WhatsApp's Updated Privacy Policy: Everything you must know
On January 04, 2021 WhatsApp has released new updated privacy policy
which has been a talk among the mass, as their
chats now are not private anymore.
Also Read: Is Your WhatsApp Really Secure?
While opening WhatsApp, you might have noticed that it shows a pop-up which
states the WhatsApp new policies and ask you to agree. If you agree to the
policies before Feb 08, 2021 you will be able to use WhatsApp, else it states
that you can also delete your account. It’s a clear set of options WhatsApp
provided, either to accept policies or to stop using the service. Basically, the
users are left with no choice.
The new policies as stated focus majorly on three points:
- “WhatsApp’s service and how we process your data”
- “How businesses can use Facebook hosted services to store and manage their WhatsApp chat”
- “How we partner with Facebook to offer integration across Facebook Company Products”
Overall of these policies, WhatsApp will officially collect data to
provide better experience and integration with other Facebook’s apps and products.
WhatsApp will help store and manage communication data of the businesses that
are using Facebook and third parties. The new terms of service and privacy
policy of WhatsApp also make sharing information with Facebook Company
mandatory for users.
Also Read: App Permission Posing Great threat to Security
What data will be shared?
WhatsApp, being a part of Facebook shares certain data with Facebook
Companies, like
- Registration details which
include your phone number, etc.
- Transaction Data, in case you
are using payment feature of WhatsApp.
- Service-related Information,
Application logs.
- Information on how you
interact with others using WhatsApp services like status, profile photo, groups
you are attending, etc.
- Mobile device information,
like what device you use, mobile network, OS, IMEI etc.
- Precise location, but with
permission.
- IP Address of your device.
- Cookies when using web version
of WhatsApp.
- Other information
BASICALLY EVERYTHING…
Will the chats be public?
No, the chats will still remain end-to-end encrypted and any third-party
cannot read them and they won’t be used for targeted ads, but the multiplied
data sharing with Facebook will be used to mend ad experience across the other
platform of Facebook.
It is really a dangerous sort of thing when our data is shared with any
third-party companies or organization. It really become important to understand
the risk associated with it and how can we mitigate such risk. We don’t know
which company is using our data in which way. What we can do least is prevent
our data getting out to any company or organization.
We can minimize our digital footprints by minimizing the data we share on
the digital world.
REMAIN VIGILANT, REMAIN SECURE
Source: WhatsApp
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