Why you should dump WhatsApp and use Signal
If you want to skip my preamble and straight away learn a bit about Signal Private Messaging, click on 5 in the Table of Contents. 
TABLE OF CONTENTS - click to jump to a section
1 Coop fridge and underpants
Many years ago (1980 ish), I went in to the Coop store to buy a fridge, because I had not long moved in to my first, new, new 2 up, 2 down house. Going to the counter, I was informed that they were giving 6 months to pay. I had the money to just pay, but hey, leave it in the bank to earn interest for 6 months (those were the days when savings in the bank earned interest)…goodun 👍.
He just wanted a few details, which started with my address, fine and then asked about marital status, to which, surprised, I asked what else and twizzled around his form so that I could see and there were tons of stuff. I twizzled it back for him, saying, “the form forgets to ask the colour of my underpants, I thought that you were giving 6 months to pay, that’s an offer, not an ah, but”. He said that I would be signing for credit, to which I said that I hadn’t asked for a loan. I left the store and bought the same fridge for less, elsewhere for cash….cher-ching 👍.
The point is that I was going to buy a fridge for cash and not intending to give an intimate life story to a shop, for a fridge.
2 The Pub and a stranger
Now, imagine that I’m sat in a pub, having not long ago bought a mobile phone. I’m sat with a mate/girlfriend/partner/business associate, whoever, with a pint and a bloke/lady sits down at our table, without a word and begins to listen to our conversation. After a very short time, I ask if this stranger wants something, but there is no response, other than,”just listening”.
I politely say, piss off.
The person says that I recently bought a phone and that because I bought the phone and subsequently activated it, by accepting long, gobbildegoop conditions, (assumed to be product related), that they have the right to get as much information about me, who I talk to and where I go etc., as they like and that they have a huge worldwide family and friends who are also entitled to have my information.
I say, “I paid money for a phone….metal and plastic and that my money was payment for the materials used, labour, software and overheads to make the phone, plus distribution costs and profit. It did not include the right for uninvited intrusion in the pub that I’m in.”
I go on to say, “I am used to a landline, for which I buy a telephone and pay rental for using their service, plus the cost of phone calls, which in return for this service, I have provided my address and bank details. Oh, they also allocate me a unique phone number and “the phone has number block, so that I can stop annoying intrusion from unwanted callers.” Now, “piss off”.
In summary, this person says, “The phone that I paid for won’t work, unless I have agreed to unequivocal intrusion, as part of the phone sale.”
I have effectively paid money for hardware and software included, that doesn’t function. In the words of Monty Python, “This is a dead parrot”.
And not an acceptable exchange of value/benefit.
Had I wanted an expensive ornament, it would not have been of a phone.
3 Imaginary Ford, sandwiches and drinks
Imagine for instance, Ford selling a car which would not start unless the customer agreed to microphones and cameras in the car, home and on clothing, to monitor all activities….feck off Ford.
Ford would have to give me the car for free and drop me a monthly payment for my providing such an intimate service/benefit to them.
So, now I’m taking the family for a drive….we will stop at a shop and get some drinks and food for the journey in our new imaginary Ford, but first I have to agree to the terms and conditions written on the sandwiches and drinks, because there’s a lock on the sarnie packaging and drinks lids……enter Facebook/WhatsApp/Instagram.
Why you should dump WhatsApp and use Signal
4 Facebook/WhatsApp/Instagram
Once upon a time a young lad in University had an idea which would allow students to have their own bulletin boards and exchange messages…..brilliant….I am assuming that at that time, like telephone landline suppliers, all he needed was their address and phone number.
He called his software company Facebook and the young lads name was Mark Zuckerberg. Great success and good luck to him, it grew phenomenally and he now owns Instagram and WhatsApp…..some of the sandwiches and drinks mentioned, now with a huge customer base, and a turnover of ….financial year ending September 2020, $78 Billion. Randomly chosen (many countries are much lower), and included, just to provide scale, this is 8 times the GNP of Rwanda.
Facebook inc is a software company who do not charge for their services and I understand their revenue comes from advertising and supplying their customers information to other organisations. Their advertising currently creates a totally cluttered mess of anyone’s bulletin board, whereas it used to just be about the person and is a long way from the original, useful, fun, tool that it was.
Their advertising has value because of their huge customer base, (2.7 billion users), that’s us. And that’s sort of ok, because they are a business, nothing is free ….the idea, the innovation was great.
Where I have a major problem, is that when I buy a sandwich, I don’t expect there to be any more than an exchange of money for the sandwich, but over time this has dramatically changed. The sandwich now supplied by Facebook/WhatsApp/Instagram, insists on significant privacy intrusion, else you can’t eat the sandwich.
Instagram is already well incorporated with Facebook, so that any personal/business thoughts, behaviour or ideas not captured by Facebook are captured by Instagram, if you use it. WhatsApp blending will further increase.
WhatsApp promote their end to end security of messages….great….but sometime last year settings would show a red notification that backup of conversations was needed, to which I thought, “that’s helpful and pressed the backup button, but it had been set to automatic, I thought and it was”. Maybe it was me. Some while later on the internet, I read somewhere, (never noted or remembered, but widely reported), that WhatsApp data is not encrypted after backup in the cloud and vulnerable. Until I recently deleted WhatsApp, I was receiving notifications to backup ! I don’t understand WhatsApp’s reasoning and that concerns.
