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Whatsapp has become one of my causes of distress. Whenever I use it, I remember that our communication is in the hands of a company that is able to process our data meticulously, to help us better understand, to sell us advertisements or to predict things that matter to us for many purposes.
WhatsApp appeared with smartphones and, although its popularity was not immediate, users began to trust the app over time. This gave them a cheaper alternative to SMS and, with the overall decline in price of Internet packages, it became possible to use WhatsApp on a daily basis without affecting your phone bill. Later, we had unlimited WhatsApp packages, and you can use them all the time without worry.
I still remember the first time that I used a cell phone (not a smart phone) and the first mobile that I bought, the Nokia 5210, which was said to be waterproof, but I did not have a phone. dare not try this myself.
Everybody sent jokes, some sent congratulations on every occasion, others sent simple deposits like those that asked you to continue reading the letter and ended up discovering that it was about A joke, a habit that continues even nowadays.
In those days we did not drown in the alerts because many, the messages were calculated because they are not free, so you find us bound each time we receive a short message, it is this one which will pay of his pocket to send you, yes … it must be important ?! Unfortunately, WhatsApp and her friends came to destroy this feeling, and we became aware of it each time we received a message, because we realize that many of them are worthless.
In order not to drown you too much in the past, let me focus on SMS.
Criteria not applied in SMS
SMS is part of the communication protocol between phones and mobile networks and allows you to transfer messages between different networks through operators who have a service provider that receives and broadcasts these messages.
The fact that SMS is part of the communication standard brings it closer to e-mail, which means that it is not subject to a business and that there is no point of contact. central control.
The old version of SMS corrected the lack of many features we need today, including multimedia content exchange, speed of delivery and assistance with voice conversations. The standardization body recognized these shortcomings and worked on updating the SMS specifications.
Launched in 2008, a new version of SMS called RCS, an updated SMS protocol that contains features found in chat programs. As it is a standard standard, its application will be easy to use for telecom companies, which reduces the ability of a company to handle everything, such as in WhatsApp. .
You may be surprised to find that RCS has been available in some countries since 2012 and that Google has supported the protocol in newer versions of Android and is striving to provide its own servers in the UK and in France in order to take care of it, with projects of later extension.
Unfortunately, it is the support of telecommunications companies around the world. It is moving very slowly, and continuous updates and different versions of this protocol at the beginning of its development may be involved, but it seems that the latest version of RCS, called the Universal Profile, has reached sufficient maturity to make its application more easy for everyone.
The argument of privacy …
Confidentiality is a disadvantage because RCS does not support end-to-end encryption, and protocol developers argue that RCS is part of mobile networks operating within the geographic boundaries of a country and therefore needs to be submitted to his laws, which involves decrypting messages. Before the telecommunications operators in the case, it was formally requested.
Instant messaging applications take great advantage of the point of encryption and you will see them frequently used to promote the power of their applications that "protect your privacy" compared to the operators who listen to you.
This argument is questionable. Many of these companies operate on the Black Box system, which means that we do not really know what is happening in their network and how our data is transmitted encrypted and how it is backed up. not to display the code and do not allow anyone to view them, and maybe even the Signal application. This is the only application whose code has been reviewed by third parties for security reasons.
Telecom companies must relocate
Communication companies have left the messaging world in their hands in the hands of tech companies.
Operators can add additional terms to their privacy policy, confirming that they do not have access to user data, like other companies, to reassure users.
It is better for operators to start supporting new messaging and communication protocols, otherwise Internet packs will become the only product sold in a few years.
* Copyright of the image: SMS by Creative Stall of the project Noun
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