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For all those who use WhatsApp.
WhatsApp has updated its privacy policy, and users have until February 8 to accept the new terms and conditions.
Quote: Facebook-owned WhatsApp’s updated policy says that it may share your information with its family of companies to “facilitate, support and integrate their activities and improve our services.”
Whatever information WhatsApp automatically collects from you will be shared with Facebook. This includes your mobile phone number and basic information you give when you create a WhatsApp account.
It also collects and shares user activity, how often you use WhatsApp, features you use, your profile photo, your status and ‘about’ information.
It also collects device-level information like what device you use, your mobile network, IP address, among others. It also collects and uses precise location information from your device, but with your permission.
First gather users and then put them ask for money or data. Is there an escape? 
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Sandeep Mewara wrote: Is there an escape?
Yes.
Don't install it. 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Only if it was on me. Until others do too or we have a good alternative.
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There is very little reason to use this app. The world ran fine (in fact, probably better) before all these things existed.
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Tell that to the couple of billions people using it, that suddenly stopped using Emails and calling per phone.
I installed it first in 2016 because I had no other option if I wanted to keep in contact with many people.
For me it was really clear that all promises done by FB / MZ back then after buying whatsapp were only a matter of time to be broken. Now the time has come.
I will very probably let my account be blocked automatically, but I suppose 90% of the people won't do it. Many just because of laziness, many because "the others won't do it", many because "I have nothing to hide" (and don't understand all what happens in the background)...
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Nelek wrote: Many just because of lazines
That is a serious part of many business models - the momentum factor.
Once something's started up and moving along, a large fraction of those people never take the trouble to undo it. That's why all the free trial offers: you have to affirmatively stop or they start billing. ISP's and cable companies raise fees without a qualm because to react (change) would be a hassle (equipment return, getting used to new things, and "who has time").
It's a momentum. ALL of my email addresses, even for family, are "forwards". If I change I need tell no one - just change the target address. Similarly with whatever I can use. And I just dropped two financial groups (online banks, credit card of 23 years) and last year a brokerage - because they got stupid. It shocks them (customer service), in a way, that anyone will bother.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Amen to that. All of these social media-ish apps are desensitizing people to have even less face-to-face contact than they were already having. Couple that with the pandemic's physical distancing and face hiding, what will relationships look like in the future?
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
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My wife uses it to call her sisters in Australia for free - she obviously loves it.
"I didn't mention the bats - he'd see them soon enough" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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I agree,
No farcebook, twitter or whatever else, it keeps things nice and quiet around here.
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Many of my friends are suggesting Signal as an alternative.
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Including Musk and Snowden. 
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Gradually dragging the rest of my family over to Signal...
So old that I did my first coding in octal via switches on a DEC PDP 8
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I think it was WhatsApp my daughter (on the other side of the planet) wanted me to sign up to, but it might have been one of the others.
When I saw it wanted access to my address book I ran screaming.
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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It surprised you that an app that enables you to write messages to your contacts needs access to your contacts? 
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There is a real difference between
Hey app, start a chat with this phone number. and
Hey data slurpers, have a couple of hundred of my contacts, many of them unlisted.
Another reason I decline the "sync my data across devices" offers. If I want to move data across my devices, I'll use ssh with my own ECDSA-etc, thankyou.
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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Never used it myself, daughter does. Looking for alternatives. Found this, can't vouch for any:
Top 5 WhatsApp Alternatives in 2021 [Best For Privacy & Safety][^]
I think she was looking into Signal but, like anything else, has to coordinate with her friend on the other side of the pond.
Good luck.
If you can keep your head while those about you are losing theirs, perhaps you don't understand the situation.
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There is not alternative that doesn't do the same thing, or that won't be changed to do the same thing. Money isn't made from the app itself - it's made from the data it gathers.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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Exactly - someone on here said once - if they don't charge for the product - you are the product ( think it was OG )
"I didn't mention the bats - he'd see them soon enough" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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The problem with these apps is that they're only alternatives if your friends use them too.
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Guess what - they've been doing this since WhatsApp was invented. They're just now getting around to telling you about it.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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Yes.
Use Signal or Telegram instead.
I have installed Signal on my phone and am requesting my family and friends to install it as well so that my communications stay private.
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And if you were part of the Capital riots, we'll share that info too. Ha, ha, ha.
It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it.
― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food
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WhatsApp is handy, but definitely not irreplaceable - e.g. Signal, Viber, etc. The problem is, if you move to Viber, (for instance), you need all of your contacts to do the same. Yep! Not going to happen! I'm guessing most of us are going to accept the new terms - as it's easier! We have better things to be doing with our lives than trying to organise a mass exodus from WhatsApp. I'm not condoning it. Just saying.
I suspect it would be a whole lot easier for people to close their FarceBook account, (although I'm not on it, so not an expert), so maybe that's a better place to (un)register your objections.
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