[khabaal]

They did not. Opt-Out is not asking for consent. And even if you Opt-Out, WhatsApp will submit your data to facebook for analytic purposes.

The real problem here was quoted as "misdirection of the [whatsapp] users and the public" because WhatsApp stated that there wont be any data exchange between them and facebook, when they were accuired two years ago.

[patrickaljord]

Doesn't the Whatsapp TOS says that they can update that TOS whenever and however they want? Do you have to accept that TOS before using Whatsapp for the first time? So users accepted a TOS that says Whatsapp can change their rules as they wish and now they are angry because they did just that? I totally support people who don't like these kind of TOS and use open source alternative, but people who accepted these kinds of TOS and then complain when they do what they state they would do, that I don't support.

[kuschku]

> but people who accepted these kinds of TOS and then complain when they do what they state they would do, that I don't support.

German law says ToS can not contain surprising terms.

That also means if an ad says "we won’t share your data, ever", no ToS change, unless it’s more publicly published than the original ad, and as easily noticeable and understandable, can undo that.

[khabaal]

Here in Germany, saying that, after being accuired by facebook, you wont exchange any data with facebook, was a huge sales pitch because people started to get really worried about data privacy.

Even people like my mother, who normally has no idea about whats going on, were worried back then but then calmed down by that statement. And the media, where this had quickly became an issue, stopped reporting, because everything seemed to turn out fine.

But now, they broke that promise and altered their product, which now results in those accusations of misdirection of the users and the public. They made that statement, people everywhere became reliant to whatsapp and now everything stated before turned out to be a lie.

[necessity]

But do they need to warn you? I always assume that the information I send to a server is being stored forever by its owner, unless he tells me otherwise. If Whatsapp said it wouldn't share user info and dit it without informing users then yes it should be punished for it and prevented from doing so. But as far as I understand what happened was a TOS upgrade. Don't like it, go to Telegram.

[khabaal]

Think about it this way: You get a product, its free to use. The Company running the service is telling you, they wont share your data ever. You get reliant to the product, everyone uses it. Then they start sharing your data.

[necessity]

Then their breaking a contract and should be prosecuted for it. But I don't remember that.