Privacy

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A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

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If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
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Is it worth waiting for WhatsApp interoperability anymore ? Is it ever coming ? (lemmy.sdf.org)

submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I really need to get in contact with some people on WA and have some groups to join and have been waiting for interoperability to get going so I don't have to use zuck's app . But the said date march has long passed and I can't find shit on it or why it didn't happen anywhere . I have yesterday downloaded the apk from WA's official site and is in half a heart to install it . I know everything I say there should be considered public but besides that and the app knowing my IP and contacts is there any hidden data collection I should be aware of ? Or should I wait some more which I don't think I can as am loosing patience lol . Also will it even be global or support apps that are really privacy focused unlike the usual suspects like TG or signal ?

Edit : Seems like I have to suck up to Meta as our lizard lord intended . As WhatsApp is ad free (to my knowledge) it is all but confirmed they are selling data . In my opinion Meta is more evil than google as google is at least taking some hits and hosting things on lose that we can access without making them a dime (newpipe -youtube, google search engine - unlock with firefox) and they fund Firefox and maintain AOSP, meanwhile all meta do is making their service a thing which we can't leave and steal fuckin everything they do absolutely no good whatsoever and have no redeeming qualities and people or laws don't give them enough shit for it . People may say "if you don't like meta just don't use it" well guess what we can't stop it as almost everything needs their platforms nowadays . Sorry that turned into a rant figured .

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

can you hand hold me through the process

I can try but I cant promise anything

So I download WhatsApp and make an acc and download matrix and make an acc and then link it ?

You dont download matrix. You download a client for the matrix protocol. The client is your choice but will make a huge impact on your experience. I use fluffychat but I also have element as backup.

You make an account on a matrix instance. tchncs.de is the best public one I can suggest.

You then join their rooms and start asking people for help, politely. I havent used their process but i use the exact same bridges and they work.

Can I then use matrix as a kind of WhatsApp client ?

Whatsapp, signal, telegram and matrix in one app, yes

Can I talk to random users or join WhatsApp groups like I can in the official app ?

I dont know if you need to use a whatsapp client to join a group but you can def talk to anyone and in any group from my experience. this is open source stuff which you need to be aware of. if you're not the product and you dont pay them, then you should help any way you can and be very patient.

Also can I just delete the WhatsApp app after connecting and not worry about it ever ?

You cant "not worry about it ever" on anything, ever. Either you pay someone to make your experience perfect (the mechanic that repairs your bike or your car) or you help yourself and ask for help politely.

Whatsapp can lose the connection (happened to me once in like 3 months) and you will need a whatsapp client to reconnect and then you can forget it again.

Also, its not a billion dollar company doing this so it needs testing and you're the tester so consider submitting your experiences in the form of (rational) bug reports or similar.

**TL;DR: FOSS software will never be "perfect". It is a community effort to improve it. You always pay in this world: Money, Privacy or Work. If you dont, someone else must.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Uh why do you answer like I asked FOSS to be perfect ? I just had some dpubts about the functions but as far as I can see was never judgmental of Foss . Anyway seems like its not for me and tnx for the answer .

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Uh why do you answer like I asked FOSS to be perfect ?

What gave you the impression?

Anyway seems like its not for me and tnx for the answer .

How come?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Idk I kinda read your answer like that and you seem to stress multiple times that its Foss and not perfect etc etc .

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Okay. I dont know how it happened but thats not what I wanted to convey. I did want to make clear that you can always pay someone to make it perfect or you can use the great options other people have invested money and time in and decided to share it for free.