Federal Minister of Science and Technology Chaudhry Fawad Hussain has said the government is making efforts to introduce a strong data protection law to protect the privacy of citizens after WhatsApp announced on Thursday that it will now share users ’personal data, including phone numbers and locations, with their parents company, Facebook.
“Instead of taking a unilateral approach, these policy changes should have been made after a broader consultation.” Pakistan Radio quoted Fawad as saying about recent privacy changes.
Previously, the popular messaging app was promoted as an encrypted platform, which meant that its two billion users worldwide had great user privacy.
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However, starting February 8, the company will collect and share user data, including location data, IP addresses, phone model, operating system, battery level, signal strength, browser, mobile network , ISP, language, time zone and even IMEI.
In addition, WhatsApp will also collect information related to business interactions conducted through its platform.
“Some companies may be working with external service providers (which may include Facebook) to help manage their communications with their customers,” the company said.
The new Whatsapp policy does not affect users located in 27 European Union thanks to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The regulation is designed to protect the privacy rights of EU people, but applies to all companies that process or control the personal information of EU residents, regardless of the location of these companies.