Facebook’s subsidiary WhatApp is tired of all of the users who are complaining about its change in privacy policies. The company is now telling its users who do not accept its new updated user agreement to get lost. Any account which has not accepted the new terms by Amy 15th of this year will be switched to “inactive.”
Under company policy any WhatsApp account listed as inactive for more than 120 days is deactivated.
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TechCrunch reported this based on an internal email from Facebook that it acquired. In the email which was sent to a Facebook merchant partner, WhatsApp said that it will “slowly ask” users who have not yet clicked on the “accept” button for the new user agreement to comply with the new terms “in order to have full functionality of WhatsApp.”
But if such people still refuse to accept the new terms then, “for a short time, these users will be able to receive calls and notifications, but will not be able to read or send messages from the app.” WhatsApp confirmed to TechCrunch that the note accurately characterizes its plan.
So what exactly is WhatsApp doing here? Well it is certainly not taking any great risk if that is what you think. Pretty much everyone out there clicks accept on any kind of terms and conditions without thinking. And they do this when such terms are updated as well.
Think about it for a minute. How often do you even bother to read these things when you install a new software on your computer or sign up for a new App’s or website’s services? Admit it, you installed Twitter or Instagram on your phone without caring what the respective company’s privacy policy was, right?
So what is the big deal now? In short, WhatsApp said that it would share more of people’s information with its parent company Facebook. WhatsApp updated its terms of service agreement which to include the sharing of users’ data with Facebook. And to say that its users were not happy about that would be an understatement.
Is this really such a big deal? At least they are being upfront about the change. And don’t forget that WhatsApp is free and you get what you paid for. When a product is free, its users are in effect the product. Both Facebook and WhatsApp make their money by using your info to generate targeted ads. So if you are really that concerned about privacy issues, just say no and don’t use anything.
Become a Luddite, go back to using the old kind of cell phones which don’t even have screens or texting, and go around town with one of those little tinfoil hats on your head to keep the government from using the new 5G systems to control your mind.
