4 ms·

WhatsApp sues Indian government, says new media rules mean end to privacy

21 points by LordAtlas 5y ago

deccanchargers 5y ago
I wish the Indian Government bans Whatsapp altogether ( I fully support Indian Government to do this). My main grudge against Whatsapp comes from the fact that my college forces us to use it since the official group of my class is in whatsapp. I don't want to run that proprietary spyware on my phone. I feel it to be like neo-colonialism. Notes,etc. are sent there. It would be better if they switched to something better like telegram. Another thing is that it spreads fakenews and propaganda and many people believe them. I believe that banning Whatsapp in India gives more privacy to Indians. P.S: I am Indian
- Bancakes 5y ago
  Same thing here. We had a perfectly working Moodle site, with a scheduled calendar and such. Ended up switching to facebook because "everybody uses facebook".
- twofort 5y ago
  You support privacy yet want to see and to end encryption removed (if the article is correct) and propose moving to a platform that in this sense is less secure from eavesdropping? OK. Besides banning WhatsApp won't help with fake news - which ever dominant platform comes to replace it will suffer the same fate. It just so happens that everyone is on WhatsApp atm, so that's where everything happens. Including fake news.
  - deccanchargers 5y ago
    I don't want end to end encryption to be banned and tbh, I don't trust Whatsapp's end to end encryption. There are better alternatives to whatsapp which are open source, you know. and no, the government is not going to block end to end encryption.
    - twofort 5y ago
      Ok, maybe not remove it completely, but start tampering with it. And i quote the article: Because messages are end-to-end encrypted, to comply with the law WhatsApp says it would have break encryption for receivers, as well as “originators”, of messages. Also Telegram is not encrypted by default, so it's not a better alternative in that sense. You may dislike facebooks business practices, but they are in the right on this one.
- alex_smart 5y ago
  "I don't like it. Therefore, it should be banned." Perfect summary of the Indian mindset. This, alongside with "I like it. Therefore, the government should give it for free" can help explain half of what goes on in Indian politics.
  - deccanchargers 5y ago
    Nope, You generalize large country based on my comment. it's mistake. First thing, I am advocate of Open Source but I don't mind Anything that is doing something ethically. Whatsapp, I believe is biggest hypocrisy. It advocates, argues for privacy and against spying while it being itself a spyware. I don't mind whatsapp existing, i wouldn't simply use it,right? No, like i have mentioned in comment above, my college forces us to use whatsapp. Atleast it has API? no. or some standardized protocol? No. Since it's spyware and it is pushed down my throat, i wish it not to exist. Since, whatsapp has gone against government itself, and we know that government doesn't like itself to be criticized, well it may ban Whatsapp itself, because then, my college will more likely to move to Telegram and it has atleast open source client. Well, your criticism comes out of air without valid claims. i never told that the government should give it free to me because i like it. moreover, my dislike of whatsapp has valid reasons.
2Gkashmiri 5y ago
Eh. As if there is a free judiciary which will look at the case on its merits and decide. If you speak against the govt or criticise it, you are automatically denied your rights. India has had an ISP level packet inspector tech called "netra" since 2014 if I remember. All isps are mandated by law to install it. They already know what stuff is going around. The encryption bit just hampers their corroboration. Anyways, you cannot force the tide when it comes to a govt. Last year I came out of a year long internet curfew courtesy of India govt because it didnt want me vent my anger online so instead of fighting me, they just pulled the plug. And nobody batted an eyelid or even if they did, the govt wasnt bothered to change their actions so yeah, they will do what they want. #fediverselives
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
eqtn 5y ago
Indian government has been requesting WhatsApp to do this since 2018(or earlier?). In 2019 someone has tweeted that Facebook is embedding tracking data inside the photos. https://twitter.com/oasace/status/1149181539000864769 https://twitter.com/oasace/status/1149181539000864769
amriksohata 5y ago
tit for tat, whatsapp aren't following guidelines to protect the public from misinformation being spread on whatsapp, if they did there would be no need for india to intervene.
- alex_smart 5y ago
  How do you propose that they do that without breaking "end-to-end encryption"? The government's guidelines basically make "end-to-end encryption" messaging services completely illegal.
setum 5y ago
WhatsApp a facebook company, in midst of changing their terms to reduce user privacy is suing to defend privacy. that’s funny!

