WITH WhatsApp currently knee deep in a privacy scandal, attention has been turned to the data-hoarding practices of other Facebook apps.
Facebook Messenger, for instance, has come under fire in recent weeks for its lax attitude to user privacy.
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The chat app, which has 1.3billion users worldwide, tracks your precise location, reads your private messages and even scans your calendar app.
The app’s troubling privacy terms were highlighted by cyber security expert Zak Doffman in an article for Forbes over the weekend.
He described Messenger’s data harvesting as “significantly more alarming” than WhatsApp’s.
WhatsApp was subjected to a social media firestorm last week over enforced changes to its terms of service that permit it to share more user data with Facebook.
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Some fans expressed concerns that their messages would be snooped on by the social media giant, though WhatsApp strongly denies the allegations.
“The WhatsApp debacle has distracted attention away from just how bad Messenger’s invasion of your privacy is,” Doffman wrote on Saturday. “There is no justification for it.”
“We all know Facebook makes its living from our data – that’s how we pay for its ‘free’ services. But there does need to be a limit.”
Facebook, for instance, openly admits to reading private texts sent over Messenger and using their contents to better target ads at users.
The app even downloads file attachments sent between texters to its own servers, as well as links to file shares and websites.
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Location data, your contacts, purchase history, search history, browse history and much more are also collected by the app.
Doffman, who is the founder and CEO of British surveillance tech firm Digital Barriers, highlighted that WhatsApp protects messages sent over its service with end-to-end encryption.
This means that no one – including WhatsApp and Facebook – can read texts other than the sender and receiver.
But while Messenger offers encryption as part of its “secret conversations” tool, this is only supported in chats between two people.
“It’s this lack of end-to-end encryption that makes Messenger a no-go for me,” Doffman wrote.
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“This should be the default for any messaging platform you use.”
The data-hoovering practices of messaging apps has been public knowledge for years, but a spotlight was shone on them by Apple last month.
The iPhone-maker introduced new privacy labels for every app in its App Store on December 14 to improve transparency around data collection.
Labels appear on the product pages of apps, including Apple’s own software, giving users a quick summary of an app’s data practices.
Those slapped onto WhatsApp and Messenger reveal long lists of data tracked by the apps. Screen grab of them quickly went viral on Twitter.
WhatsApp – a quick history
Here’s what you need to know…
- WhatsApp was created in 2009 by computer programmers Brian Acton and Jan Koum – former employees of Yahoo
- It’s one of the most popular messaging services in the world
- Koum came up with the name WhatsApp because it sounded like “what’s up”
- After a number of tweaks the app was released with a messaging component in June 2009, with 250,000 active users
- It was originally free but switched to a paid service to avoid growing too fast. Then in 2016, it became free again for all users
- Facebook bought WhatsApp Inc in February 2014 for $19.3billion (£14.64bn)
- The app is particularly popular because all messages are encrypted during transit, shutting out snoopers
- As of 2020, WhatsApp has over 2billion users globally
By contrast, Apple’s own messaging service, iMessage, only asks for your email address, phone number and device ID, according to Apple.
Doffman recommended that anyone who sends texts over Messenger or Instagram – which he says is “even worse” for your privacy – switch over to an encrypted service, such as WhatsApp.
He added that those wanting a more secure option should opt for privacy-focussed messaging app Signal, which has seen a surge in downloads in the wake of WhatsApp’s recent blunders.
“With WhatsApp and Signal running in parallel, you’re fine from a security and privacy perspective,” Doffman wrote.
“Eventually you’ll use Signal as the default when contacts are onboard, but you’ll likely keep WhatsApp as well for when they’re not. You can also move all your Facebook Messenger chats and groups to one or the other.”
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In other news, WhatsApp has made a U-turn on its decision to thrust controversial new terms on users next month.
Here’s everything you need to know about Signal, which reported thousands of new users last week.
And, a bizarre bug reported this month could have let strangers read your private WhatsApp chats.
What do you make of WhatsApp’s policy changes? Let us know in the comments!
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
