what are the changes and how will they affect you

When users of WhatsApp began to receive a notice warning that the terms and conditions of application of instant messaging will change as of February 8, many questions have started to arise about its operation and the nature of its regulatory change.

The concerns that have arisen among the users, which are highlighted in the high demand that caused in the Russian social network Telegram, are mainly related to data confidentiality, free service and, above all, the link that will be established with Facebook and with other companies belonging to the American businessman Mark Zuckerberg.

However, this may not be new, says IT security expert José Luis López, director of the ESET IT security company in Uruguay. “What is most confusing is the advice that WhatsApp users get, which is basically something generic but also generates a bit of alert and doesn’t add anything new in the background,” he explains to Sputnik.

The main subject of changes to the terms and conditions of WhatsApp is that now, the data of its users will be “crossed” with those of the social network Facebook, Instagram, and other companies belonging to Zuckerberg.

There is nothing free in life, especially on the internet

Generally speaking, this means that this network of networks will have the possibility of exchanging the data that a person provides in each of them, in order to increase their respective income, mainly coming from the sale of advertising, which is their main main source of profit, illustrates López.

From now on, the data of your users will be crossed with those of Facebook and Instagram

“There is nothing free in life, and less the Internet“, he underlines. Like all the others on the net, WhatsApp is not a free service not at all, he reiterates, but it is a “tool to earn money”, in this case the sale of users’ personal data to companies which will subsequently advertise them, which he believes the general public tends to forget.

However, this has happened before. When downloading WhatsApp for the first time, the application asks the user to accept the classic “I have read and accept the terms and conditions” for its use. What happens is that, in general, “a lot of people ignore it and very few read it,” López says.

Since 2014 WhatsApp is owned by Facebook, after Zuckerberg’s company acquired it for $ 16 billion. Since then, by default, both social networks they cross-reference their data with each other and with the rest of the businesses owned by the entrepreneur. The main difference, López notes, is that before the conditions gave the user the option of whether or not to allow their data to be shared with Facebook, an option that will no longer be available in the new privacy conditions.

Although the user could choose not to link data from one social network to another, most did so by default, López explains, therefore, in essence, “it’s not something new, it’s something normal: what is happening is that now under WhatsApp conditions it will be made explicit“.

Federico Kirshbaum, security expert and member of the annual Argentine computer security conference Ekoparty, analyzes it in the same way. In summary, what changes is that now the company explains in detail – and therefore it is legally protected -, what kind of data will you use, under the premise of “consent: what I collect from your information, you must know,” he told Sputnik.

Controversial privacy policy adds Telegram users

WhatsApp is not a free service at all because it is a tool to earn money

What is this information? In short, your first and last name, the device (s) from which you use the service, your phone number, your contacts, your location and, in networks such as Facebook and Instagram, all the content with which the user interacts and in which he expresses his interest – music, art, animal or other pages, which will then determine what type of advertising will be offered to you on these social networks.

Even so, one of the things the company has made clear in clarifying is that users’ personal messages are in no way visible to them or to other businesses.

“With end-to-end encryption, we can’t see your conversations or private calls, and neither can Facebook. We are committed to this technology and we are committed to defending it globally,” the Jan. 8 said. head of WhatsApp, William. Cathcart, on his Twitter account.

Why are the WhatsApp terms and conditions changing?

It is true that the crossing of data generates more revenue for the related companies, and it is logical to attribute a purely commercial purpose to the obligation to accept these new conditions so that the user allows, yes or yes, to transfer their data to them. purposes.

However, if this happened before, and the vast majority of users anyway allowed the app to use your dataIt makes sense to wonder why to make this advice explicit, with all the commotion that was to occur. In this sense, Kirshbaum assures us that what is happening goes beyond a simple “explanation” of company policy.

In 2015, the illicit use of data from political consultancy Cambridge Analytica obtained via Facebook was first published in the British newspaper The Guardian, a scandal that would end in 2019, with a first in Netflix from the documentary Nada es Privado, where the actions of the two companies are developed during the campaigns for Donald Trump in the United States, Brexit in Europe, and several others.

When the surveys around Facebook started, Kirshbaum says, they “lowered the profile” and stopped or at least reduced the cross-referencing. With this message, “now they tell you, ‘we could cross them’, which means ‘let’s cross them'”, he rocks.

There is a chapter in this story that specialists IT security they are very present, but little has been said in the press. This is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), approved in 2016 and which began to apply in 2018 in the European Union.

“The Regulation is an essential measure to strengthen the fundamental rights of people in the digital age and facilitate economic activity, as it clarifies the rules applicable to businesses and public bodies in the digital single market. In addition, the existence of a The One Rule ends the fragmentation of different national systems and unnecessary administrative burdens, ”says the EU.

Since 2014, WhatsApp belongs to Facebook

In general, the legislation not only requires the explicit use of personal data from services such as WhatsApp and Facebook to the user, but also prohibits the crossing of data for these applications. In reality, WhatsApp works for countries in the bloc in a very different way: It has its own subsidiary based in Ireland to provide its services, in charge of the Irish Data Protection Commission, and its new provision, therefore, will not apply in European Union countries, reports Sputnik.

If you go to the WhatsApp website, in the Security and Privacy section, its operation is self-explanatory for users of the block: “Currently, Facebook does not use your WhatsApp account information to enhance the Facebook product experience or deliver more relevant ads to you on the platform.”

However, this type of legislation serves as “pressure” for the use of the app elsewhere, and requires more transparency towards users, Kirshbaum says. “They are legally covered,” he sums up.

In Latin America, the interest in legislating in this area is generally not among the priorities of governments, but Kirshbaum argues that once a country makes the decision to protect users in its data protection – especially if it is the countries that ‘move the needle’ commercially – it generates an influence effect on the others. Smaller trade links between countries involve data conditions.

Therefore, a possible law in the countries of influence can lead to “a place” of more important data protection policies at the regional level. With the European Union settlement, he assumes, in Latin America, eventually “there is probably going to be a reaction” in this way.