6 ms·

Indonesia's trade minister runs his ministry on WhatsApp

29 points by williswee 11y ago

LoSboccacc 11y ago
that'll make NSA so happy. keep on!
- GFischer 11y ago
  As if they already didn't have all his data... come on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia%E2%80%93Indonesia_spying_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia%E2%80%93Indonesia_sp...
  - LoSboccacc 11y ago
    of course, but every new channel is welcome. you need plenty backups in the event one source dries.
sauere 11y ago
> I mentioned to them I appreciate end-to-end encryption on WhatsApp Oh Boy. WhatsApp is very much the opposite of proper end-to-end encryption.
- mtgx 11y ago
  With so many hundreds of millions people in Asian countries using Whatsapp, it's quite surprising that more governments aren't complaining about Whatsapp's encryption. Iran just complained about Telegram and it doesn't even have end-to-end encryption by default as Whatsapp is supposed to have. I think that should tell us something about Whatsapp's E2E encryption (which again, the team has never even officially said it's using).
  - kenrick95 11y ago
    From the FAQ[1]: "WhatsApp communication between your phone and our server is encrypted." [1] http://www.whatsapp.com/faq/general/21864047 http://www.whatsapp.com/faq/general/21864047
    - sauere 11y ago
      The definition of End-to-End encryption is that _only_ the participants are able to read their messages.
- agopaul 11y ago
  Are you sure? This dates to a year ago: https://whispersystems.org/blog/whatsapp/ https://whispersystems.org/blog/whatsapp/
hellofunk 11y ago
This is absolutely no surprise. In Asia, WhatsApp was assumed to be on every phone and it was used instead of contracts, phone calls, and SMS for a wide range or business tasks like finding apartments, agreements with vendors, even public service announcements, during my time in Singapore. It's really not a bad idea if the security of the data can be guaranteed.
- geomark 11y ago
  Asia is a big place. WhatsApp has a small presence many places. Line dominates in some countries.
  - hellofunk 11y ago
    Well, I've been in most parts of Asia quite regularly except for China and Japan, and WhatsApp has been absolutely everywhere. It's in the U.S. where it has not really caught on, at least most of my friends there have never heard of it.
    - geomark 11y ago
      Line is tops in Thailand and Japan. In S. Korea it's KaokaoTalk. China prefers WeChat. Those are all big markets. So there's certainly no single dominant messaging app.
      - mafribe 11y ago
        Line is superbig in Taiwan too.
    - ramchip 11y ago
      I've never met a WhatsApp user in Japan. Everything here is about Line.
motoboi 11y ago
Whatsapp dominated Brazil. I work at a big government organization. Every department has its whatts group. I know a guy at my state government cabinet. He has several whatts groups (even one with the governor himself). I know a gentleman which is a judge. He has a group with his partner judges and one with his staff. My point is: if whatsapp usage is so pervasive at other countries as it is at Brazil, it will soon, by (physical) social network effect, dominate USA. The alternatives: * Facebook Messenger: too slow. Only one friend of mine uses it. * Telegram: looks and feels like a whatts clone. Some people here seem passionate about inviting friends, but most people I talk about fail to see any advantage in using it. Some people hate it. As a plus, it will SPAM all your contacts when you sign up. * Google Hangout: even I can't figure out what this is. Is this SMS or a messenger application. Now my phone has another application called Messenger (from Google). Confuse. No one I know use it. * SMS: too expensive. * Apple Message: only Apple users can use it. People prefer whatts because everyone is there. * Zoiper: got traction, but whatts voice messages killed it.
- SimpleMinds 11y ago
  "if whatsapp usage is so pervasive at other countries as it is at Brazil, it will soon, by (physical) social network effect, dominate USA." By using this logic, WeChat should also dominate USA - which is not happening. It's still interesting to me that WeChat is not more popular, considering its superior (for me) experience over WhatsApp.
  - motoboi 11y ago
    To clarify, I am counting on the social network effect. One person has several social connections, at church, work, gym and so on. Your contacts have their own contacts and so on. At some point, this network crosses borders. Being a country with so many migrants, this happens real close to you at USA. If a Brazilian living in USA wants to talk to his family or friends in Brazil, he must use the same channel everybody here uses (or he will felt excluded). I don't know the numbers, but this can indeed happen with WeChat, but I think whatts is used in more countries.
  - jeromegv 11y ago
hanief 11y ago
I live in Indonesia. Believe me, everyone is on whatsapp right now. Every community from school friends, business colleague, even neighborhood security is coordinated on a whatsapp group. The money paid by facebook for it is now seem like a great deal, as also for instagram. As a developer, i wish they have an API though. A native desktop app is on wish list too.
- GFischer 11y ago
  The company I work for would definitely pay for an API. However, as a user, I'd hate it. I already receive too many spammy SMSs, if WhatsApp was an alternative, it would be dreadful.
tyrion 11y ago
Isn't end to end encryption only working for android phones?

29 points by williswee 11y ago

LoSboccacc 11y ago

that'll make NSA so happy. keep on!

GFischer 11y ago
As if they already didn't have all his data... come on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia%E2%80%93Indonesia_spying_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia%E2%80%93Indonesia_sp...
- LoSboccacc 11y ago
  of course, but every new channel is welcome. you need plenty backups in the event one source dries.

sauere 11y ago

> I mentioned to them I appreciate end-to-end encryption on WhatsApp Oh Boy. WhatsApp is very much the opposite of proper end-to-end encryption.

mtgx 11y ago
With so many hundreds of millions people in Asian countries using Whatsapp, it's quite surprising that more governments aren't complaining about Whatsapp's encryption. Iran just complained about Telegram and it doesn't even have end-to-end encryption by default as Whatsapp is supposed to have. I think that should tell us something about Whatsapp's E2E encryption (which again, the team has never even officially said it's using).
- kenrick95 11y ago
  From the FAQ[1]: "WhatsApp communication between your phone and our server is encrypted." [1] http://www.whatsapp.com/faq/general/21864047 http://www.whatsapp.com/faq/general/21864047
  - sauere 11y ago
    The definition of End-to-End encryption is that _only_ the participants are able to read their messages.
agopaul 11y ago
Are you sure? This dates to a year ago: https://whispersystems.org/blog/whatsapp/ https://whispersystems.org/blog/whatsapp/

hellofunk 11y ago

This is absolutely no surprise. In Asia, WhatsApp was assumed to be on every phone and it was used instead of contracts, phone calls, and SMS for a wide range or business tasks like finding apartments, agreements with vendors, even public service announcements, during my time in Singapore. It's really not a bad idea if the security of the data can be guaranteed.

geomark 11y ago
Asia is a big place. WhatsApp has a small presence many places. Line dominates in some countries.
- hellofunk 11y ago
  Well, I've been in most parts of Asia quite regularly except for China and Japan, and WhatsApp has been absolutely everywhere. It's in the U.S. where it has not really caught on, at least most of my friends there have never heard of it.
  - geomark 11y ago
    Line is tops in Thailand and Japan. In S. Korea it's KaokaoTalk. China prefers WeChat. Those are all big markets. So there's certainly no single dominant messaging app.
    - mafribe 11y ago
      Line is superbig in Taiwan too.
  - ramchip 11y ago
    I've never met a WhatsApp user in Japan. Everything here is about Line.

motoboi 11y ago

Whatsapp dominated Brazil. I work at a big government organization. Every department has its whatts group. I know a guy at my state government cabinet. He has several whatts groups (even one with the governor himself). I know a gentleman which is a judge. He has a group with his partner judges and one with his staff. My point is: if whatsapp usage is so pervasive at other countries as it is at Brazil, it will soon, by (physical) social network effect, dominate USA. The alternatives: * Facebook Messenger: too slow. Only one friend of mine uses it. * Telegram: looks and feels like a whatts clone. Some people here seem passionate about inviting friends, but most people I talk about fail to see any advantage in using it. Some people hate it. As a plus, it will SPAM all your contacts when you sign up. * Google Hangout: even I can't figure out what this is. Is this SMS or a messenger application. Now my phone has another application called Messenger (from Google). Confuse. No one I know use it. * SMS: too expensive. * Apple Message: only Apple users can use it. People prefer whatts because everyone is there. * Zoiper: got traction, but whatts voice messages killed it.

SimpleMinds 11y ago
"if whatsapp usage is so pervasive at other countries as it is at Brazil, it will soon, by (physical) social network effect, dominate USA." By using this logic, WeChat should also dominate USA - which is not happening. It's still interesting to me that WeChat is not more popular, considering its superior (for me) experience over WhatsApp.
- motoboi 11y ago
  To clarify, I am counting on the social network effect. One person has several social connections, at church, work, gym and so on. Your contacts have their own contacts and so on. At some point, this network crosses borders. Being a country with so many migrants, this happens real close to you at USA. If a Brazilian living in USA wants to talk to his family or friends in Brazil, he must use the same channel everybody here uses (or he will felt excluded). I don't know the numbers, but this can indeed happen with WeChat, but I think whatts is used in more countries.
- jeromegv 11y ago

hanief 11y ago

I live in Indonesia. Believe me, everyone is on whatsapp right now. Every community from school friends, business colleague, even neighborhood security is coordinated on a whatsapp group. The money paid by facebook for it is now seem like a great deal, as also for instagram. As a developer, i wish they have an API though. A native desktop app is on wish list too.

GFischer 11y ago
The company I work for would definitely pay for an API. However, as a user, I'd hate it. I already receive too many spammy SMSs, if WhatsApp was an alternative, it would be dreadful.

tyrion 11y ago

Isn't end to end encryption only working for android phones?