WhatsApp reveals the list of data it retrieves in your smartphone
WhatsApp is the juggernaut of global messaging services. Created in 2009 and bought in 2014 by Facebook (today Meta), the application is used by more than 2 billion people around the world, both on Android and iOS, and even for some time, directly in browsers Internet. Little by little, the service has practically eclipsed the “Send SMS” function of our brains. Property of Mr. Zuckerberg, the king of data, it goes without saying that the American asks consideration from you in one way or anotherwhether you are aware of it or not. It is precisely this obscure veil hovering above the collection that is now thinning a little, and we can say that the harvest is abundant for Uncle Mark, even if he had to be beaten on fingers to tell us more about it.
Communication breakdown
WhatsApp has always claimed it was theirs cannot read or listen to user conversations which are encrypted from end to end, which seems to be the case, except in very specific cases, as we revealed to you a few months ago. If the messaging system is cracking today with a new round of revelations, it is not out of gaiety of heart but especially for following the 225 million euro fine imposed two months ago by the Irish Data Protection Authority (DPC). This record conviction sanctioned non-compliance with the European regulation for the protection of personal data (GDPR). WhatsApp was also given until early December for change its privacy policy and make it less nebulous. Hence the revelations of recent days of which we reveal the most important in terms of data recovery.
Smartphone, battery level or duration of discussions… WhatsApp clarifies its personal data collection… https://t.co/AFgRMVfNRG via @Le Figaro
– Stéphane Prévost – Boyard (@StPrevost) November 22, 2021
Low profile
First of all, the American company reiterates its commitment to the fact that it neither reads nor listens to our conversations. On the other hand, it teaches us that some information about us is not protected. This is for example the case with our profile picture, our “About” section, as well as the names and descriptions of the newsgroups, as well as the date they were created and those of updates. Understand that if your photo is that of a horse and you are part of a “Long live badminton” discussion, it is very likely that WhatsApp will use this information to show you the advertisement for the t-shirt of a thoroughbred racket in hand on Facebook or Instagram, his roommates at Meta. This is pretty much the only personal information that is collected, but the digs don’t stop there.
The application is indeed also cramming tons of technical data on your interface usage habits. And there, we can say that the analysis is cold in the back so much it seems intrusive in a perverse way.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of what WhatsApp catches in your devices:
- Connection hours,
- The names of the people you talk to, the frequency of exchanges and their duration,
- The phone model, its operating system and its battery level (!!!),
- Internet signal strength,
- The version of WhatsApp you are using,
- Your connection information, including your telephone operator or Internet service provider,
- The language you use,
- Your IP address,
- Your time zone.
Knowing this, even if WhatsApp does not have permission to collect your geolocation data, it can still know roughly where you are by combining your IP address and the phone number you use to use the app. The latter can also be exchanged with certain international telephone operators located, among others, in the Netherlands, the United States, the United Kingdom or Sweden.
If all these revelations make you want to unsubscribe, you should know that it will take at least 90 days before you are removed from the system. This will not be the case for some of your data, such as that related to the troubleshooting log or to your account activity. However, they will be anonymized and the company justifies these memories by specifying they serve to make the application more efficient, reliable and efficient.
Like what, the nice WhatsApp, even if it does it more subtly than the others, also crams our information from morning until evening. Suddenly need a REALLY secure alternative? Follow the guide !
