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WhatsApp, the global messaging leader with 2 billion users sending 100 billion messages every day, has popularized secure messaging. But if you’re one of the hundreds of millions of WhatsApp users on an iPhone, you’re going to have a nasty surprise when you see Apple’s new iMessage update.
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WhatsApp was above all about security. “Privacy and security are in our DNA,” he says, and we should be commended for providing the privacy of encrypted messages to the masses. But data security is complex – take a look at the spidery patterns on an investigator’s desk and you’ll understand: Sometimes it’s not what we say that matters, it’s the when, the where and the who.
“Metadata, the data about your data,” says Ian Thornton-Trump, Cyjax CISO, “is almost as powerful as the real The data. “Who you know, who you message to, when and how often. Who they know and message. What other activity can be tracked on your User ID. It’s this metadata that drives the crawl of Facebook data. And that’s why there has been such nervousness around its plans for WhatsApp as it drives monetization among all of those users and integrates it with its other platforms.
Concerns about the collection of WhatsApp metadata are not new. Take a look at its privacy policy and you will see the extent of the data it collects. “We use all the information we have to help us operate, provide, improve, understand, personalize, support and market our services,” he says, adding that “we share your information to help us operate, provide, improve , understand, personalize, support and market our services. “
And then there’s the Facebook factor. “As part of the Facebook family of companies,” the privacy policy states, “WhatsApp receives information and shares information with this family of companies. We may use the information we receive from them, and they may use the information we share with them, to help operate, provide, improve, understand, personalize, support, and market our services and their offerings. “
And while your end-to-end encrypted content is not accessible, “your WhatsApp messages will not be shared on Facebook for others to see,” he confirms, there is this metadata. “Facebook may use our information to improve your experiences within its services, such as making product suggestions (for example, friends or connections, or interesting content) and displaying relevant offers and advertisements.”
Cue Apple and its campaign to curb Facebook’s insatiable appetite for user data. Much of this was debated last summer. As my colleague Kate O’Flaherty explained at the time, this is a real ‘game changer’ for user privacy – by removing tracking IDs and location mapping that advertisers on trust. Tracking and cross-referencing browsing and social media activity is one thing, but what you do within app boundaries is different – you’re a captive audience. And the reason there is now a messaging war for users is because these are the stickiest apps out there.
If I can associate you with various apps by your personal identifiers, your phone number or your device ID for example, then I can relate your metadata to anything I know. As WhatsApp puts it, its metadata “includes information about your activity … device-specific information … such as hardware model, operating system information, browser information, IP address, information. mobile network, including phone number and device identifiers… We receive information from other people. us, which may include information about you. For example, when other users you know use our services, they can provide your phone number from their mobile address book (just like you can provide theirs), or they can message you, send messages to groups you belong to, or I’ll call you. “
You get the point. Apple’s astonishing response to this undercurrent of metadata collection has been its privacy labels, now available on the App Store. “On each app’s product page,” Apple explains, “users can learn more about certain types of data that an app can collect, and whether that data is related to them or used to track them.” These labels were launched last month and were all the rage between Apple and app developers whose data collection practices were now heavily exposed. Facebook led the charge, removing full-page ads to argue against Apple’s move.
The problem for WhatsApp is that when you pretend security and privacy is in your DNA, you open yourself up to a heightened level of control. Suddenly, these concerns about collecting WhatsApp metadata became more real. Now we can easily see that WhatsApp collects your phone contacts, business data you use Facebook services on, device based IDs, your IP address which provides your location unless you are using a VPN and your logs. ‘use. Everything is related to you.
WhatsApp issued a statement in response to Apple’s privacy labels. “We need to collect certain information to provide a reliable global communications service,” he said, “in principle we minimize the categories of data we collect … we take steps to restrict access to these information. For example, even if you allow us to access your contacts to help us distribute the messages you send, we do not share any contact lists with anyone, including Facebook for their own use. “
WhatsApp was particularly excised for what it saw as an inconsistency on Apple’s part, telling Axios that “the labels should be consistent between proprietary and third-party apps, as well as reflect the strong actions apps can take to protecting people’s private information, while offering people to read information is a good start, we think it is important for people to be able to compare these “nutrition for privacy” labels of apps they download with apps preinstalled, like iMessage. “
In a pretty stark example of paying attention to what you want, Apple has updated its website and that same level of privacy information for iMessage is now live, presenting a stunning contrast between iMessage and WhatsApp.
Apple app privacy labels
Apple App Store
And while all WhatsApp metadata is categorized as “data related to you”, the only iMessage metadata related to a user’s identity is their email address, phone number, device ID and search history. According to Apple, “data linked to you” means that “data is collected in a way that is linked to your identity, such as your account, device or contact details – to state that the data is collected but not linked to you. , a developer should use privacy protections such as removing any direct identifiers. “
Simply put, all the additional data iMessage collects to monitor its platform and usage cannot be linked to individuals, whereas with WhatsApp everything is linked.
How you feel about WhatsApp data collection will depend on your personal perspective on data privacy. Either way, think about the changes coming to WhatsApp, especially when it comes to business messaging and shopping, as well as tighter integration with Messenger and Instagram – although that’s likely being delayed by the action. antitrust against Facebook which has just gone up in flames. in the USA
WhatsApp is said to be concerned that users may not make the effort to check the privacy label for iMessage since it is preinstalled. I think their concern should be that users will do just that. And while iMessage is better, it’s nowhere near the category leader Signal, which has only one piece of metadata – your own phone number – and even this one “isn’t. linked to your identity ”. As for Facebook Messenger, I have repeatedly advised users to switch to an alternative.
Apple app privacy labels
Apple App Store
Kudos to Apple on these privacy labels, this is a major step forward against permission abuse, where apps take our data for no good reason. And if you are an Android user, the situation is much worse. Authorization abuse is much more prevalent in the Android ecosystem, although Android 11 is finally starting to do something about it.
The security of WhatsApp is perfectly sufficient for almost all users. But metadata is a gray area and as we do more and more on these messaging platforms, its value will increase. This is your data and you have the right to ask why it is collected and processed. If you feel that your data should not be collected without a valid reason, you now have the tools to compare the alternatives.
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