Re: [tlug] Skype or Something Better: Whatsapp

[CL <az.4tlug@example.com>]

On 02/15/2017 04:58 AM, steve wrote:
> On 02/14/2017 10:49 AM, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
> > CL writes:
> >
> >    > Whatsapp has end-to-end encryption once it is set up ... or so the
> >    > message says.
> Is Facebook's ownership of Whatsapp a problem?
>
> Steve S.

It was a problem for me until I was told to either get a Whatsapp 
account or lose an important client's business.  I neither Face-thing 
nor am a Twit and grudgingly stay on LinkedIn after my account details 
and password were stolen because it has brought me some pretty 
substantial business.  (However, the LinkedIn hack persuaded me to 
create a separate Gmail account for non-controversial subscriptions, 
hide the actual address with Blur, and then forward from the 
subscription account to a consolidation mailbox.)

I did some research and found that Facebook _claims_ that the only info 
it collects is how often you make calls to contacts within your Whatsapp 
account, the ID of the recipient, the time the call was made and the 
duration.  They go on at length to say that they do not intercept or 
record the actual calls, which are encrypted, anyway. They also say that 
the data is used only to calculate line and data transfer loads.

Google is Google and I do not trust them with any more of my data than I 
absolutely have to supply.  I _try_ to maintain the smallest footprint 
that is traceable back to me as a unique, identifiable person, as I 
possibly can.  They read your mail, what's to believe in their denials 
of recording or listening in to your voice traffic.

Rakuten's takeover of GOL, which I have used since the early '90s (Roger 
personally set up my account) is a disaster.  I have gone from one spam 
mail every 90 days, or so, to daily mails from Russian women who saw my 
profile and want to be my girlfriend, FedEx, business proposals, African 
widows, and Nigerian princes.  Over 150 since Christmas.  That worries 
me a Whole Lot More than Facebook ownership of Whatsapp.

CL