Monthly Archives: January 2021

Whatsapp New Privacy Policy 2021 – Is It Really That alarming? Should you switch to Signal?

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Whatsapp cannot access or see your messages, they are End to End Encrypted, that means only the sender and the receiver can see or read the plain text form of the message. Whatsapp Uses The Signal Protocol designed by Open Whisper Systems to encrypt their Messages (Encryption Protocol From the Signal App).

Recently Whatsapp users across the globe started getting a popup while using Whatsapp stating that there’s an update to their Privacy and policy, which users need to agree before 8th of February to continue using Whatsapp or else users should uninstall Whatsapp From their Phones. The new privacy policy brings some significant changes to how Whatsapp collect and use users data. You can read Whatsapp new Privacy Policy from here

The news of Whatsapp updating their terms and conditions have caused quite a controversy and tons of people switching from Whatsapp to a more secure solution like The Signal Messenger which is an open-source non-profit messaging app which offers better encryption and privacy.

In this article, we will cover all the details about the new updated privacy policy from Whatsapp and how it will affect us, users. We will also debunk all the myths that are floating around about the new update. We will also take a look at Signal Messenger and show you how it’s better from Whatsapp and other alternatives.

Whatsapp New Privacy Policy Update

Whats In The Whatsapp New Privacy Policy

Before going into the details, we’ll debunk the biggest myth that is floating around since the new privacy policy update. Whatsapp cannot access or see your messages, they are End to End Encrypted, that means only the sender and the receiver can see or read the plain text form of the message. Whatsapp Uses The Signal Protocol designed by Open Whisper Systems to encrypt their Messages (Encryption Protocol From the Signal App). Some medias claiming that Whatsapp is no longer safe to convey your private messages is completely false.

The new updated privacy policy from Whatsapp aims at transparency on how Whatsaap collects and uses users data. Whatsapp will now share these data with facebook and could link this collected data with your facebook/instagram profiles to serve you more relevant ads.

Here are the list of information collected by Whatsapp

  • Your Account Info – Profile Picture, Mobile Number, Name, About
  • Undelivered/Forwarded Messages (Encrypted) – Frequently forwarded and Undelivered Messages are kept for 30 days, these messages are not in plain text form
  • Your Contacts – All the saved contacts in your phone
  • Status – Text or Media Status
  • Transactions And Payments Data – UPI and Payments data from Whatsaap Pay
  • Usage And Log – When you are offline/online, When about is updated, the time you use the app.
  • Location Information – Accurate/Approximate Location
  • Businesses On WhatsApp – Business can share your messages with them to a third party
  • Third-Party Service Providers – Share the above-collected data with Facebook and other third parties
Whatsapp showing Battery Info (Courtesy: WABetainfo)

All the above information were previously collected by Whatsapp, the only notable new change is their transparency about sharing their information with Facebook and third party. Here is the link to where you can read the previous privacy policy from Whatsapp and you can see for yourself which data they were previously collecting and sharing with third parties.

Conclusion About The Whatsapp New Privacy Policy

Even though Collecting these data by Whatsapp means less privacy, the recent controversy regarding Whatsapp is entirely based on some myths and rumours floating around about Whatsapp. As Whatsapp is a closed source app we can’t be 100% sure what happens behind the app.

So the conclusion is that Whatsapp is as safe as it was before, as they are not intercepting our messages and are end to end encrypted by their claims.

But if you are extremely cautious about privacy and don’t want Facebook collecting these data you can switch to an open source solution, Namely Signal.

Why Use Signal, How is it Better From Whatsapp

Signal is an open-source encrypted messaging platform that is available on Windows, Mac, Android, IOS. As the app is open source the entire code and working of the app is publicly available on Github, This means there is transparency in the privacy of the service and the tech community from across the globe can see the source code and report any problems or any privacy violations to the community.

Signal Android App

Signal has other privacy feature that Whatsapp lacks such as Screen Security, Disappearing Messages, Encrypted Chat backup and is completely secure. Even the Whistle Blower Edward Snowden has recommended signal messenger as it is secure.

