"All your data belongs to us" - Whatsapp is now completely Facebooked

I use Telegram mainly but one thing someone pointed out yesterday which is now making me think. That while chatting with a person you can't keep the chat's backup anywhere and the sender can delete messages any time he/she wishes for. Considering we are surrounded by frauds nowadays, a chat backup is a concrete proof which can come as a saviour in case you are defrauded. Hell WhatsApp chats are openly submissively before a court of law, imagine that.

So question is, is there any way to ask a sender on Telegram to message me in a way which can't be deleted by him or something like that? Signal is same? I used it long back can't remember how it was.
 
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burntwingzZz said:
:rolleyes: this whole post is about how whatsapp takes your data ,on SMS your data should atleast remain on Indian server ,thats what i am assuming
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it's entirely irrelevant what servers it's on. SMS is completely plain-text and very easily spoofable.

Edit: I think I misunderstood your reply. But still, this is about alternatives and feasibility.
 
I still don't get why people think SMS and standard phone call can be replaced. They are network based features, not dependent on internet! I haven't yet been in a place where i haven't had access to mobile network, even if it's at the lowest signal (in red) still a text message will go out/ come in. So would a phone call. Yep I've been in places where mobile data is not accessible, even under open sky! Sms maybe is very insecure like every one says though, i don't much care about that as I'll always use it for standard chatting, not anything really private.
 
sauravghosh said:
I still don't get why people think SMS and standard phone call can be replaced. They are network based features, not dependent on internet! I haven't yet been in a place where i haven't had access to mobile network, even if it's at the lowest signal (in red) still a text message will go out/ come in. So would a phone call. Yep I've been in places where mobile data is not accessible, even under open sky! Sms maybe is very insecure like every one says though, i don't much care about that as I'll always use it for standard chatting, not anything really private.
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Because you can't send videos and pictures using SMS lmao, that's why people don't SMS anymore (and what do you mean by replace? i can't think of any) I thought that part was obvious and that really is the only thing that differentiates whatsapp from SMS aside from video calling too.
 
sauravghosh said:
I use Telegram mainly but one thing someone pointed out yesterday which is now making me think. That while chatting with a person you can't keep the chat's backup anywhere and the sender can delete messages any time he/she wishes for. Considering we are surrounded by frauds nowadays, a chat backup is a concrete proof which can come as a saviour in case you are defrauded. Hell WhatsApp chats are openly submissively before a court of law, imagine that.

So question is, is there any way to ask a sender on Telegram to message me in a way which can't be deleted by him or something like that? Signal is same? I used it long back can't remember how it was.
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I guess you can setup a IFFT to backup your telegram chats daily via the web version of it. But this is a good point.
Signal is better in this aspect I suppose.
 
No offense, but guys in my opinion we own nothing to BaceFook or WA, we are technically using their services for free (though it was free anyways to quite some extent until BaceFook bought it)

I do understand that it is morally not right to oblige us and use/process our data, extract it from our personal devices, but again you are the one controlling your data you have the power to decide where your data goes/leaks/is stored & processed so if you're really concerned it is better to look for alternatives and delete as many WA accounts till 8th Feb (they might change policy back)

Telegram though is quite the nearest, much more feasible and better-secured option than WA, it does come with some issues but no platform is perfect it's just better than one another whereas Signal on the other hand might be much more secure than these too but chances of your contacts already there and the ones that will migrate/start using it then Telegram are very low

Choices are up to you, either criticize them or actually show them that we can handle our own data and we don't care about their unorthodox methods

P.S. One thing which would be hard is influencing our elder ones and most parents using WA and many close or far family relatives to ditch WA as it will sound like a random joke to them, they really don't care and as per my own opinion I don't think they are much vulnerable, just random messages, wishes, jokes, worship media stuff, etc don't contribute in a healthy way to the AI/ML algorithms that these corps implement

Please send any hate or negative comment regarding what I said above through the PM route only
 
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What about Viber?
Everyone pointed out its hard (VERY HARD) to leave Whatsapp due to popularity also the memories of people we talked before, your loved ones, family, friends that you don't interact much now.
Its hard to just delete your account and forget those memories, I am sure many of us check those old chats and remember the time we spent with friends.
 
vishalrao said:
www.livemint.com

WhatsApp says latest update does not change data-sharing practices with Facebook

The new update on Whatsapp will take effect from 8 February this year.With end-to-end encryption, we cannot see private chats or calls and neither can Facebook, Will Cathcart, head of Whatsapp said in a tweet
www.livemint.com www.livemint.com
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Offcourse... The cover up.

Frankly, this is not new. Nothing is free They need to monitise and they are using our data to do the same.
It's not that they were not doing this in the past, it's just they have made it more explicit. Apart from it, they have made some new statements which were meant to be highlighted like sharing with 3rd party, banking details among others.
So yeah.. it was good while it lasted.
@vishalrao post not meant for you but for the article..
 
vishalrao said:
www.livemint.com

WhatsApp says latest update does not change data-sharing practices with Facebook

The new update on Whatsapp will take effect from 8 February this year.With end-to-end encryption, we cannot see private chats or calls and neither can Facebook, Will Cathcart, head of Whatsapp said in a tweet
www.livemint.com www.livemint.com
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Sure, that is the reason they had to come up with a new policy. It is also the reason they have a separate policy for EU where GDPR is in effect.

It has been FB's strategy throughout to hide serious data mining practices under the cover of more mundane stuff. In this case, there are stating that the new policy is needed for Whatsapp Business but what they don't mention is that it allows them to share all your metadata with them. Previously, linking with FB was opt-out but now it is mandatory, so it will probably not change for those who have already linked to FB but it will now provide FB with a whole treasure chest of data from every WhatsApp user.

Also, for comparison, I have attached the screenshot of the App Privacy section on the iOS store which gives you an idea of how much more data FB is collecting than is necessary for a messaging app.
 

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I've been using Signal and Telegram for some time now. Was using Whatsapp only because of family group. After the notification, forcefully moved older family members to Telegram, deleted Whatsapp on their phones and showed them how it works. "Local Tech Support" and Paranoia has made the switch easy for them. Advised them to get on Signal citing examples of my friends in various ICS cadres, who use Signal for private communication.
 
I have also been using telegram for quite some time and hope that I will be able to stop using whatsapp completely but some of my contacts are definitely not making the switch.
 
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