The latest articles on DEV Community by Prahlad Mishra (@prahladmishra). https://dev.to/prahladmishra https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F311949%2F6c6c7b36-cbfd-432e-a43c-2cccf3f070da.jpeg https://dev.to/prahladmishra en Prahlad Mishra Tue, 12 Jan 2021 11:01:34 +0000 https://dev.to/prahladmishra/switch-or-not-to-switch-out-from-whatsapp-4dmn https://dev.to/prahladmishra/switch-or-not-to-switch-out-from-whatsapp-4dmn <p>WhatsApp has updated their privacy policy recently. All was fine until world's richest man tweeted about it and asked to give up WhatsApp and switch to Signal or Telegram. Since then I have received many messages in (WhatsApp) to switch as the data will now be shared with Facebook. First I thought have I missed something and agreed to it as we (mostly) do without reading the fine print. So I started reading the privacy policy and here are my thoughts.</p> <ol> <li>If you have account with Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, they already have your most profile information. Like name, date of birth, location and probably the phone number.</li> <li>WhatsApp has specifically mentioned that media and message will not be shared. (<a href="https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/privacy-policy-eea">https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/privacy-policy-eea</a>) "Nothing you share on WhatsApp, including your messages, photos, and account information, will be shared onto Facebook or any of our other family of apps for others to see, and nothing you post on those apps will be shared on WhatsApp for others to see, unless you choose to do so." </li> <li>Those who have issue sharing their number with Facebook, what if you want Two-Factor authentication for more security. You will have to provide your number.</li> <li>Today Signal and Telegram are small and autonomous companies. But so was WhatsApp before Facebook acquired it. Ring is now Amazon company, GitHub is owned by Microsoft. There is high chances that once Signal and Telegram has enough users any of these BIG BOYS will acquire them. AND the cycle will repeat.</li> <li>Even if data is shared and user start to see relevant ads based on interests what is wrong with it. When I started looking for higher studies I started seeing so many ads about courses from Universities and colleges worldwide. My thought process improved and I had more data than I could gather by myself to make decision.</li> <li>For those who fear about this should also know that when we have to switch phone we generally use google or iCloud to backup phone so we don't lose anything that is more sensitive than this issue but we do it anyways.</li> </ol> <p>All in all what I want to say is yes privacy is important and we should keep it that way. But the time we are living is difficult and we need to be connected with our loved ones family and friends. WhatsApp and Facebook has done it beautifully for so many years. I personally is not going to give it up just because they are streamlining there internal databases and improving the processes. Moreover, I am not the world's Richest by any means and what is my phone number is will not be of so much of interest for Facebook. So this time I am going to wait to see if all my near and dear have switched until I switch. </p> <p>Please let me know what is your take on this or am I really missing something.</p> privacy current firstpost discuss Prahlad Mishra Mon, 24 Feb 2020 08:10:23 +0000 https://dev.to/prahladmishra/ai-and-web-development-kg2 https://dev.to/prahladmishra/ai-and-web-development-kg2 <p>Just wanted to ask fellow developers, how do you think AI and Machine Learning will change our lives?</p> ai webdev