It’s over the deadline for WhatsApp ask you not to share your phone and other data with Facebook. From today, and if you have not said “no” during this month, you will have to accept or yes the new terms of use WhatsApp, without the possibility of saying you do not want to share your data if you want to continue using the app.
WhatsApp makers have announced a change in its privacy policy, and new terms have mostly a fundamental consequence: the company will share our phone number with Facebook with the idea of connecting the two services.
The decision makes sense at a strategic level since Facebook bought WhatsApp two years ago, but could also generate suspicions about the way in which Facebook use such information. The social networking giant will now have more data about us; something that would not like to see increasingly threatened their privacy.
Facebook know your phone number
Although many Facebook users and share their phone and even your address in your profile on this social network others prefer not to do to have part of your personal life separate from his activities in this social network.
By sharing our phone number with Facebook, the social network will use such information “to enhance your experience with advertising and products on Facebook. Please read more about how and when you make this decision.” In the announcement, also indicate how will increased monitoring of our activity in WhatsApp because of the change in the privacy policy:
However, by working with Facebook, we will follow up other activities such as statistics on the use of our services, or better combat unsolicited messages (spam) in WhatsApp. And when you connect your number with Facebook systems, this can give you better suggestions of friends and show ads that are relevant to you-if you have an account with them. For example, you can see an advertisement by a company with which you have already communicated, rather than one by a trade you’ve ever heard.
That connection between the two services will make that information about our number, who talked and who our contacts we will suggest among other things new friends on Facebook. Although as noted below remains encryption, Facebook will collect information through WhatsApp which will show customized both in terms of contacts and in advertising suggestions.
If you do not want Facebook knows your number, you have 30 days to act
In the section of questions about new terms of service and privacy policy a section which explains how the connection between the two services is useful to provide a better user experience, but said it appears that “Nothing you share on WhatsApp including your messages, photos, and profile information will be shared on Facebook or any of the subsidiaries applications Facebook for others to see.”
So, although things like your phone number to be shared with Facebook, that information will not be seen by other Facebook users, and at all times the encryption end to end remains: neither WhatsApp and Facebook may read.
You may also like to read another article on improtecinc: What is WhatsApp Gold and why you should run away from its like the plague?
WhatsApp gives however, the option that your account information is not shared with WhatsApp Facebook, something anyone can do during the first 30 days. You can do this in two ways: before pressing OK to consent to the new terms we can click on the word “Lee” marked in blue, which will make a square that can disable appears.
If we have not done that we can turn that phone sharing with Facebook with a second method. To do this you should first accept the new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy updated, after which it will go to Settings -> Account -> Sharing information from my account: will be there where we have to turn that feature off. Even they are doing that, point in WhatsApp, yes data will be shared with Facebook but we cannot do anything:
Facebook and the Facebook family of companies receive and use this information for other purposes. This includes help improve infrastructure and delivery systems; understand how our Services or use of them; protect systems; and combat infringing activities, abuse or unsolicited messages.
Remember that in both cases that disabling the option to share data with Facebook voluntarily only you can run within 30 days following the acceptance of the new terms of service and privacy policy updated.
The privacy debate is enlivened
This decision WhatsApp again highlight the delicate balance that we maintain in our Internet activity. Social networks like Facebook and services like WhatsApp collect information, but certainly are not alone, and in the recent past, we have seen very strong to the attitude of Microsoft critical Windows 10, unable to avoid mentioning Google, a company that performs that data collection continuously and that because it is being investigated.
The problem is again the same: the end user does not usually have the ball in your court, and use those services -often gratuitous- implies that famous “if you do not pay for the product, you are the product.” Use the advantages of WhatsApp, Facebook and all kinds of services and not technology companies increasingly involves ceding some of our privacy with the hackneyed excuse of “improving the user experience.”
It may indeed help collect some data on that experience, but the voracity with which companies want to collect more and more information about us is really worrying. The new privacy policy does not help WhatsApp we reassured us, of course, and that may make others consider once – a more- alternatives to a messaging application that benefits from its stranglehold on the markets.
Tags: Facebook, WhatsApp
Leave a Reply