India Asks WhatsApp To Withdraw New Privacy Policy Over 'Grave Concerns' (techcrunch.com) 18
India has asked WhatsApp to withdraw the planned change to its privacy policy, posing a new headache to the Facebook-owned service that identifies the South Asian nation as its biggest market by users. From a report: In an email to WhatsApp head Will Cathcart, the nation's IT ministry said the upcoming update to the app's data-sharing policy has raised "grave concerns regarding the implications for the choice and autonomy of Indian citizens... Therefore, you are called upon to withdraw the proposed changes." The ministry is additionally seeking clarification from WhatsApp on its data-sharing agreement with Facebook and other commercial firms and has asked why users in the EU are exempt from the new privacy policy but their counterpoint in India have no choice but to comply. "Such a differential treatment is prejudicial to the interests of Indian users and is viewed with serious concern by the government," the ministry wrote in the email, a copy of which was obtained by TechCrunch. "The government of India owes a sovereign responsibility to its citizens to ensure that their interests are not compromised and therefore it calls upon WhatsApp to respond to concerns raised in this letter."
Fishy (Score:2)
Haha! I'm not gonna trust a government with looking out for privacy. I wouldn't be surprised if their play here is to get rid of end-to-end encryption so they can snoop on the content. To end crime, of course. Can't possibly be used to crush opposition.
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I would not trust them either, but here they are complaining about Whatsapp's use of customer data. The article does not say anything about end-to-end encryption. I don't see the context here.
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Why the hat in hand ? (Score:1)
How about...
India REQUIRES WhatsApp to Withdraw...
You're dealing with Capitalist Corporation. They do anything if their dollarsand greedy asses are on the platter.
Re: Why the hat in hand ? (Score:2)
You know how Indians are always so friendly? ... ;)
Want to change that, tell them WhatsApp is Pakistani.
(Referencing https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=... [youtube.com] )
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You rather a government run messaging service, where they read your messages to come arrest you if you say something bad?
Surprised by this news (Score:2)
It is understandable, given the religious and caste tensions there, sometimes one has to act very very quickly to contain rumors and fake news. When Gandhi was assassinated in 1949, the radio news bulletin was, "Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated today in New Delhi today. The assassin is a Hindu" . Without that official declaration of the religious identity o
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There is a new government in charge that is trying to embrace captalism and accept foreign investments so it is currently under attack from leftists and those who are finding their backdoor connections in previous 60-year old government are under attack.
Not a facebook fan, but isn't this an overreaction (Score:1)
Looking at the actual changes they are making, the backlash seems like an overreaction.
Is it just desserts that Facebook/Whatsapp is on the receiving end of social media misinformation?
No, no, let them have the cake! (Score:2)
... and choke to death on it too!!
Worried about Signal and Telegram encryption? (Score:4, Insightful)
Is it possible, that maybe, just maybe, the Indian government WANTS its citizenry to stay on WhatsApp - rather than be split across two other, newer (relatively speaking), messaging systems with possibly better encryption protocols? Is it possible that they are currently able to snoop on WhatsApp either due to deep infiltration of various groups, small group size (256 only on WhatsApp), whereas Signal and Telegram would require a whole new set of interventions/iniltration?
Inquiring minds want to know ...
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Since you seem to have an "inquiring mind" I don't know why you think WhatsApp is letting anyone snoop on their chats. This the kind of critic which is so divorced from reality it becomes novel.
Facebook Inc is closely tied to Reliance. Reliance (along with other Gujarti businessmen) basically funds the current government. This is the Government asking Facebook to not take unilateral decisions.
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To be fair, GP didn't say anyhing about WhatsApps letting anyone snoop on chats (which they claim they can't). This is a state monitoring their own networks. Maybe the government can monitor mobile networks, and are worried about apps that aren't so tied to a specific phone number and device. Maybe they can run traffic analysis on data flows to and from Whatsapp servers, and are worried about more peer-to-peer, less centralized apps. Maybe they have managed to get under cover agents invited to various Whats
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India has large swathes of land where police hasn't gone ever. That area is surrounded by large swathes of land where police means 1-2 constables literally living in a tent. The idea that India has snooping powers or is particularly interested in traffic analysis of whatsapp messages is so ridiculous I would laugh if I hadn't been on this website for a long long time. Indian government doesn't have as many checks and balances and it is not as much tied by the laws as you might think. It is literally the gov
Simple (Score:2)
The ministry is additionally seeking clarification from WhatsApp on its data-sharing agreement with Facebook and other commercial firms and has asked why users in the EU are exempt from the new privacy policy but their counterpoint in India have no choice but to comply.
Because you did not show willingness to fine them 4% of their worldwide annual revenue for privacy violations.
India wants to join the EU ? (Score:1)