In February 2021, WhatsApp will be fully integrated with Facebook and Instagram and this will bring all of your communications together, in addition to those supplied by “partners”, you may use. I assume that any organisation that you sign in to, using your Facebook sign in, automatically passes its information to Facebook. There may be many others with whom Facebook just has information exchange agreements.
Facebook Inc have $78 billion turnover, with 2.7 billion users, which produces a turnover return of $29 per person, something like that might seem a reasonable annual subscription fee to charge the individual and would avoid their current privacy intrusion. In that way, when you buy a sandwich, you get it without complication. Currently it’s shadowy and invasive.
Competition would be open and remove business knowledge and advantage. If you have a business and use Facebook Inc’s services they will have an enormous amount of your business information. If this information is shared and who can get it, I have no idea.
It’s strategically important that Facebook remains strong, so as to compete with China’s WeChat. Facebook is larger, but there is a battle and unlike WeChat, Facebook is not censored in the same way as China’s government enforces.
However, as with the Coop fridge, there is a seller and buyer and if the seller takes the customer for granted, as appear Facebook Inc., sooner or later, the buyer will move elsewhere. That Facebook Inc is strategically important is not the responsibility of their customers, it is Facebook Inc’s responsibility to respond to the customer’s changing attitude to them and their services, or lose them and their strategic positioning.
Facebook Inc’s ponderous delay recently in banning Trump and various other previous issues regarding their controls (terrorist propaganda, for instance) and how they deal with issues, has left me concerned about their morality, which I would prefer not to support.
5 SIGNAL (signal.org)
Elon R Musk, (Tesla, SpaceX, co founder of PayPal), the richest man in 2020, with $195 billion is apparently moving away from WhatsApp, to Signal for reasons of privacy and whilst everyone can make mistakes and he’s no exception, my growing concern with Facebook/WhatsApp/Instagram (Facebook Inc), over the many years, has now seen me recently delete those apps.
Signal.org users are tiny in comparison, I believe that they were around 10 million for Android (no figures for IOS), although it’s apparently gone crazy since Elton Musk’s conversion and WhatsApp….accept more intrusion or you can’t eat your sandwich/bugger off, Privacy terms, due February 8th, 2021.
Signal are a not for profit organisation, who do not sell or exchange your data. I will be using the Signal.org app and suggesting that friends do the same, for their privacy.
It’s never too late to encourage Facebook Inc to regain sight and change, so that they once again respect and delight their customers as they used to, when they began.
- Signal is the 2nd most popular free app in the Apple store, with WhatsApp dropping to the 7th, as of today. Telegram Messenger is at 5th.
- Signal is generally considered to be the gold standard and one of the most secure messaging apps available.
- The only information Signal stores on their servers is your phone number, the date and time of joining and when you last logged on.
- Your data is encrypted and only stored on your devices.
- The billionaire and ex – WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton joined as Executive Chairman of the not for profit foundation and invested $50 million in Signal. Apparently, according to Wired, Brian Acton wrote in an email to them, “that since leaving WhatsApp’s parent company Facebook last September, he’s now free to pursue his long-held ideals: transparent, open-source development and uncompromising data protection.” WhatsApp Co-Founder Brian Acton Injects $50 Million in Newly Formed Signal Foundation | WIRED Why everyone should be using Signal instead of WhatsApp | WIRED UK
- According to The Verge, The European Union has told its staff to use Signal for all its public instant messaging, because it is attempting to improve the security of its communications, following high-profile hacks.
- Apparently, according to the Guardian, Conservative MPs were told use Signal and dump WhatsApp. One of the reasons was Signal’s disappearing message option, which would help avoid leaks and potential hacking of messages. Tories switch to messaging app Signal after WhatsApp leaks | Conservatives | The Guardian
- Facebook Messenger, Skype, and WhatsApp, claim to have adopted the protocol.
After downloading and opening the app., I found it quick and easy to get going. Basically, your phone number (which I think that you can avoid entering or subsequently hide somehow, but I don’t have the details), your name (which only needs your first name, if you prefer to omit your last), you create a Pin. They send you a number, to verify your phone, you allow contacts or not, then you can easily link to other devices. That’s it, as I remember.
https://signal.org don’t confuse it with any other Signal apps, I encountered rumour on the internet (and that can be very uncertain), that Facebook has been putting Signal names in app stores, which take you to Facebook messenger, how true, I don’t know (seems unlikely), so regardless, using this link will take you to their website, where you can get the app, which should remove confusion and time. Take a look and make your own decision.
If you want to change something for the better, but it is too arrogant or greedy to listen, the only way to send a message, is by leaving.
Meanwhile, the objectives of Brian Acton seem worth supporting.
Why you should dump WhatsApp and use Signal
6 Personal information gathered
To see the amount of personal data gathered by Facebook Messenger, in particular, in comparison to Signal, Apple’s iMessage and even Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp, here is a table taken from 9to5mac.com or go to “9to5 Mac”, for full detail.
https://9to5mac.com/2021/01/04/app-privacy-labels-messaging-apps/
Signal, Apple’s iMessage, Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger are compared
Facebook and Instagram’s data gathering are not shown in the list and presumably would increase the intrusion list, much further.
Data/cookie tracking of some well known companies, shops etc., who probably use ………….