4 ms·

Why should I believe them?(OP)

kmarc 5y ago
Someone mentioned on the reddit thread that after 200+ comments noone actually questioned if the story is true. On HN, there is one comment, and it does question if it's true. GOOD! I am curious if it's real or not. My bet is it's not. It's easy to screw up some downloading logic with overflows, one-off errors etc, but since WA is E2E encrypted, it would need a lot more "accident" in code to make this possible.
- mns 5y ago
  But this is about backups and the fact that this guy bought a new phone and started a data restore for Whatsapp from GoogleDrive, what if something is wrong there, maybe the backups are not even encrypted, even though everyone thinks they are.
  - bellyfullofbac 5y ago
    My comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29838746 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29838746 My first suspicion would be, "Define new". OP and you could be working on 2 different definitions of that word.
  - MarcellusDrum 5y ago
    WhatsApp does claim that Google Drive/iCloud backups are encrypted by default. [1] > ... With end-to-end encrypted backup, you can also add that same layer of protection to your backup on iCloud or Google Drive. [1]: https://faq.whatsapp.com/general/chats/about-end-to-end-encrypted-backup/?lang=en https://faq.whatsapp.com/general/chats/about-end-to-end-encr...
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Spare_account 5y ago
A second redditor has reported the same behaviour, although it's in the same (seemingly inappropriate) subreddit and was posted 4 hours later so it may just be a copycat: https://old.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/ry0cnr/downloaded_whatsapp_on_a_new_phone_and_after/ https://old.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/ry0cnr/d... https://web.archive.org/web/20220107101132/https://old.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/ry0cnr/downloaded_whatsapp_on_a_new_phone_and_after/ https://web.archive.org/web/20220107101132/https://old.reddi... Edit: The thread has now been deleted, so both reddit threads about this issue are deleted.
- bellyfullofbac 5y ago
  I went to OP's account, he replied inside the thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/rxtl22/whatsapp_just_downloaded_12k_photos_of_other/hrnwnjs/ https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/rxtl22/w... TL; DR: photos were from a loaner phone that was never wiped that OP backed up, and then restored onto his new phone.

Someone mentioned on the reddit thread that after 200+ comments noone actually questioned if the story is true. On HN, there is one comment, and it does question if it's true. GOOD! I am curious if it's real or not. My bet is it's not. It's easy to screw up some downloading logic with overflows, one-off errors etc, but since WA is E2E encrypted, it would need a lot more "accident" in code to make this possible.

mns 5y ago
But this is about backups and the fact that this guy bought a new phone and started a data restore for Whatsapp from GoogleDrive, what if something is wrong there, maybe the backups are not even encrypted, even though everyone thinks they are.
- bellyfullofbac 5y ago
  My comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29838746 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29838746 My first suspicion would be, "Define new". OP and you could be working on 2 different definitions of that word.
- MarcellusDrum 5y ago
  WhatsApp does claim that Google Drive/iCloud backups are encrypted by default. [1] > ... With end-to-end encrypted backup, you can also add that same layer of protection to your backup on iCloud or Google Drive. [1]: https://faq.whatsapp.com/general/chats/about-end-to-end-encrypted-backup/?lang=en https://faq.whatsapp.com/general/chats/about-end-to-end-encr...

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

Spare_account 5y ago

A second redditor has reported the same behaviour, although it's in the same (seemingly inappropriate) subreddit and was posted 4 hours later so it may just be a copycat: https://old.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/ry0cnr/downloaded_whatsapp_on_a_new_phone_and_after/ https://old.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/ry0cnr/d... https://web.archive.org/web/20220107101132/https://old.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/ry0cnr/downloaded_whatsapp_on_a_new_phone_and_after/ https://web.archive.org/web/20220107101132/https://old.reddi... Edit: The thread has now been deleted, so both reddit threads about this issue are deleted.

bellyfullofbac 5y ago
I went to OP's account, he replied inside the thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/rxtl22/whatsapp_just_downloaded_12k_photos_of_other/hrnwnjs/ https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/rxtl22/w... TL; DR: photos were from a loaner phone that was never wiped that OP backed up, and then restored onto his new phone.