{"id":1257,"date":"2016-10-28T19:39:15","date_gmt":"2016-10-28T19:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rsoftsolution.com\/blog\/whatsapp-facebook-privacy-u-turn-now-being-probed-by-eu-data-watchdog.html"},"modified":"2016-10-28T19:39:15","modified_gmt":"2016-10-28T19:39:15","slug":"whatsapp-facebook-privacy-u-turn-now-being-probed-by-eu-data-watchdog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/whatsapp-facebook-privacy-u-turn-now-being-probed-by-eu-data-watchdog.html","title":{"rendered":"WhatsApp-Facebook privacy U-turn now being probed by EU data watchdog"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

A seismic shift in\u00a0privacy policy by messaging app WhatsApp\u00a0this summer<\/a>, when it said it would begin sharing user data with parent company Facebook including for ad targeting, has now attracted the attention of European\u2019s data protection watchdog group, the\u00a0Article 29 Working Party.<\/p>\n

The WP29 group wrote<\/a> to WhatsApp founder Jan Koum yesterday, setting out its\u00a0concerns about the\u00a0privacy policy U-turn \u2014 including how the shift\u00a0was communicated to users.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Article 29 Working Party (WP29) has serious concerns regarding the manner in which the information relating to the updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy was provided to users and consequently about the validity of the users\u2019 consent,\u201d it writes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWP29 also questions the effectiveness of control mechanisms offered to users to exercise their rights and the effects that the data sharing will have on people that are not a user of any other service within the Facebook family of companies.\u201d<\/p>\n

It adds that its\u00a0various members, so basically\u00a0all the national DPAs of EU Member States, will \u201cact in a coordinated way\u201d to target any problems they identify,\u00a0with\u00a0a dedicated working group for enforcement actions set to address the WhatsApp issue specifically.<\/p>\n

The letter\u00a0asks WhatsApp\u00a0for\u00a0details of the specific data being shared \u2014 including data categories, source and recipients, and the effects of the data transfer on users and on \u201cpotential third persons\u201d \u2014 so the working group can assess whether changes are necessary to ensure legal compliance.<\/p>\n

The Wp29 group also urges WhatsApp to stop\u00a0passing user\u00a0data to Facebook while it investigates the legality of the arrangement.<\/p>\n

WhatsApp declined to specify whether it would be halting data-sharing in Europe, per the WP29\u2019s request, when we asked.<\/p>\n

But it\u00a0provided TechCrunch with the following statement, attributed to a spokesperson: \u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re working with data protection authorities to address their questions. We\u2019ve had constructive conversations, including before our update, and we remain committed to respecting applicable law.\u201d<\/p>\n

The WhatsApp-Facebook privacy policy U-turn had already drawn criticism\u00a0from individual European Union member country data protection agencies, including the ICO in the UK<\/a> and the Hamburg City DPA in Germany<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, has also publicly flagged the arrangement\u00a0as a concern \u2014 suggesting new rules are needed to enable the region\u2019s regulators to keep up with tech giants\u2019 use of data.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunch\/social\/~3\/ii0wePqrvcY\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A seismic shift in\u00a0privacy policy by messaging app WhatsApp\u00a0this summer, when it said it would begin sharing user data with parent company Facebook including for ad targeting, has now attracted <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[10,7,14,15,6,12,11],"class_list":["post-1257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-update","tag-computer-news","tag-downloads","tag-microsoft-download-news","tag-networking-updates","tag-technology-update","tag-wordpress-plugin-download","tag-wordpress-theme-download"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t