• Mantis_Toboggan@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    As someone from Latin America. FUCK!

    It’s literally what everyone uses for business, family/friends groups. Don’t know if any country around here is an exception, but we started using it because greedy telecoms were charging so much money for SMS at the time. So, it was a great way to circumvent that.

    Then Facebook bought it when it was already established, so it’s improbable that people will move away from it.

    • Screwthehole@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      The article isn’t very, uh, articulate in its reasoning. Nothing here is an actual real life problem it’s all just what-ifs, and 2 billion people aren’t going to quit using it

      • zaph@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        A teen in Nebraska was sentenced to 3 months in jail because Facebook turned over her “private” messages but sure, no real life problems with trusting meta with your “encrypted” messages.

        • grabyourmotherskeys@lemmy.world
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          2 years ago

          I do not disagree with your basic premise and I completely disagree with the Nebraska prosecution but I think people need to understand that everything we do online it’s monitored.

          If they can’t get the actual message data, they will use meta data (e.g. two parties sending and receiving data packets that match in size and time of occurrence and protocol and are known to each other) or whatever.

          If you are doing something you are worried about other people knowing about, do not use any digital form of communication. Full stop. There is no privacy online.

          • zaph@lemmy.world
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            2 years ago

            You’re absolutely right, there’s no privacy online. But there are significantly better alternatives that offer end to end encryption and sometimes digital communication is required.

            • grabyourmotherskeys@lemmy.world
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              2 years ago

              Yes, I agree, for example credit card transaction processing or business communication with trade secrets in it. For most people doing things they want kept private but which is not illegal, basic encryption is great.

              If I were going to plot the overthrow of a government, I’d try to as much as possible offline.

        • yeather@lemmy.ca
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          2 years ago

          That was Facebook Messenger too, completely different app and problem, not that Whatsapp isnt better or worse.

          • zaph@lemmy.world
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            2 years ago

            I used it as an example because they’re both owned by meta and make similar promises on privacy and encryption.