@Wordsmith
Sreeja V
@Wordsmith · 0:38

Signal gets a thumbs up from Elon Musk

article image placeholderElon Musk urges people to switch away from WhatsApp
Hello, swell. It's been raining user registrations for Signal, a private messaging app ever since Elon Musk's tweet asking his followers to start using the Signal app. Yesterday, the app reeled under the heavy flow of registrations, and I said it's ramping up to meet the windfall. This is seen as the fallout of WhatsApp recently announcing a change in its Privacy policy, causing increasing concerns about confidential information being shared with third party apps. And so on

https://bit.ly/2JZbapL

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@bookishpodcast
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcast · 1:33

Hmmm. Should I switch?

So should I get on and download signal right away? I mean, what are you saying Friday? Tell me. I mean, what do I go to signal and cancel WhatsApp out or what's interesting about new apps and things like that? Is it's always you start off with Facebook way back when, right? Social media. And it was like, Whoa. And then you're talking about messaging apps like you had Skype was really big
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@ElasticBD
Greg Dickson
@ElasticBD · 2:51

@bookishpodcast my perspective

It's just shocking how much information they're gathering about us and weaponizing and using against us to modify our behaviors and to retarget us with advertising on other websites and social platforms. So it's all about Privacy. It's about security. And it's a well engineered app that just works with end to end encryption. And people say, Well, if you've got nothing to hide, why do you need it?
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@bookishpodcast
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcast · 0:25

@LifeOrigami

Okay Greg, I've just downloaded signal and I mean there are three people that I know that are on signal, but they're not close friends of mine or anything like that. So I'm on signal with nobody to talk to. There's no signal here, but I have the app. Let's see down the road. Maybe people will join and I can kind of message through that. Alright. I'll catch you later. Bye
@Wordsmith
Sreeja V
@Wordsmith · 1:20

@bookishpodcast

A lot of people are going off the app, and it's going to be a very difficult habit to get rid of because we have huge, large community groups on WhatsApp and for entire groups to be able to migrate and take to a new app is going to be quite a challenge. So I'm not really sure how this will all play out, but yes, the implications are very clear, and I think so. It was with Facebook as well. Right
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@andrewsam
Andrew Sam
@andrewsam · 4:59
I have probably moved all my groups in the last two or three weeks over to Signal and move all the other people who are traditionally using what's happened to installing signals so that they can get in touch with me. And I'm just going to uninstall WhatsApp in a day when my old family members are moving out today or tomorrow? So this week will be my last what's up? And it basically comes down to dishonesty with Facebook. I mean, the claims that they put out are really childish
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@andrewsam
Andrew Sam
@andrewsam · 2:18
And if you can think about it, the recent exposure of Arnold Gorswami, one of the leading journalists in India who exposed all his knowledge and other things to another guy, and that got exposed to the current Department, and it got leaked on media. You just can imagine if it's happening to the topmost guy in India, one of the top most journalists in India. You can imagine how much of data that can be ripped off from you
@Swell
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15

Welcome to Swell!

@Wordsmith
Sreeja V
@Wordsmith · 1:08

@andrewsam

Hey, Andrew, thanks for those insights. I love the comparison you made between the descent of the Internet Explorer and WhatsApp Facebook doesn't seem to have many things going in its favor at the moment. And turning the tide is going to take unimaginable effort, which leads me to think, what is it that happens to platforms when they become mammoth growth machines and lose sight of why they were conceived in the first place, which is to connect?
@andrewsam
Andrew Sam
@andrewsam · 3:14
I was not very aware of these things, but by around 2010 or so, I have posted enough times about how Facebook has been using its data and how it has been like a constant pain in the Privacy Arena. Okay. Practically the other platforms that are like the other platforms like Sam, even bigger platforms like Apple or Google. Google didn't take big stance about it because they have their own ad policies, which are like practically encroaching the same lines
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@Wordsmith
Sreeja V
@Wordsmith · 0:26

Life is an open book with Facebook @andrewsam

Hey Andrew, so true and well said. I think yes, we must be aware that everything that we put out there is public information is going to be treated as one and used accordingly. And Ironically reminds me of Mahatma Gandhi's Court, where he said, My life is an open book. Seems to be the case with our lives too, with Facebook
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