Personal data is therefore at the heart of technological news in recent days, and for good reason, two visions conflict. On the one hand, Apple, and its supporters, who want personal data to never be collected without the user's consent, and on the other, Facebook, which also has its supporters, and which advocates use personal data for commercial purposes in order to keep the web free and free.
In this fight between the two Internet giants, the blows are getting harder and harder, and it is the users who are paying the price. With the launch of iOS 14, Apple opened hostilities against Mark Zuckerberg's social network. All applications that collect personal data must notify users and ask for their consent.
There must always be a fallback solution for the user if the latter refuses to share their information. If this option is not added to the applications present on the App Store in a few weeks, when this new rule on confidentiality comes into force, the applications will simply be excluded from the Apple platform, thereby losing opportunity their iOS user.
WhatsApp without Facebook: it is no longer possible
Recently, in this tense climate between the two giants, Facebook organized its defense, and this week we learned thatWhatsApp, the most used messaging application in the world, would share the personal data of its users with Facebook. If a user refuses, they will no longer be able to use the application.
This hypothesis had already been mentioned seven years ago, when WhatsApp was bought by Facebook, and at the time, everyone defended the idea that “Facebook will never have access to WhatsApp data”. A word that will therefore have stood for 7 years. Already in 2016 the application had “offered” its users to share their information with Facebook, but it was always possible to refuse this offer. This is no longer the case today.
Alternatives exist
For users who do not want to give the personal information that WhatsApp passes on to Facebook, they will have to leave the messaging service. If the popularity of WhatsApp tends to overshadow the rest of the market, instant messaging applications are legion, and there are several that have made confidentiality their watchword.
The first is perhaps the best known today, it isTelegram. Created by Russians to be able to speak freely about the regime of Vladimir Putin, the application is designed around this question of security and confidentiality. If the application is not as complete as WhatsApp, it allows you to find the basic functionalities of all instant messaging applications. Telegram is often used by investigative journalists to protect their discussions with their sources. Telegram can be downloadedright here.
Another solution, very popular since the decline of WhatsApp in recent days, Signal. The application is presented by some as “THE” solution to Facebook’s actions. In fact, even Elon Musk recently promoted the messaging application.In a Forbes survey, the latter stood out for being the only one not to collect any personal data,doing better under iOS than iMessage, Apple's "in-house" solution. Signal can be downloadedright here.
