{"id":2626,"date":"2021-01-28T02:50:35","date_gmt":"2021-01-28T02:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/?p=1335855"},"modified":"2021-01-28T02:50:35","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T02:50:35","slug":"pardon-the-intrusion-35-whatsapps-messaging-mess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=2626","title":{"rendered":"Pardon the Intrusion #35: WhatsApp\u2019s Messaging Mess"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Subscribe to this bi-weekly newsletter here<\/a>!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Welcome to the latest edition of Pardon The Intrusion, TNW\u2019s <\/span>bi-weekly newsletter<\/a> in which we explore the wild world of security.<\/p>\n

Well, that escalated quickly.<\/span><\/p>\n

After alerting users of a change in privacy policy earlier this month and kicking up a storm, <\/span>WhatsApp has backed down<\/a>\u2014 for now.<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>in-app alert<\/a> on January 6 urged users to agree to the new terms and conditions that grants the app the right to share with Facebook some personal data about them, such as their phone number and location. Users failing to agree to the revised policy by February 8 were cautioned they would completely lose access to the service.<\/span><\/p>\n

The announcement ended up creating so much confusion about the data-sharing arrangement that <\/span>WhatsApp has decided to postpone<\/a> the enforcement until May 15, a three month delay which it hopes will \u201cclear up the misinformation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Facebook-owned company has since clarified that the update does not expand its ability to share personal user chats or other profile information with Facebook and is instead simply providing further transparency about how user data is collected and shared when using the messaging app to interact with businesses.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether intentional or not, this \u2018all-or-nothing\u2019 approach backfired, leading to a <\/span>surge in sign-ups<\/a> for rival messaging apps such as Signal and Telegram.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dealing yet another blow to WhatsApp, India\u2019s technology ministry asked Facebook to <\/span>withdraw<\/a> the update, saying \u201cthe proposed changes raise grave concerns regarding the implications for the choice and autonomy of Indian citizens.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

With more than 400 million active users, India is WhatsApp\u2019s largest market.<\/span><\/p>\n

If anything, the development only serves to highlight the urgent need for more countries to pass European GDPR-like data protection regulations that explicitly spell out how data of users are collected, processed, and shared with other parties.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s trending in security?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Google researchers detailed a <\/span>sophisticated hacking operation<\/a> that exploited vulnerabilities in Chrome and Windows to install malware on Android and Windows devices, a Muslim prayer app called Salaat First was found <\/span>selling location data<\/a>to Predicio, and Amazon-owned Ring begins testing end-to-end video encryption.<\/span><\/p>\n