If you are this concerned about your privacy, just enquire how much data your android phone collects and sends to google and how much data your Instagram and Facebook apps collect. Warning: you might throw your phone away 😉

Paava kadhaigal – Review, A Must Watch

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Paava kadhaigal is a Tamil edition Netflix anthology mini-series (each episode has a different story) with four episodes, each less than 40min duration. Paava kadhaigal was released on 18th December 2020, after the release of the official teaser on 27th November 2020, and the official trailer on 3rd December 2020. It is currently streaming in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi and in English. Paavai kadhaigal is a criticism on irrelevant social norms and social stigmas that causes pride, sin, prejudice, honour and hostility which inturn affects relationships. The title track “Kanne Kanmaniye” preceding the four-episodes creates a melancholic uneasy feel in the viewers, the red colour in the title song shows the transformation of a daughter from childhood to marriage, the song creates a rough picture on what to expect in the coming four episodes. Here is a short review of each episode.

Thangam

The first episode among the four is “Thangam” directed by “Sudha Kongara”. The story is about a trans villager who has been excluded by the public, faces bullying and attack from the village Hooligans. Actor Kalidas Jayaram as ‘Sathar’ a Muslim trans woman, gave a wonderful performance. His character is successful in showing a transgender’s identity crisis and emotional feeling of hurt. The story takes place in a small town in Kovai district. The background music in this episode intensifies the emotions in the story. The story mainly focuses on the social stigmas and taboos on transgenders and intercaste marriage.

Love Panna Uttranum

“Love Panna Uttranum” is directed by “Vignesh Shivam”. The story is about a village landlord Veerasimman(Padam Kumar) seemingly having a negative view on love relationships and marriage, which causes fear in his two daughters Aadhilekshmi and Jothilekshmi. They also feel restricted from telling their father about their relationship. The story portraits conservative thinking of village people, it also shows the lifestyle differences in a village and town. Unlike the other three episodes, this story has a happy ending with brilliant humour.

Vaanmagal

“Vaanmagal” was directed by predominant Tamil cinema director and actor “Gautham Menon”. The story is about sexual abuse faced by “Ponnuthaayi”, the youngest daughter in a middle-class family. Satya(Gautham Menon) and Mathi(Simran), the middle-class couples, and their three children Bharath, Vaidehi and Ponnuthaayi, are playing the key roles in this story. Both Gautham Menon and Simran show their stunning performance. This story projects guilt, anger and social stigmas in the family in an intensive sensible way.

Oor Iravu

“Oor Iravu” was directed by “Vertrimaaran”. Similar to that of “Thangam” and “Vaanmagal”, “Oor Iravu” is also an emotionally disturbing episode. The story focuses on Sumathi (Sai Pallavi) and Hari (Harikrishnan) who loves each other, eloped and alienated from her family. When Pregnant Sumathi went back to her family for her baby shower, her father Janakiraman(Prakash Raj) shows hostility towards her. This story illustrates the stigmas of intercaste marriage with a tragic end.

Conclusion

All four episodes are based on socially relevant issues mostly found in a country like India. This series portraits how Sin and social stigmas restrict one’s personal choices and interests. Even though we are in the 21st century, most of rural India is not likely to accept transgenders, gays or lesbians as normal humans. Lower cast people are still considered as low in their status, even though they have a good education and high collar jobs. Intercaste marriage is considered a sin by society.

The courage to take such sensitive themes and successfully organise it in an awesome way is quite appreciated. This series allows us to break our limits of thinking, and can also create a deep painful scar in our heart. Under the direction of Sudha Kongara, Gautham Menon, Vetrimaaran and Vignesh Shivan and the excellent performances of the cast: Kalidas Jayaram, Shantanu Bhagyaraj, Bhavani Sre, Anjali, Kalki Koechlin, Padam Kumar, Simran, Gautham Menon, Aadhitya Bhaskar, Prakash Raj, Sai Pallavi and Hari Krishnan, made Paava Kadhaigal a best-rated mini-series.