21 points by LordAtlas 5y ago

I wish the Indian Government bans Whatsapp altogether ( I fully support Indian Government to do this). My main grudge against Whatsapp comes from the fact that my college forces us to use it since the official group of my class is in whatsapp. I don't want to run that proprietary spyware on my phone. I feel it to be like neo-colonialism. Notes,etc. are sent there. It would be better if they switched to something better like telegram. Another thing is that it spreads fakenews and propaganda and many people believe them. I believe that banning Whatsapp in India gives more privacy to Indians. P.S: I am Indian

Bancakes 5y ago
Same thing here. We had a perfectly working Moodle site, with a scheduled calendar and such. Ended up switching to facebook because "everybody uses facebook".
twofort 5y ago
You support privacy yet want to see and to end encryption removed (if the article is correct) and propose moving to a platform that in this sense is less secure from eavesdropping? OK. Besides banning WhatsApp won't help with fake news - which ever dominant platform comes to replace it will suffer the same fate. It just so happens that everyone is on WhatsApp atm, so that's where everything happens. Including fake news.
- deccanchargers 5y ago
  I don't want end to end encryption to be banned and tbh, I don't trust Whatsapp's end to end encryption. There are better alternatives to whatsapp which are open source, you know. and no, the government is not going to block end to end encryption.
  - twofort 5y ago
    Ok, maybe not remove it completely, but start tampering with it. And i quote the article: Because messages are end-to-end encrypted, to comply with the law WhatsApp says it would have break encryption for receivers, as well as “originators”, of messages. Also Telegram is not encrypted by default, so it's not a better alternative in that sense. You may dislike facebooks business practices, but they are in the right on this one.
alex_smart 5y ago
"I don't like it. Therefore, it should be banned." Perfect summary of the Indian mindset. This, alongside with "I like it. Therefore, the government should give it for free" can help explain half of what goes on in Indian politics.
- deccanchargers 5y ago
  Nope, You generalize large country based on my comment. it's mistake. First thing, I am advocate of Open Source but I don't mind Anything that is doing something ethically. Whatsapp, I believe is biggest hypocrisy. It advocates, argues for privacy and against spying while it being itself a spyware. I don't mind whatsapp existing, i wouldn't simply use it,right? No, like i have mentioned in comment above, my college forces us to use whatsapp. Atleast it has API? no. or some standardized protocol? No. Since it's spyware and it is pushed down my throat, i wish it not to exist. Since, whatsapp has gone against government itself, and we know that government doesn't like itself to be criticized, well it may ban Whatsapp itself, because then, my college will more likely to move to Telegram and it has atleast open source client. Well, your criticism comes out of air without valid claims. i never told that the government should give it free to me because i like it. moreover, my dislike of whatsapp has valid reasons.

2Gkashmiri 5y ago

Eh. As if there is a free judiciary which will look at the case on its merits and decide. If you speak against the govt or criticise it, you are automatically denied your rights. India has had an ISP level packet inspector tech called "netra" since 2014 if I remember. All isps are mandated by law to install it. They already know what stuff is going around. The encryption bit just hampers their corroboration. Anyways, you cannot force the tide when it comes to a govt. Last year I came out of a year long internet curfew courtesy of India govt because it didnt want me vent my anger online so instead of fighting me, they just pulled the plug. And nobody batted an eyelid or even if they did, the govt wasnt bothered to change their actions so yeah, they will do what they want. #fediverselives

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

eqtn 5y ago

Indian government has been requesting WhatsApp to do this since 2018(or earlier?). In 2019 someone has tweeted that Facebook is embedding tracking data inside the photos. https://twitter.com/oasace/status/1149181539000864769 https://twitter.com/oasace/status/1149181539000864769

amriksohata 5y ago

tit for tat, whatsapp aren't following guidelines to protect the public from misinformation being spread on whatsapp, if they did there would be no need for india to intervene.

alex_smart 5y ago
How do you propose that they do that without breaking "end-to-end encryption"? The government's guidelines basically make "end-to-end encryption" messaging services completely illegal.

setum 5y ago

WhatsApp a facebook company, in midst of changing their terms to reduce user privacy is suing to defend privacy. that’s funny!