Whatsapp stored my wifes data
from trilobite@lemmy.ml to privacy@lemmy.ml on 20 Jun 06:32
https://lemmy.ml/post/48982572
from trilobite@lemmy.ml to privacy@lemmy.ml on 20 Jun 06:32
https://lemmy.ml/post/48982572
What a surprise when i discovered that you don’t seem to need to backup Whatsapp messages any more. They apper to be stored on Meta servers. I’m sure it was not like this in the past? My wife left her GrapheneOS phone on the roof of the car and drove off. I managed to recover it but it had been ridden over by i car. So boight another pixel and installed Whatsapp again. She can’t live without it as all her clients are on there. When i setup Whatsapp on new phone, all messages appered again, just like that. Spooky … I think in the past it wasn’t like that?
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Maybe your wife had enabled cloud backups?
It wasn’t like that before Meta bought WhatsApp. This is why Signal is the superior app using the protocol; Meta stores not only the conversations, but separately stores the address books and the connection meta data and communication web. The actual messages are at least encrypted, but they’re still sitting there waiting to be accessed by anyone with a key (it doesn’t have to be her key).
signal.org/blog/whatsapp-complete/
As nutbutter@discuss.tchncs.de said, maybe your wife had activated backups and you did not have any knowledge of it (and maybe she forgot about enabling it as well)?
But if what you say is true, that sounds horrifying. Meta should get in trouble for this.
I bought a new phone a year ago and lost all my whatsapp messages. Are you sure she didn’t simply enable the cloud backups in the settings?
Well, the phone got runover by a car so will never know. But i willcheck current default settings.
I make sure to have less apps as possible. I was so stupid to have used Facebook.
At the height those of us who weren’t on there got mocked by f&f lol
Now we look like Nostradamus geniuses to them. For me it was just the trait of being a more private person in all things, no genius foresight,
Fully agree on your less is more stance
I remember, years ago, being laughed at by the audio visual crowd when I asked for recommendations for a privacy respecting TV. Now who’s laughing idiots.
They have alsways had your keys and as long as its owned by Facebook it had the data stored on their machines
snee.la/…/the-workings-of-whatsapps-end-to-end-en…
This is my analysis of WhatsApp’s backup mechanisms. The best possible thing you can do from a privacy PoV is to enable end-to-end-encrypted backups, which is disabled by default.
As far as I know, WhatsApp’s backups don’t go to meta’s servers, but instead google cloud / icloud. If your wife logged into her google account before, had backups enabled (frequency is weekly afaik), and signed into the google account again on the new phone - WhatsApp will restore the backups from the cloud.
If you enable E2EE backups, then you’ll be asked to enter your password, which only you can have. If you fail to supply that, your backups are lost forever. The implantation is a bit scuffed IMO, but still better than nothing. Things may have changed since I analyzed it in 2022.
I am not surprised. Meta is the company that do not follows the rules and gathers as much data about their users + others outside of their services (mainly thanks to Meta Pixel), as they possibly can. Extremely greedy!
The inappropriate jokes that filled my head as I read the title of this post are innumerable.
Also, f*ck Meta.
Edit: is setting up a separate work phone/clients only phone and a private life only phone on the table? :)
Of course these are all options that i will slowly have to convince her are needed.
Cool! One step at a time. Don’t give up! xD
If she’s using GrapheneOS can she at least run Whatsapp in a work profile?
Whatsapp tells me every day it’s unable to back up my data, and begs me to remedy the issue. Lol, nope!
She uses graphene AND whatsapp? This is very confusing.
Well, yes. Not ideal, i understand but surely reduces her exposure surface compared to stock os install from what i’ve read here and there.
Afaik default behaviour on Android is that it backs up to GDrive by default.
How did you manage to get whatsapp working on graphene? I can’t seem to get it working
It just works but of course you need all the google crap loaded from the Graphene store. That is why i have it on a seperate profile and its always off
It just works but of course you need all the google crap loaded from the Graphene store. That is why i have it on a seperate profile and its always off
It just works but of course you need all the google crap loaded from the Graphene store. That is why i have it on a seperate profile and its always off