I decided to quit using the application Whatsapp Messenger property of Facebook Inc., as it does not respect their users’ privacy. Instead, I use the Free and Open source app Signal, a truly free messaging service having privacy as core value. I’ll explain the motivations of this decision through the following lines.

What is the value of our privacy? Link to heading

This is a complex and very interesting question, I will however keep this section short and encourage you to go further by yourself.

Privacy is a right provided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 12), just like the right to equality, justice, freedom etc.

Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.

Edward Snowden

Privacy should not be confused with secrecy. For example: We all know what you do in the bathroom, but you still close the door. That is because you want privacy, not secrecy. Similarly, in the digital world, you have a right to privacy, even if you have nothing to reproach yourself with.

The saying when the product is free, you are the product is pretty accurate. Your privacy is of great value to big tech companies, such as Facebook, Google, Amazon etc. These companies are looking for all the details of our private life, our interactions, our interests, the things we like etc. to build an accurate profile for each of us, used to generate profit. For instance, Facebook can build our profile and determine our religion, sexual orientation, political party, IQ, whether we are drug users etc. with a very high accuracy, only by analyzing our Likes. And they can use this data as they want. The visible part of the iceberg is personalized advertising, always more accurate, but the most terrifying usage is the usage we are unaware of. We know that our private data is being sold to other companies willing to know us better. An example of the use of our personal data revealed in broad daylight, is the scandal Cambridge Analytica, threatening democracy. Data gathered by Facebook on their users has been used to manipulate them in order to influence the results of official votes, such as the Brexit referendum, or the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency in 2016. I highly recommend you to watch the documentary The Social Dilemma (available on Netflix), very insightful on issues related to the social networks we use.

Signal Link to heading

Signal Messenger is an instant messaging app, very similar to Whatsapp from the user side, but totally different on the security side. Signal offers the possibility to send private and group messages, share audio recording, pictures, gif, stickers, make audio and video calls etc. Dissimilarly, Signal is managed by a foundation, like Wikipedia, meaning that the software belongs to no one, and it cannot be sold to a company. The Signal Foundation is a non-profit foundation relying on users donations (like Wikipedia). On the contrary to Whatsapp which is managed by Facebook, for the purpose of selling users private data and ads, in order to generate profit.

The Signal Protocol, which is currently the worldwide standard to encrypt messages, was created by the Signal development team. The Signal app was built in such a way that it is impossible for Signal’s servers to know the content of our messages, as well as the people with whom we communicate. These features are auditable by the community, as all the source code is available on Github. In Signal, all of our data is encrypted: our messages, pictures, calls, video calls, gif searches etc. It is therefore impossible for anyone (hacker, governments or Signal itself) to access any of our data. Signal is currently one of the most advanced software in terms of cybersecurity and is recommended by many experts, such as Edward Snowden (whistleblower) and Jack Dorsey (Twitter CEO), as well as public figures, like Elon Musk.

Whatsapp Link to heading

On 6 January 2021, Whatsapp started asking their users to accept new Terms of Service. Users refusing to accept them will not be able to use their Whatsapp account after 15 May 2021. The update officially authorizes Facebook to access all of Whatsapp data, and merge it with its own, which would legally allow them to merge the data gathered on us by Whatsapp and Facebook. This will allow them to profile us even more precisely than they used to do, and to use our data as they want. However, we can refuse this change, by rejecting the new terms of service. Facebook also intends to spread on Whatsapp by adding friends and groups suggestions, the capability to buy things using Facebook Pay, as well as advertisements in the app.

Brian Acton and Jan Koum, Whatsapp co-founders, decided to resign shortly after Whatsapp was sold to Facebook, because they disagreed with Facebook on the use of users’ private data. They did not want Facebook to use Whatsapp to gather private data and make profit out of it. In 2018, Brian Acton started a #DeleteFacebook campaign on social media to encourage people to boycott the platform. Acton co-founded the Signal Foundation, which gave birth to Signal, and donated 50 millions dollars to the foundation.

Given that Whatsapp is a proprietary software, it is impossible to know how Whatsapp deals with our data. However, we know that our private conversations are stored unencrypted on our smartphones, which makes them accessible to other apps. We also know that Whatsapp free backups that we can store on Google Drive are not encrypted, which allows Google to analyze our private conversations, and use our data as they want.

Transition Link to heading

I know that for most of us, Whatsapp is the priviledged channel to communicate remotely with our loved ones. However, it is wrong to think that deleting this app moves you away from them. There are multiple alternative messengers to help you take back the control over your privacy.

When you delete your Whatsapp account, you encourage your loved ones to use a privacy respecting app to message you. Consequently, the communication over a different app is not a burden to your contacts, it even gives them the opportunity to take their privacy back. Once aware, they will be able to motivate their own contacts to switch to a respectful app.

To conclude Link to heading

My Whatsapp account will be deleted on 1 Feburary 2021, I will therefore no longer be reachable on this platform after this date. Nevertheless, I remain reachable at the same phone number on Signal and by SMS. Whoever you are, I can only strongly encourage you to delete your Whatsapp account now, and switch to Signal for your own sake.

Spread the word to your loved ones,

Guillaume

To go further Link to heading

Whatsapp → Signal