But that rollout doesn’t make headlines like all the ones from the US government telling people to use encrypted messaging like WhatsApp or Signal. That’s what got them to WhatsApp to begin with. FBI tells everyone very loudly to get off standard texting. They jump as a collective to where half of them already are.
As I’ve already alluded to: this has precisely zero to do with the technical aspects of security. Ease of use does matter (why pushing to Signal didn’t work at the time the FBI spooked everyone), but only a little bit, and is overshadowed by momentum of where people already are.
I might be able to get my family off WhatsApp with the recent article about it being banned from (I think it was) Congress’s phones.
But again, this isn’t a technical problem where you can just point at what’s obviously the better choice. There are complications of personal relationships, individual resistance to change, whether or not you’re willing to train your family members, etc.
My grandmother is in her late 80s and it is astonishing that she can even manage WhatsApp to pariticipate in the family group chat. I’m not upending that and causing her the added stress, work, isolation if it fractures the family groip chat, and signing myself up for all that extra work to try and drag people to new platform and hold their hand through the bumps… just so I can be comfortably principled, using the best option, and trying to prevent Meta from getting info about me for a few more years that they likely are getting through other means.
I’ll revisit as the elders age off.
I care about my privacy, but I’ve thought long and hard about my specific threat model and what is and isn’t important enough for me to make a big deal out of. For me, this is an acceptable sacrifice.
Doesn’t have to be that way for anyone else. Just has to work for me and my life. And it does.
Ultimately I’m just trying to give reasons why people are still on these platforms. I took the initial comment I responded to at face value. I’m not really looking to debate here, and my opinions don’t invalidate anyone else’s.
Yes, you’re correct.
But that rollout doesn’t make headlines like all the ones from the US government telling people to use encrypted messaging like WhatsApp or Signal. That’s what got them to WhatsApp to begin with. FBI tells everyone very loudly to get off standard texting. They jump as a collective to where half of them already are.
As I’ve already alluded to: this has precisely zero to do with the technical aspects of security. Ease of use does matter (why pushing to Signal didn’t work at the time the FBI spooked everyone), but only a little bit, and is overshadowed by momentum of where people already are.
I might be able to get my family off WhatsApp with the recent article about it being banned from (I think it was) Congress’s phones.
But again, this isn’t a technical problem where you can just point at what’s obviously the better choice. There are complications of personal relationships, individual resistance to change, whether or not you’re willing to train your family members, etc.
My grandmother is in her late 80s and it is astonishing that she can even manage WhatsApp to pariticipate in the family group chat. I’m not upending that and causing her the added stress, work, isolation if it fractures the family groip chat, and signing myself up for all that extra work to try and drag people to new platform and hold their hand through the bumps… just so I can be comfortably principled, using the best option, and trying to prevent Meta from getting info about me for a few more years that they likely are getting through other means.
I’ll revisit as the elders age off.
I care about my privacy, but I’ve thought long and hard about my specific threat model and what is and isn’t important enough for me to make a big deal out of. For me, this is an acceptable sacrifice.
Doesn’t have to be that way for anyone else. Just has to work for me and my life. And it does.
Ultimately I’m just trying to give reasons why people are still on these platforms. I took the initial comment I responded to at face value. I’m not really looking to debate here, and my opinions don’t invalidate anyone else’s.