• Terms of Use
  • Article Submission
  • Premium Content
  • Editorial Board
Monday, September 25, 2023
  • Login
No Result
View All Result
Cart / ₹0

No products in the cart.

Subscribe
Mahabahu.com
  • Home
  • News & Opinions
  • Literature
  • Mahabahu Magazine
    • September 2023
  • Lifestyle
  • Gallery
  • Mahabahu Books
    • Read Online
    • Free Downloads
  • E-Store
  • Home
  • News & Opinions
  • Literature
  • Mahabahu Magazine
    • September 2023
  • Lifestyle
  • Gallery
  • Mahabahu Books
    • Read Online
    • Free Downloads
  • E-Store
No Result
View All Result
Mahabahu.com
Home News World

WhatsApp’s Privacy Policy

Kakali Das

by Admin
October 19, 2022
in Special Report, Tech, World
Reading Time: 5 mins read
0
whatsapp application screenshot

Photo by Anton on Pexels.com

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedIn

WhatsApp’s Privacy Policy

Kakali Das

Kakali Das
KAKALI DAS

The popular messaging app, WhatsApp, has announced that it has updated its privacy policy.

The users must decide whether or not they agree to the terms and conditions of the company. Basically, with the new policy in hand, WhatsApp will be sharing more information of the users with its parent company, Facebook.

Facebook owns not only the Facebook app and its messenger, but Instagram and WhatsApp as well, along with WhatsApp payments, which is a payment gateway that’s opened on WhatsApp.

“Very clearly WhatsApp won’t be able to read our messages or our conversations, because it uses the open signal protocol.

RelatedPosts

Men rights matter too

Men rights matter too

September 25, 2023
Has India-Canada relations Crumbled? Will Trudeau apologize to India?

India-Canada Relations Strain: Unraveling the Causes Behind Escalating Tensions

September 25, 2023
Linguistic Variety in the Northeast of India and Language Death: How Concerned Are We?

Linguistic Variety in the Northeast of India and Language Death: How Concerned Are We?

September 24, 2023

I know a lot of people who are shifting from WhatsApp to Signal, but WhatsApp uses the same technology as Signal, except the difference is that WhatsApp collects a lot of additional information, especially metadata, which Signal doesn’t.

And it can’t access media such as photographs, videos, unless it is reported as spam. When one reports a media as ‘spam’, he/she, in effect, are decrypting that message and permitting WhatsApp to check it”, Nikhil Pahwa, Founder, Medianama said.

On being asked about what the problem is and why are people concerned about the change in policy, he further said, “In 2016, when the privacy policy was last changed, data sharing policy between WhatsApp and Facebook was announced. Now, they have clarified the same and added some more information to that policy.

WhatsApp's Privacy Policy
Photo by Anton on Pexels.com

“For instance, WhatsApp has optional features that require collection of additional information, especially location. So, the company says that the users won’t be able to share their locations with other users in chats if they don’t allow WhatsApp to receive location data, and if they disable location data on WhatsApp, the app can still use their IP addresses and phone area code to estimate their location.

“WhatsApp will also collect additional information, like the battery level, signal strength etc. and these are the type of information that WhatsApp tracks and will be sharing with Facebook. Some information will also be used for advertising. If one is interacting with businesses on WhatsApp, that information can probably, in the future, allow businesses to target on different platforms. WhatsApp won’t be receiving advertising, but the information that it collects will be used to target the users on either WhatsApp, Facebook or Instagram service.”

WhatsApp's Privacy Policy

WhatsApp claims that the data by the users are end-to-end encrypted, meaning when a user sends another user a message, it can never be accessed by a third user in the middle. But in some messaging services, the message gets transferred to a server and from the server to the user, and the server reads the message in the process.

In case of WhatsApp, even if it gets through the server it doesn’t get decrypted in the middle. SMS’s can be read by the government, but not WhatsApp (claims by the company).

According to WhatsApp, it won’t view the messages or videos or photographs by the users, but the data that WhatsApp collects already such as, the location, the battery level etc. – which would too be shared with the parent company from on onwards.

And if a user happens to have a conversation with a business account, i.e. the user placing an order of some sort with someone who is registered as a business, will too be stored on a server. Businesses can subscribe to WhatsApp’s services for basically hosting WhatsApp for business, and in that case Facebook, as a company which is providing those services to the business would then be storing that information with it.

WhatsApp has done its homework in realising the policy vacuum that exists in the country, because India doesn’t have a law on privacy, data protection, nor a law on cyber security. So, this is a fertile ground for the companies to go ahead and unilaterally make changes, like an Emperor makes changes to his Empire.

WhatsApp's Privacy Policy

When we look at the fine print, they have actually gone far beyond in updating their policies. It isn’t merely Instagram or Facebook that will have access, but access would also be shared with all business partners or agents, and all third parties, including independent service providers. So, it’s a much bigger gamut of stakeholders that will have access to the data. It’s a common knowledge that WhatsApp has been sharing our data with Facebook group of companies since September, 2016.

The logic for this is that in its terms and conditions, WhatsApp considered all that’s published on WhatsApp to be merely public information – whether its audio, video or text where one isn’t entitled to privacy.

whatsapp2

But now the proposed amendments go a step further when they have actually gone ahead and looked at an entire issue of accessing, sharing, transmitting, disseminating, and monetising sensitive personal data.

What’s intriguing in this entire issue is the silence on behalf of the government, where the government is by and large acting as a spectator when potentially the sensitive personal data of humongous volumes of Indians are likely to be prejudicially impacted.

