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Information Regulator engages Facebook SA over privacy policy

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South Africa’s Information Regulator has announced that it met Facebook South Africa on Wednesday to discuss its revised WhatsApp privacy policy.

WhatsApp’s revised private policy sparked a global outcry after the popular Facebook-owned messaging app alerted its 2 billion users to accept the new terms if they wanted to continue using it.

According to reports, WhatsApp will now share data with Facebook.

“As part of the Facebook family of companies, WhatsApp receives information from, and shares information with, this family of companies,” Ars Technica quoted the new privacy policy.

“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, customise, support, and market our services and their offerings.”

https://youtu.be/anTv2w9GE6U

If you have seen this post or similar like it recently:

URGENT URGENT!!! If your child has downloaded Telegram please urgently make sure the location is turned off and that they cannot turn it back on. There is a ‘People Nearby’ feature which allows you to see nearby groups (without joining) with the most horrific pornography etc. I can’t tell you what I saw within two minutes of enabling it (and I’ve seen it all). Please share. WhatsApp is infinitely preferable to this – better the devil you know.

Don’t be alarmed I was also MIGHTILY Confused as I know that Whats App also has this service and wasn’t too sure how sharing my location with people would allow such groups to pop up on Telegram without my consent.

It turns out that Emma is referring to the PEOPLE NEARBY feature in Telegram which, in order to use you have to enable and THAT in turn enables the Location Aware service in Telegram. To enable this feature you click on the Contacts section followed by “Add people nearby” and only then is the Location Tracking Service turned on allowing you to add people and groups nearby. You then make yourself visible by clicking on “make myself visible.”

If you are still unsure whether that Telegram is tracking your location and about to share dirty photos with you then Go to Settings – Privacy – Location Services which will show you a list of the apps on your phone that have access to your location and under what circumstances.

Tracking Location in Real-Time on Telegram: Step 1: Open the Telegram app and tap the person’s name who you want to share your real-time location with. After that, tap the Paperclip icon, select Location from the list of options, and on the new Location window that pops up, select ‘Share My Live Location for…’ option.

According to the Information Regulator, it is now in possession of the recently updated WhatsApp privacy policy furnished by Facebook South Africa.

“In terms of the revised policy, it appears that there are different terms of service and privacy policies for users in the European countries and in non-European countries.”

The watchdog said it will be analysing whether the terms of service and the privacy policies indeed differs and applicable to users outside Europe and compliant with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

“The regulator will engage with Facebook after the completion of the analysis,” it said, adding that it remains committed to ensuring the protection of personal information of South African citizens.

The Information Regulator is, among others, empowered to monitor and enforce compliance by public and private bodies with the provisions of the POPIA.

However, according to WhatsApp, the privacy policy update does not affect the privacy of the users’ messages with friends or family.

“We can’t see your private messages or hear your calls, and neither can Facebook. Neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can read your messages or hear your calls with your friends, family, and co-workers on WhatsApp,” the messaging app said this week.

“Whatever you share, it stays between you. That’s because your personal messages are protected by end-to-end encryption. We will never weaken this security and we clearly label each chat so you know our commitment.”

In addition, WhatsApp stated that it cannot keep logs of who everyone is messaging or calling, see the shared location and neither can Facebook.

“We don’t share your contacts with Facebook when you give us permission, we access only the phone numbers from your address book to make messaging fast and reliable, and we don’t share your contacts lists with the other apps Facebook offers,” its statement shared on its website read.

Meanwhile, it claims that groups remain private.

“We use group membership to deliver messages and to protect our service from spam and abuse. We don’t share this data with Facebook for ads purposes. Again, these private chats are end-to-end encrypted so we can’t see their content.”

In addition, according to the app, users can still set messages to disappear.

“For additional privacy, you can choose to set your messages to disappear from chats after you send them.”

The Information Regulator’s engagements with Facebook South Africa are ongoing. – SAnews.gov.za

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.