They continue with their campaign of running roughshod over the privacy rights of users.
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You can find out more details about the changes coming to WhatsApp at the link below, it will be possible for you to opt out of this data sharing if you want too. The new update is already being made available for iOS users.
Messaging service WhatsApp is having its privacy policy updated for the first time in four years.
“When WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook it was able to reassure users that it would remain independent”. However, WhatsApp say encrypted messages exchanged by its billion plus users will stay private.
WhatsApp data won’t just be going to Facebook though, it will be going to the “Facebook family” of companies, which would also include Instagram and even Oculus. That doesn’t mean, however, that WhatsApp will now be littered with third-party banner ads. Facebook then matches the list with its list of customers and shows them tailored ads. (Koum was born in Ukraine; your blogger, in Russia.) “If somebody is a spammer on Facebook, they are most likely also spamming on WhatsApp. and vice versa”, Koum wrote in the email. Facebook will employ the phone number only internally to identify WhatsApp users better, so it can help advertisers with their target groups.
The move gives Facebook a larger mobile messaging audience to reach and a new audience – largely global – to target via metadata gathered from phone numbers. This latest move is turning out to be a significant one because WhatsApp has guaranteed the privacy of over 1 billion customers around the world.
Spam and abuse would also be better tackled thanks to the data-sharing deal, it added. “Not WhatsApp, not Facebook, nor anyone else”.
If you have already accepted those new terms, you can still opt out – as long as it is within 30 days.
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Privacy groups have praised WhatsApp for building powerful encryption into its services, making it impossible for the company or anyone else to read users’ messages.
