This week we’re talking about . . . WhatsApp

Back on the agenda this week is WhatsApp and, in particular, the messaging service's decision to share some user data with Facebook.

We’re talking about this again?

Yes. The company last month said it would start sharing data with Facebook, giving its users 30 days to opt out. So from the time you first saw the notification that WhatsApp had updated it terms and conditions, you had 30 days to change your mind and say no thanks. Those 30 days have now run out for most people, so if you haven’t opted out, your data is more than likely being shared with Facebook.

And?

It hasn’t been quite as smooth as the two companies might have hoped. Earlier this week, German data-protection authorities ordered the two to put the brakes on the collection and sharing of data of WhatsApp’s 35 million users in the country, and said it had to delete anything it had already collected.

Facebook is appealing the ruling, but it may open the floodgates. In Ireland, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner is looking into the revised privacy policy, focusing on the type of information shared between the two services and paying close attention to what has happened in cases where consumers have exercised their rights to opt out of the data sharing.

It is a similar situation in the UK, where the data protection regulator said users have been raising concerns with its office. Italy is also looking into the matter, as are US authorities. India has also ordered WhatsApp to delete any data it may have collected after two students mounted a challenge to the plans.

In short: nobody is really very enthusiastic, apart from Facebook and WhatsApp.

I’m still not sure what the fuss is about

When Facebook bought WhatsApp, it said it wouldn’t share data between the two services. This has obviously changed and people are understandably miffed. Add to that the fact that users are opted into the data-sharing by default and most people may not have even understood what changes they were signing up to, because the notice was a bit vague about changes to terms and conditions rather than being more obvious about what those changes would mean. And who really reads the terms and conditions anyway?

What exactly are they sharing and why?

According to WhatsApp, it will share the number you use to register with the service and the time you were last seen on the app with Facebook and its family of companies, along with the device you used and the operating system it runs. That could be used for marketing and targeted advertisements for users. It could also mean your contacts are shared, with WhatsApp claiming it would help Facebook offer better friend suggestions.

WhatsApp said, in its original blog post about the change, that it was due to the roll out of new services, such as WhatsApp Calling, and also to reflect that it was now part of Facebook. It could also help cut back on WhatsApp spam, and give the company a better idea of the number of active users on the system.

Hang on. I don’t want to share my phone number on Facebook

The arrangement means Facebook will see your phone number, but it won’t share your phone number on your Facebook profile. It is more of a behind-the-scenes thing that it will use for the aforementioned reasons.

What about message data?

Nope. Even if it wanted to, WhatsApp couldn’t share any of your messages because it uses end-to-end encryption. That means only you can read your messages, and no one can pop up in the middle, swipe your data and use it to start sending you ads.

So what now?

If you haven’t already opted out, it may be too late. The easiest way to check is to open WhatsApp, click on Settings>Account (for iOS), or on Android, the menu button in the top right corner, Settings>Account and see if the “Share data with Facebook” option is there. If it doesn’t appear at all, you aren’t sharing data with Facebook. If data sharing is turned on, you can click “Don’t Share” and it will no longer send your data to Facebook.