Facebook is Aggressive - WhatsApp Edition
It's all in the public record. April 10, 2018 (45 second c-span clip, here) Zuckerberg testified in a senate hearing that his company doesn't see messages sent through the WhatsApp application because WhatsApp is encrypted:
April 30, 2018: The Washington Post reports today that WhatsApp founder plans to leave over broad clashes with parent Facebook over decisions to weaken encryption and to use personal data:
When the FTC in 2014 cleared the way for Facebook to acquire WhatsApp, Reuters reported in Facebook says WhatsApp deal cleared by FTC that the FTC was already warning them in 2014 not to get more aggressive with invading user privacy:
For a long time the media narrative on Zuckerberg was "he's a nerd" or "he doesn't understand" what the senators or regulators are asking him. But Facebook is a successful and profitable company. It may be that with Zuckerberg, he sees, he just disagrees.
----------------
Further Reading:
Controlling Personalities 101: On Character and an 'Unsubmitted Will': www.offlinereport.net
The federal Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) doesn't exist anymore, it was cut in 1995, but two congressmen are re-introducing it and that's a good thing, FCC Commissiner Rosenworcel says. nbcnews.com
This work by AJ Fish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Senator Schatz (D-HI): If I'm emailing within WhatsApp, does that ever inform your advertisers?
Zuckerberg: No! We don't see any of the content in WhatsApp. It's fully encrypted.
April 30, 2018: The Washington Post reports today that WhatsApp founder plans to leave over broad clashes with parent Facebook over decisions to weaken encryption and to use personal data:
SAN FRANCISCO — The billionaire chief executive of WhatsApp, Jan Koum, is planning to leave the company after clashing with its parent, Facebook, over the popular messaging service’s strategy and Facebook’s attempts to use its personal data and weaken its encryption, according to people familiar with internal discussions.
Koum, who sold WhatsApp to Facebook for more than $19 billion in 2014, also plans to step down from Facebook’s board of directors, according to these people. The date of his departure isn’t known.
When the FTC in 2014 cleared the way for Facebook to acquire WhatsApp, Reuters reported in Facebook says WhatsApp deal cleared by FTC that the FTC was already warning them in 2014 not to get more aggressive with invading user privacy:
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc said U.S. regulators have cleared its $19 billion acquisition of mobile messaging service WhatsApp, even as the Federal Trade Commission warned the two Internet companies on Thursday that they must not backtrack on commitments to user privacy.
The FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a letter to the two companies on Thursday, said WhatsApp must adhere to its current privacy practices after the merger, including a promise not to use WhatsApp users’ personal data for targeted ads.
“If the acquisition is completed and WhatsApp fails to honor these promises, both companies could be in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act and, potentially, the FTC’s order against Facebook,” the letter from Jessica Rich, director of the consumer bureau, read.
For a long time the media narrative on Zuckerberg was "he's a nerd" or "he doesn't understand" what the senators or regulators are asking him. But Facebook is a successful and profitable company. It may be that with Zuckerberg, he sees, he just disagrees.
----------------
Further Reading:
Controlling Personalities 101: On Character and an 'Unsubmitted Will': www.offlinereport.net
The federal Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) doesn't exist anymore, it was cut in 1995, but two congressmen are re-introducing it and that's a good thing, FCC Commissiner Rosenworcel says. nbcnews.com
This work by AJ Fish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
