Facebook closes the circle

[Suff]

Finally Facebook has decided to force Whatsapp users to allow their meta data to be harvested and sent to "collaborating" companies.

All that wonderful meta data, companies you messaged, where your photographs were taken, how many contacts you have.

I decline, I've moved to Signal.

[Workingman]

Nobody in the family will uses Signal, they are all on WA.

Not that bothered, tbh, if Faceache want to know my phone is a brick and that I listen to Sky, BlueBeat, Rock Steady, Reggae and Northern Soul most of the time good look.

I block ads two ways so it doesn't worry me too much, and any sites that want me to unblock I just move on, there are lots of other places with the same info.

[Suff]

I was always aware that they were sharing data with FB. However to brazenly say "you will let us sell your data so companies can sell you stuff or we will suspend your account"?

G. T. F.

When I got to Signal, #3 son pinged me immediately, welcome, he said, it was very lonely here for a while..

[Suff]

In the light of the WA panic reaction to Signal becoming the most downloaded app on both Android and iPhone stores, I thought I'd set the record straight.

Yep, your chats and attachments, pics etc remain secure, nobody can see them and nobody will mine the words or the contents of the pictures.

On the other hand metadata, such as the businesses you talked to on Whatsapp, the number of contacts you have in your phone, the location in which chats were initiated or responded to, the metadata of pictures including the date, time and location they were taken, are all fair game.

This data will be grabbed, correlated, massaged and sold to vendors who are clamouring to start targeting sales to WA users.

Then we have to remember that WA is a Farcebook company. You know the data monsters who think that the fact you are on their system means you are their plaything.

Given how Facebook has used users' personal data in the past – the social network was caught manipulating users' emotions back in 2014 by bombarding some people's News Feed with an onslaught of upsetting posts so that Facebook's on-staff data scientist could see whether the website could materially impact someone's emotions in real-life

There will always be those who don't care. I care. You can't find me on google unless you know my main email address. Colleagues who want to hook up on LinkedIn, where I do share my data to all, often need my email address to find me.

I must admit, I do wonder if being on WA has increased the number of nuisance calls I get from either sales or illegal stuff like the HMRC fraud calls. I seem to recall that prior to WA, I had one or two a year. Since I registered that has increased exponentially. It is not until you realise that WA was already sharing data with FB (Apple outed them on that), that you begin to wonder.

[Suff]

A quick update on this.

The metadata will only be harvested for business connections you make.

However this was already in place since 2016 when you had an opt out clause. Today they need you to opt in.

I decline.

[Suff]

A pic for those who are interested. It shows what data is linked to you for each messaging app.