What's Up With WhatsApp?

People who use WhatsApp are putting their personal data at risk, says Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

18:08 19 June 2015

A recent study conducted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has found that WhatsApp is one of the worst companies for protecting your rights online. The report, which has been running since 2011, rates online services based on how they protect user data and content. For the first time, WhatsApp has been included to the list this year. 

 

"WhatsApp should publicly require a warrant before turning over user content, publish a law enforcement guide and transparency report, have a stronger policy of informing users of government requests, and disclose its data retention policies,” says the report.

EFF ranks companies by five criteria:

- Whether the company follows the best practices for data security

- Whether users are informed when the government requests for users' private data and content

- Whether the firm publishes public policies concerning retaining their customer's data

- Whether they reveal when the government has requested content be removed

- Whether they publicly oppose the idea of governments creating a backdoor into the services to allow easy-access to private content

 

Meanwhile, companies that got the highest ranking include Apple, Dropbox, Yahoo, Adobe, WordPress, and WikiMedia.