The INAI asked WhatsApp users to review in detail the new privacy and use conditions to make an informed decision on whether or not to continue with the services. The voices against the new use and privacy policies of WhatsApp seem not to stop.
The conditions that users must now abide by to continue using this service have become a focus of criticism and now, a Mexican body has issued a warning to be considered in this regard.
The INA pronounces
After this change was announced, the Romania Mobile Database National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data (INAI) carried out an analysis of the new conditions of use of the messaging application to reach the conclusion that the conditions security in the management of shared information is not a matter that is clear.
The body in charge of the protection of personal data indicated that although WhatsApp is notifying that the information collected will be shared with other companies for commercial purposes, ” the security measures to protect the shared information are not clearly defined.”
In this way, the INAI asked WhatsApp users to review in detail the new privacy and use conditions to make an informed decision on whether or not to continue with the services.
And we must remember that those people who do not accept the new privacy and use policies, must close their account in the service.
Specific warnings
It is worth mentioning that the INAI carried out a review of the new WhatsApp privacy policy to warn of certain provisions, among which the following stand out:
In the section called “Information we collect”, it is established that WhatsApp may collect additional information to provide optional functionalities , “without specifying what those functions are and what type of data will be required”, mentioning that when it is the case, the application will notify the users about what data and for what purpose they will be used.
In the “Information you provide us” section, the data that users must provide to use the application are specified; This indicates that the user can share information about the telephone numbers of their contacts and, in case of using payment services, purchases or other financial transactions. In this way, WhatsApp will process additional information that includes data on transactions and payment accounts such as the payment method, shipping details and the amount of the transaction. In other words, the platform will know how, how much and what its users buy.
In the “Information collected automatically” section it is indicated that data and records will be obtained about the use of the service and the options used such as messaging, calls, statuses, groups, companies or payments and the profile photo . Additional is considered as information collected the device and the type of connection thereof.
As regards “Third Party Information”, it is established how it works together with external providers, third party services and other Facebook companies.
WhatsApp defends itself
With all this, the INAI concluded that “the new terms of the WhatsApp privacy policy indicate that the platform will share user information with Facebook and other applications, collecting contact data, the IP address or location of those who use it in certain situations, which represents an element to be evaluated by users when deciding whether to accept and continue using the application “.
At this point, it is important to mention that the INAI is not the only one that has spoken out with criticism in this regard, which for the application seems to begin to weigh.
The phenomenon and the Brother Cell Phone List concerns that all this entails for the business and survival of WhatsApp have reached the application, which from its official Twitter account has tried to improve the perceptions around its update, detailing that, despite the fact that it will share data with its parent company, Facebook will not be able to read the conversations as they are encrypted, and therefore users do not have to worry.
However, everything seems to indicate that WhatsApp has started to lose while its competitors win.
Founder Telegram, Pavel Durov, from his Twitter account said that 25 million of new users has joined the platform in the past 72 hours. The news comes in the shadow of users’ threat to leave WhatApp and move to other alternatives due to privacy and security issues.
