Leaving Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp

I've been writing about my efforts to escape Facebook Inc's data mining: [https://www.therealists.org/2020/01/my-attempts-to-escape-facebook-inc-s-data-mining-leaving-facebook-instagram-and-whatsapp/](https://www.therealists.org/2020/01/my-attempts-to-escape-facebook-inc-s-data-mining-leaving-facebook-instagram-and-whatsapp/) or at least to minimize it, since I know they track non-users as well.

I quit Facebook and Instagram a long time ago and never looked back. Now my struggle is to persuade my friends and family to communicate with me with a tool other than Whatsapp (I'm opting towards Signal).

I wonder if any of you went through the same thing and have any advice?

https://redd.it/esq9pg
@r_privacy

In all honesty I still don't understand why they haven't just made phones with hidden cameras in the screen... Like an auto selfie 🤳 ... Oh yeah... That's right... They're doing that now....
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/24/opinion/jeff-bezos-phone-hack.html

https://redd.it/etne0b
@r_privacy

The network effect, why I can't delete Facebook

## The crux of the privacy problem: The [Network effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect)

There are a couple of things that I've wanted to do for ages:

* Delete my Facebook account
* Use a libre Android distribution

## Why can't I just delete Facebook?

Most people are not worried about Facebook spying on them, often because they don't understand the scope of the spying, or because they're just apathetic. The problem with network effects when it comes to Facebook is that everyone assumes that everybody else has a Facebook account, and as such I've often become an inconvenience to people when refusing to communicate via Facebook.

Facebook is the norm where I live, and the people who actively use it don't understand why it is problematic, so they don't understand why I don't want to use it. And as such, I become an inconvenience, and I really hate that, but that's how it is.

It's very understandable, when someone causes an inconvenience to you, for reasons that seem completely alien, that leads to annoyance. In my experience, telling someone "no, I don't check or communicate via Facebook, it's spyware" is-- to a computer layperson-- tantamount to someone telling you "You'll have to find a pen, I don't use pencils, because of the demons."

I really don't like the feeling of being a constant nuisance to people that need to communicate with me, and I don't like the feeling of exclusion it causes.

Realizing how much of an inconvenience it was, I ended up surrendering. I can convince my closest friends and family to use Signal or to just call me via regular cell-phone service, but I just can't expect everyone to be on-board.

## Why can't I use a libre Android distribution?

I really don't like what happened to smartphones. They're essentially computers, but they take power away from the user by spying on them and presenting a locked down interface. "Rooting" may be accomplished, but many important apps (for whatever reason) refuse to work on a rooted phone, requiring time-consuming workarounds that might suddenly fail.

It means I don't have access to key services, that are only available as apps (depending on your nationality the problem might be less or more severe.) This includes certain banking services, public transportation tickets, and even my student ID. Not having these apps doesn't just cause an inconvenience to myself, but to others.

I've looked into the possibility of running these vital apps on libre platforms, but the gist of it is that it requires lots of workarounds that might suddenly fail. The problem is compounded by the fact that many of these apps are regional, so there are very few people working on making them function on libre platforms.

## In conclusion

Had it simply been a matter of sacrificing convenience for myself, I would have easily been able to live a life away from Google, Facebook, and Microsoft spyware. But due to the network effect, I'm causing an inconvenience to *other* people.

What I've ended up doing is having a "clean" computer, and a "dirty" phone, which seems to be the path of least resistance.

On the clean computer, I only use privacy-respecting software and services, while on the dirty Android phone I reluctantly use everything else that I currently need to be a part of society.

This is obviously a problem, but it can't simply be resolved by individuals taking it upon themselves to reject corporate spyware, there needs to be a complete social and regulatory shift to solve this problem. The network effect is probably the biggest hurdle to overcome when trying to escape corporate surveillance.

https://redd.it/ety39g
@r_privacy

more like, upgrading backdoors

WhatsApp will stop working on millions of phones soon - here's a full list of every device affected.

Millions of phones will soon no longer support WhatsApp due to a major update with the popular messaging app.

Older versions of Android and iOS devices will no longer be able to access the Facebook-owned app from 1 February, while certain Windows phones have already lost support.

WhatsApp said the cull was necessary in order to ensure the security of its users, who are advised to update to the most recent mobile operating system their smartphone supports.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/whatsapp-update-latest-version-iphone-android-stop-working-a9276736.html

📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_EN
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_DE
📡@NoGoolag

Facebook to Pay $550 Million to Settle Illinois Facial Recognition Suit
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/technology/facebook-privacy-lawsuit-earnings.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Business

https://redd.it/evvlcf
@r_privacy

How to Clear Data Facebook Collects About You from Other Sites and Apps
https://thehackernews.com/2020/01/off-facebook-activity-data.html?m=1

https://redd.it/ex75z6
@r_privacy

How to add a WhatsApp Business account to a Facebook Page?

https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/smba/26000343/?category=5245246

Analyzing WhatsApp Calls with Wireshark, radare2, and Frida
https://medium.com/@schirrmacher/analyzing-whatsapp-calls-176a9e776213

https://redd.it/f0b5g8
@r_privacy

*cough cough send this to y'all WhatsApp fanbois*

bruh 😂😂😂

If you can't convince them, confuse them

Facebook

The other day I was having a conversation with a client about something that is of absolutely no interest to me, the next time I opened my Facebook app on android I see ads about this.. You can try and tell us that your app algorithms know us so well but this time I'm calling bullshit. I've sort of always been just 'OK' with Facebook, Google and Microsoft but now, its time to clean up my digital footprint.

https://redd.it/f6lbm1
@r_privacy