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Data protection

Whats up with WhatsApp?

In January WhatsApp announced that it is changing its data policies so that the users only options are either to agree to their data policy and make data about them available to Facebook, the owner of WhatsApp, and any of its chosen third parties or not use the service.

It is just last week that WhatsApp announced that it is changing its data policies so that the users only option is to either agree to make data about them available to Facebook, the owner of WhatsApp or any other of its chosen third parties. Considering Facebook data management practices so far, this should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Public announcement of such a change in data processing procedures meant that users started massively leaving WhatsApp and testing new services, eg. Signal messaging service, recommended by Elon Musk.

Want to change your messaging service as well? Here are top tips to consider:

  1. End-to-end encryption is now a standard.
  2. Other up-to-date security features are disappearing messages, view-once media messages, encrypted profiles, an incognito keyboard switch for Android that prevents Gboard from sending typing history back to Google, backups with default settings for unencrypted backups in Google Drive or Apple iCloud
  3. An open source application is more secure than a closed source application.
  4. The app is open about their data management policy and doesn’t tell you to either agree to whatever they would like to do with your data or not to use the app at all.
  5. The app has high reviews in tech magazines and blogs.

 

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