to your identity. We know why WhatsApp wants your metadata, because it tells us in its privacy policy. And no one claims that Signal, iMessage or Telegram are unreliable or unsafe because they collect less data from their users. And, how does WhatsApp collect your data to advertise “requires” that your data keep its app “reliable and secure?”

Remember: if the product is free, then are you the product. This is not complicated.

The second part of this reaction, the forced change of terms, hit hard because it looked like WhatsApp was collecting this data and sharing it with Facebook; that was the wrong notification. Okay, said WhatsApp, which we don’t share all your data with Facebook. But all of a sudden, WhatsApp had shed light on the fact that there are some data sharing. The fact that this is not new is hardly the issue. These privacy tags are strong.

More importantly, it was downplayed on the basis of the collection of all this data. It seemed that WhatsApp thought the reaction would explode and we would all forget. We picked it up because we needed it, it was the message. But there was no word on what exactly was used and how. This is your data. You have a right to know what is being collected and how it is being used.

Yes, WhatsApp is a free platform. And they have the right to say that we collect certain data fields and use them to send you ads that may be relevant. We, as users, can choose whether it is acceptable to us or not. What they are no the right to do so is to overshadow, talk about the issue and refuse to provide transparency, say it is an inevitable and intangible part of this free service they offer.

Ironically, most users agree that some sort of data collection is a price worth paying for free platforms. But there must be a limit. And there must be transparency. It is impossible to argue that data collection is proportional to the services offered. Facebook reported revenue of $ 28.1 billion last quarter;

The specific reaction of WhatsApp has been disproportionately overflowing. The change in terms is more benign than was (wrongly) reported at the time. The owner of WhatsApp, Facebook, wants to allow his business customers to communicate with you via WhatsApp and only if you accept these contacts. If you do, however, some of these messages may be stored outside of WhatsApp, outside of their end-to-end encryption.

Not a problem. Who cares about the security of messages with the dry cleaner or the supermarket, especially if you have opted for each specific chat? But it still breaks the existing WhatsApp data processing conditions and therefore the change needs to be made. As WhatsApp says, you have to sell services to keep the messenger free. But the change has opened WhatsApp to a late review of its metadata, and that has not gone well. The WhatsApp privacy issue will not be put back in the Pandora’s box.

You now have a few weeks to accept the new WhatsApp terms. After that, WhatsApp has already confirmed in a FAQ that it is not particularly useful, “you will not have the full functionality of WhatsApp until you accept. For a short time,” he says, “you will be able to receive calls and notifications, but you will not be able to read or send messages from the application “.

WhatsApp says “if you haven’t accepted it [May 15], WhatsApp will not delete your account “, but will effectively lose account usage after a” short time “.

So what does this really mean? You will still be able to access your account for a while, although you will not be able to read or send any messages. According to WhatsApp terminology, your account will apparently be “inactive”. And here the WhatsApp policy is clear. “To maintain security, limit data retention and protect the privacy of our users, WhatsApp accounts are generally deleted after 120 days of inactivity. Inactivity means the user has not connected to WhatsApp.”

This is all confusing. WhatsApp has not said it will delete the accounts after this “short time”, not even from the long grace period. But the media reports that deletions will occur and this is not being corrected.

Even WhatsApp seemed confused with its plans as it delayed the February 8 deadline to accept the new terms. On January 15th^th, WhatsApp said that “we will make sure users have plenty of time to review and understand the terms; rest assured that we never planned to delete any account based on this and will not do so in the future.”

This means that accounts will not be deleted. And they may not, though the headlines warn exactly that. I asked WhatsApp again if they would confirm any of this and they refused to respond. All WhatsApp says is that “it has extended the effective date to May 15. If you haven’t accepted, WhatsApp won’t delete your account. However, you won’t have the full functionality of WhatsApp until you accept.” .

Of course, one could be more cynical about a half-reaction tweet sent on January 15, assuring users that accounts would not be deleted due to the change in terms, “we never planned to delete accounts based on this. and it won’t in the future,”, Which was followed a month later by the news that the accounts would, at best, be blocked and, at worst, deleted if the terms are not accepted before May 15th.

WhatsApp also declined to comment on this apparent contradiction.

In January, I advised users to follow WhatsApp, although they might try other options in parallel, especially Signal. I said that there was no reason to abandon WhatsApp, that the problem related to the change of terms had been exaggerated. But the way WhatsApp has handled this situation may change that advice.

This was an opportunity to listen and get involved, not to entice users with sleek PR while adhering to Plan A. Apple has changed the game by introducing privacy tags and eliminating ad tracking. Platforms need to intensify and change their behavior or risk losing users for alternatives that do. Facebook has made clear its stance against Apple’s changes. WhatsApp is doing the same.

It’s okay with the new privacy terms – there’s nothing to worry about. But the stubborn collection of WhatsApp data and the refusal to move or even review the situation is pure Facebook. This is the clearest sign of WhatsApp address.

For many of us it is unrealistic to leave WhatsApp completely, unless, of course, we refuse to accept the new terms. But replacing it as the default messenger is feasible. After all, the same thing happened with SMS to many of us, when we went to WhatsApp, ironically. So is it very serious to stop using WhatsApp? Maybe this time it is.