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Privacy is a burning issue in the tech world. As our technologies progress and as the digital revolution gains strength through AI and data science, people are beginning to express their concerns about the safety of their personal data.
Our phones are in constant contact with the massive telecommunication infrastructure and continue to disseminate bits and packets of information. Now, we have mobile apps, websites, and computer programs that secretly share our information with conglomerates, advertising giants, and our governments.
One of the most widely used messenger apps, Whatsapp, is recently facing a lot of criticism for its new privacy policy. People are confused about it and are not readily accepting the new policy, which could mean that they would not be able to use the messaging app in the future.
So, what’s all the fuss about? And why are people venting anger at Whatsapp and its parent company, Facebook?
Recently, Whatsapp publicized that it would be sharing user information with its parent company Facebook, attracting criticism and anger from its users. The outrage was further fueled by Whatsapp’s acknowledgment that it was already doing so since 2016’s policy update and that it only wanted to clear the air that it was not going to remove this clause from the new policy.
So, as it turns out, the company had failed to relay this critical piece of information in the last update, and it had only caught public attention now five years later when it sought to maintain the said clause.
As Facebook and Whatsapp face public outrage, it is a lesson to be learned for all tech companies to make sure that they come clean to the public about their privacy policies and ensure that such information reaches the general public.
In any case, people feel a breach of their trust, and even though Whatsapp has come out and clarified that people’s chats and shared media are end-to-end encrypted, people are not ready to accept the policy change. End-to-end encryption ensures that nobody except for the folks involved in the conversation has access to the content of the chat. Hence, accepting the new privacy policy won’t affect how Whatsapp uses your data in any significant way.
Whatsapp can share your phone number, IP address, device identifiers, information about your purchases, payments, and buying behavior with Facebook if you grant permission. But this is nothing new, and Whatsapp has been doing so since 2016.
What if I don’t accept the new policy?
If you don’t accept the new terms and policies, then you will eventually be locked out of Whatsapp, meaning you won’t be able to use the application anymore. However, all this will happen gradually.
Whatsapp will initially nag you with overlays and pop-ups to accept the new privacy policy. The frequency of such pop-ups will increase over time until you reach a point where you won’t start new conversations or chats with friends but only respond to calls and messages. Eventually, you will be completely locked out of Whatsapp.
At this point, you will only be able to access Whatsapp if you accept the privacy policy.