[Images from different sources]

Mahabahu.com is an Online Magazine with collection of premium Assamese and English articles and posts with cultural base and modern thinking.  You can send your articles to editor@mahabahu.com / editor@mahabahoo.com ( For Assamese article, Unicode font is necessary)

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • Print
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...
Tags: WhatsApp's Privacy Policy
Admin

Admin

Related Posts

Men rights matter too
Special Report

Men rights matter too

by Admin
September 25, 2023
0

Men rights matter too Nandini Parikh Nandini Parikh An Unconventional Story of a Women, Fighting for men’s Rights in India...

Read more
Has India-Canada relations Crumbled? Will Trudeau apologize to India?

India-Canada Relations Strain: Unraveling the Causes Behind Escalating Tensions

September 25, 2023
Linguistic Variety in the Northeast of India and Language Death: How Concerned Are We?

Linguistic Variety in the Northeast of India and Language Death: How Concerned Are We?

September 24, 2023
Cinema and Psychology

Cinema and Psychology

September 24, 2023
Indigenous People are the Guardians of Our Planet

Indigenous People are the Guardians of Our Planet

September 24, 2023
10 Unheard-of Courses That Expand Horizons

10 Unheard-of Courses That Expand Horizons

September 24, 2023
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
FREEDOM FIGHTERS OF ASSAM

FREEDOM FIGHTERS OF ASSAM

August 16, 2023
Dholera: Modi’s Dream Project turns lifeless and barren!

Dholera: Modi’s Dream Project turns lifeless and barren!

July 27, 2023
জ্যোতি সঙ্গীত – প্ৰথম খণ্ড

জ্যোতি প্ৰসাদ আগৰৱালাৰ কবিতা

August 7, 2021
আলাবৈ ৰণ: শৰাইঘাটৰ যুদ্ধৰ পটভূমিত

 লাচিত : শৰাইঘাটৰ যুদ্ধ আৰু ইয়াৰ ঐতিহাসিক তাৎপৰ্য

November 25, 2022
জ্যোতি সঙ্গীত – প্ৰথম খণ্ড

জ্যোতি প্ৰসাদ আগৰৱালাৰ কবিতা

3
The Dangers of AI is Coming: Beware!

The Dangers of AI is Coming: Beware!

1
man in black shirt standing on top of mountain drinking coffee

মোৰ হিমালয় ভ্ৰমণৰ অভিজ্ঞতা

0
crop businessman giving contract to woman to sign

Loan Waivers : LOOKING BACK@ 2015

0
সংক্ষেপে: সাম্ৰাজ্যবাদী বৃটিছ আৰু কামৰূপৰ বজালীৰ ৰাইজৰ সংগ্ৰাম

সংক্ষেপে: সাম্ৰাজ্যবাদী বৃটিছ আৰু কামৰূপৰ বজালীৰ ৰাইজৰ সংগ্ৰাম

September 25, 2023
Men rights matter too

Men rights matter too

September 25, 2023
Rima Das’s Tora’s Husband : Extraordinary Portrayal of Ordinariness

Rima Das’s Tora’s Husband : Extraordinary Portrayal of Ordinariness

September 25, 2023
Has India-Canada relations Crumbled? Will Trudeau apologize to India?

India-Canada Relations Strain: Unraveling the Causes Behind Escalating Tensions

September 25, 2023

Popular Stories

  • FREEDOM FIGHTERS OF ASSAM

    FREEDOM FIGHTERS OF ASSAM

    2548 shares
    Share 1019 Tweet 637
  • জ্যোতি প্ৰসাদ আগৰৱালাৰ কবিতা

    1859 shares
    Share 744 Tweet 465
  •  লাচিত : শৰাইঘাটৰ যুদ্ধ আৰু ইয়াৰ ঐতিহাসিক তাৎপৰ্য

    1528 shares
    Share 611 Tweet 382
  • নাটকৰ ক্ৰমবিকাশ – এটি আলোকপাত

    1027 shares
    Share 411 Tweet 257
  • অসমীয়া জনজাতীয় সংস্কৃতিঃ সমন্বয় আৰু সমাহৰণ

    838 shares
    Share 335 Tweet 210
  • Wildlife Photos: An astonishing and sorrowful image!

    218 shares
    Share 87 Tweet 55
  • অসমৰ বুৰঞ্জী

    1280 shares
    Share 512 Tweet 320
  • ভাৱাৰ্থ স্বৰূপ সোঁৱৰণী মহাবাহু বঁটা প্ৰদান, গ্ৰন্থ -আলোচনী উন্মোচন আৰু বক্তৃতানুষ্ঠান

    179 shares
    Share 72 Tweet 45
  • Does IIT always guarantee jobs, huge salary packages?

    1084 shares
    Share 434 Tweet 271
  • অসমত পৰিৱেশ পৰ্যটনৰ সম্ভাৱনা

    680 shares
    Share 272 Tweet 170
Mahabahu.com

Mahabahu is a collection of premium articles, opinions and writes from the writers all around the world.

Category

Site Links

  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Contact

We are Social

Instagram Facebook
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Contact

© 2021 Mahabhahu.com - All Rights Reserved. Published by Powershift | Maintained by Webx

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News & Opinions
    • Politics
    • World
    • Business
    • National
    • Science
    • Tech
  • Mahabahu Magazine
    • September 2023
  • Lifestyle
    • Fashion
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Food
  • Gallery
  • Mahabahu Books
    • Read Online
    • Free Downloads
  • E-Store

© 2021 Mahabhahu.com - All Rights Reserved. Published by Powershift | Maintained by Webx

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Oops!! The Content is Copy Protected.

Please ask permission from the Author.

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?
%d bloggers like this: