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People are mad about whatsapp because it used to be a good platform that they now feel compelled to abandon. I don't think people have any particular allegiance

People are mad about whatsapp because it used to be a good platform that they now feel compelled to abandon. I don't think people have any particular allegiance to fb messenger—it exists and is something to be tolerated. the whole "but the privacy policy changes weren't that bad!!!" to which I say: it was simply the straw that broke the camel's back. People didn't want their metadata harvestsed by FB, and this was a convenient time to jump. FB apologists will be quick to note that FB had access to WA metadata for years unless if you dug through some menus for an opt-out button (now removed). I have no clue how they think this is a compelling argument. Just because the dam hasn't broken yet doesn't mean that you can't keep chizzling away at it. eventually it'll break. I'd argue that WA would have never been in this mess if they stayed as an arms-length corporation and were left to their own devices. But no: FB has an immediate desire to gather the biggest heap of user data possible. As they should: it's how they make their money. But that doesn't mean people aren't allowed protest.

nine_k 6y ago
The problem is that the protests are not framed this way. Not "WA was going downhill for years, and now my patience ran out", but "Ouch, this particular change in ToS is a game-changer, all is lost, I'm quitting!!" This undermines trust to the argument. It looks more like it aims for a knee-jerk reaction, all emotion, zero thought. If you don a large enough tinfoil hat, you can even imagine for a second that somebody is trying to scare away more users from the largest e2ee platform out there, so that they would land on less secure platforms — but of course I'm no RMS to suggest such outlandish things.
- MAGZine 6y ago
  People's protest was other fb data harvesting. Even if they didn't understand the specific changes in the tos, they had legitimate grievances. Which is to say, "you're only allowed to me mad about a change when it's rolled out" is not a theory I buy into. The reason the exodus happened was not "because" of the privacy change, in the same way the dam didn't break because a squirrel running across knocked the "last piece" loose. Years of negligence are responsible.

nine_k 6y ago

The problem is that the protests are not framed this way. Not "WA was going downhill for years, and now my patience ran out", but "Ouch, this particular change in ToS is a game-changer, all is lost, I'm quitting!!" This undermines trust to the argument. It looks more like it aims for a knee-jerk reaction, all emotion, zero thought. If you don a large enough tinfoil hat, you can even imagine for a second that somebody is trying to scare away more users from the largest e2ee platform out there, so that they would land on less secure platforms — but of course I'm no RMS to suggest such outlandish things.

MAGZine 6y ago
People's protest was other fb data harvesting. Even if they didn't understand the specific changes in the tos, they had legitimate grievances. Which is to say, "you're only allowed to me mad about a change when it's rolled out" is not a theory I buy into. The reason the exodus happened was not "because" of the privacy change, in the same way the dam didn't break because a squirrel running across knocked the "last piece" loose. Years of negligence are responsible.