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by d1sxeyes 1032 days ago
I have to say, that privacy policy is pretty comprehensive, and the questions they are asking seem fair.

They don't need to prove that they NEED it, just that they have a legitimate interest in collecting it which outweighs your right to privacy and your objection to it.

Just because Signal does not collect it does not mean that WhatsApp don't have a legitimate interest in collecting it. In particular, a for-profit company has a fairly compelling argument that 'business intelligence and analytics' is a strong legitimate interest, especially if, as their privacy policy suggests, they only process personal data to produce summary statistics.

You're better off just finding out what data they collect, and then trying to work out what you object to specifically.
1 comments
SenAnder 1032 days ago
> a for-profit company has a fairly compelling argument that 'business intelligence and analytics' is a strong legitimate interest

If profit were sufficient justification, the regulation would be toothless.

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d1sxeyes 1032 days ago
That's a bit of an oversimplification of my point. Profit is not a blanket justification for everything. However, when considering the legitimate interests of a company, it's important to look at the services they are offering (and what pricing they have for those service), as well as their overall business model.

WhatsApp saying 'we need this information for business intelligence purposes so we can grow our core business' is an argument that they have a legitimate interest in processing that data, and should be considered during their balancing test.

Signal, on the other hand, would struggle to rely on this argument, as their core business is to provide a service for free, funded by donations.

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withinboredom 1032 days ago
Have there been any court cases proving it wasn't sufficient justification?
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mattmanser 1032 days ago
https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/news/cjeu-define-scope...

Looks like that very question is with the EU courts at the moment.

But confusingly, yes, there are other court cases you can find online that have said that profit alone is not a legitimate interest.

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