Another WhatsApp privacy thread

/e/OS Foundation & Community Data Privacy
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Howdy!

I’m new to the /e/os scene and loving it so far as a privacy-focused alternative to other operating systems. Running it on my Fairphone 6.

I’ve been flicking through some of the threads here on the topic of using WhatsApp and how it somewhat undermines the nature of what Murena and digital privacy is about.

I’m open-minded to exploring alternatives if there is evidence of WhatsApp harvesting information from my interactions with it. What sort of data does it collect? And for what purpose? I am not on any other Meta platforms so don’t get the cross-platform advert stuff, but I’m told there are more insidious things at play.

I’m already pretty wary about the app, with it being owned by Zucker. I guess I’ve been sticking with it so far out of convenience because so many people are on it. But I am thinking more and more that it is time to move to something else.

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Use Signal Private Messenger.

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Deltachat posted this info graphic recently. They should have their facts straight:

that said, a Messenger is social pressure too. If it costs enjoyment in life, I’d compromise.

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For those wh won’t switch to an alternative I use Birdychat. It allows me to communicate with WhatsApp users. Birdychat is an European Alternative from Latvia I believe.

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… and with data-slurping Meta in the background. :wink:

(But probably a better choice than using WhatsApp itself, of course.)

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Exactly my point, I prefer not using WhatsApp at all but unfortunately most people do.

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Glad to have started a conversation around it :grin:

ToSDR is a great resource, thanks for sharing it!

I have got rid of WA this morning. Man they reeeally don’t want you to leave :sweat_smile:

I’ve shared the Deltachat and ToSDR bits with my nearest and dearest (met with varying degrees of skepticism) and moved to Signal.

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The problem is that in some countries, it’s a way of avoiding paying for voice calls. People don’t have a standard mobile plan but instead top up their credit bit by bit and buy data packages that cost less than text messages or voice calls. Unfortunately, if we stop using this service, some people might even lose their jobs; we can’t afford to do without it.

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I’m not sure what you mean, about people losing jobs, can you explain?

I also seem to have forgotten how to quote posts lol, needs more coffee

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I mean, unfortunately in my country you are forced to use it when working. If you don’t use it you can not work so if you refuse to use whatsapp you can loose your job. This is not europe and regulations, data protection are different

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It has partially changed since this week: we can now make calls with whatsapp which means we can make calls outside whatsapp app. Then we can fully use a bridge (i.e: matrix bridge, to be tested) or host whatsapp app on a vm in a server whith waydroid for example or others solutions to validate a device then use whatsapp web on a phone … It is not ideal but this is a big change! Privacy concern is still here

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I dream of a Matrix instance on Murena with an account linked to my Murena username. my.email@murena.io => @my.email:murena.io or @my.hidden.email:murena.io.
With an open-source client like FluffyChat on my phone.
(machine translation)