A bit of background; In January, Whatsapp sent an alert for an update in its Terms of Service. This one caused a bigger stir than normal because it had a February deadline for accepting or being forced to leave the platform. Whatsapp has since moved this deadline to later, also admitting to not having used the best way to communicate this. Let’s talk about the biggest scare. Privacy. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. I don’t think a lot of people understand what they actually mean when they talk about not wanting to share their information. Whatsapp has always shared information with Facebook. So if you are already using Facebook, or at least visiting their site or watching a video or two from their platform, they are already collecting data from you. So don’t even think about leaving whatsapp because of “privacy”.

This data does not include your messages, groups or calls by the way. In fact, these are encrypted by default, so even if someone hacks their server, they shouldn’t be able to read them.For Telegram, this is not the case. Their messages are not encrypted by default, unless you use secret messages. Check their Terms of Service. Signal on the other end does encrypt. Their messages are encrypted by default. In fact, the same guy behind whatsapp, Brian Acton is the same guy behind the Signal app. He left Whatsapp when he didn’t exactly agree on some privacy practises with Facebook. A story for another day. But yes, the same encryption technology that whatsapp uses, was borrowed from Signal. Signal seems to have a right approach to protecting people’s privacy, but my only concern is their sustainability for a larger audience since they are not exactly a for-profit business. In fact, they already experienced their fair share of issues due to the surge in numbers when the Whatsapp update came. They have since resolved them. But again, they don’t intend to make money so how far can they go in saving and serving this vision to a larger audience?

Also, just by the way, if you leave in Europe or the UK, most of these updates don’t affect you. You people have stronger privacy laws. Talking of Privacy again, I think it’s kind of overrated. This is what I mean. I am not saying Jack and Jill can know where I stay. I am saying where it benefits me, they may know. For example, my bank has my address because I need their services. My car insurance made an app where if I share my location data they can give me a 25% discount by just downloading their app. They monitor my driving. This makes me a better and safer driver because of their tips. Feels like a double benefit for  me. This is optional but I chose it because I think it benefits me. Also recently shops have introduced curb-side pickup due to the pandemic. If you use the Walmart app to go pick up groceries, you can drive up to the curb side, make a phone call and someone will bring your groceries. If you share your location, you can do mobile check-in, let them know when you are leaving home and they will know when you arrive and are kind of ready for you. You will get your groceries in less time because they are more ready. Again, mobile check in is optional, but if you can enjoy that 5 – 10 mins difference in convenience, all in exchange for my location data? For me that’s a small price to pay. The other side is me not sharing my name, address, credit card info, location, and having to go inside the store and do groceries by handpicking, spending more time and risking myself more to Covid? Excuse me. They can have my data.

I am not saying be careless with your data online. It’s scary out there. More websites than you think are tracking you. Apple is trying to help, hence the recent wrangle you may have seen between Apple and Facebook lately. If you use the safari browser, you may have noticed from their recent update, just how many trackers they are now automatically preventing to track you on your behalf, by default. The worst part is we hardly realise until the website or apps are really big. The recent social site Clubhouse has its own issues I already noticed but no one is talking about. It’s blowing up because Elon Musk talked about it and wanted to invite Russian president Putin to a chat on the platform. But while it’s still invite only, in order to invite someone they ask you to share your contact details. And you already see suggestions based on some contacts you haven’t invited. They are already using this data for their own good. I think there are many mul-practises out there when it comes to privacy, and whatsapp practices that you are afraid of are just a tip. And for me, not really worth switching over because for me I still benefit. Did I also mention the same data Whatsapp collects, name, platform, location, Telegram also collects and they both clearly mention that on their Terms of service. Difference is whatsapp has a bigger parent company Facebook, that they will share the data with but Telegram says they won’t share with anyone.

I am not a Big Tech boot licker. I still think Big Tech companies take some things too far sometimes. Privacy is a much bigger topic and If I have a big enough audience from this, I might put together another ‘general’ article talking about privacy for a non-techie’s perspective. In closing, it is ok to switch to Telegram or Signal if you really have to. But just know there is still a lot more out there that is leaking the same privacy you are trying to protect. Do your own reading before you commit to online services, including just using Google. For now, I’ll keep my Whatsapp and maintain my family contacts. And continue enjoying Whatsapp Status 🙂 . Does Telegram have something similar? 

It wasn’t so much the virus that made it complicated, rather our unpreparedness for it. Some world leaders claimed to have it in control, until they realised they didn’t, maybe a little too late. And that was the first time I’d heard of African countries closing their borders to the US and Europe. Who would have thought. Also, the US-Canada border was only open for ‘essential travel,’ whatever that meant. Italy was on lock-down. Ontario and few other provinces joined in. Schools and daycare centers closed for at least 3 weeks. It united parents to their kids in a way that made them appreciate teachers more.

Idris Alba tested positive. The Canadian Prime Minister’s wife tested positive. They both later recovered fully. The world introduced social distancing, a concept meant to ‘flatten the curve’ and that was the first time many of us were actually learning about this. It was easy to judge leaders. Yet no one had actually been a leader in a global pandemic crisis before. Everyone seemed to be trying. The NBA, NFL, and many other sporting events or gatherings of over 100 and in some cases 50, were cancelled. Late night show hosts did their evening shows without an audience. Churches closed. Some countries introduced ‘quarantine stamps’ on the hand to force those who tested positive to stay home. The US stock market circuit breakers were triggered at least three times in March 2020. They had only ever been triggered at least once in 1997 before since they had been introduced after Black Monday in 1987. And for German Big brother show, no news wasn’t good news anymore. They had to tell them after weeks spent in isolation.

It wasn’t before long that covid-19 was trending. What better opportunity to ride on the wave. Marketing campaigns were created. Blog posts were written. Some even created Medium accounts just to ride on wave and start their writing career (no names). Every CEO wrote a ‘We care’ letter. I received emails from on-line services which I didn’t even know I had, telling me what they are doing in the crisis. I unsubscribed to most.

It was bad. Bare in mind that was long before this Global Fund for Pandemic Preparedness was birthed. That was before every world leader was on board with environment consciousness and fighting climate change. That was before the mental health conversation was a no-brainer, even in the minority communities. Well, we used to call them minorities. A lot was happening but in all, it reminded us we may be the smartest species around but we don’t have it all figured out. We may have sent men to the moon, now to Mars, or we may have built 5G that works even in our most remote hyper-tubes, but we still don’t have complete control of our destiny. We knew we had been humbled when a whole US government declared a national emergency and then a national day of prayer immediately after. A clear admission of the reality and for the need for divine intervention …