Defenders of privacy asking the U.S. regulator to stop the takeover of WhatsApp by Facebook. They require clarification.
In the United States, advocacy groups for privacy asked the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) to stop the takeover of the application WhatsApp by Facebook .
As a reminder, this acquisition was recently announced. The acquisition price of $ 19 billion raises questions.
Many users wonder why Facebook has paid as much and especially what the number one social network will make the personal data of more than 450 million people who use the service.
Indeed, one of the reasons why WhatsApp was popular is its business model. Having pledged not to collect personal data to monetize the service, WhatsApp instead chose the option of paying App. The first year of use is free, then after the second, the user goes to the fund.
The concern is that the acquisition by Facebook does not guarantee that this model will be maintained once the deal is finalized.
According to Reuters the request by the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Digital Democracy (two non-profit organizations) argues that such a guarantee does not exist.
"WhatsApp users could not anticipate that choosing a courier service for privacy, their data may be subject to data collection practices of Facebook" , do we read in the query.
To defend its arguments, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Digital Democracy take as an example the case of Instagram. Once Facebook has acquired, it would have amended the terms of the confidentiality service.
What they want is an investigation on the issue from the Federal Trade Commission and the commission requires that Facebook separates the information of the practices complained of WhatsApp.
For its part, the social network has responded that they have already stated that WhatsApp will operate as an independent entity and will honor its commitments in terms of security and privacy.