Mobile IM application WhatsApp is accused of violating international privacy laws

http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/17197.html "> Beijing time January 29, data protection regulators in Canada and the Netherlands said they were required to provide a complete phone address book, Mobile IM application WhatsApp violates international privacy protection laws.

WhatsApp is one of the top 5 applications in global sales. The app offers instant messaging services and has launched an iphone and BlackBerry version. Its services can replace SMS, sending more than 1 billion messages a day via WhatsApp.

In recent years, the privacy policies of internet companies such as Facebook, especially Internet service storage and sharing of user information, have been of great concern. The Canadian Privacy Commissioner's Office and the Netherlands Data Protection Board reported jointly in Monday that WhatsApp violated privacy laws because the user had to provide the entire address book on the phone, and the contacts in the Address Book were not all WhatsApp users.

"The lack of choice violates Canadian and Dutch privacy laws," said Jacob Kohnstamm, chairman of the Netherlands Data Protection Commission, Jacquebo Kornstam. WhatsApp users and non-users should be able to control their personal data, and users must be free to decide which contact information they want to share with WhatsApp. ”

WhatsApp has not yet commented on the news.

Investigators found that WhatsApp kept the mobile phone number of users who did not use the application, a violation of privacy laws. According to investigators, WhatsApp has said that adjustments will be made to protect user privacy, such as allowing the contact to be manually added. In September 2012, WhatsApp launched a mobile message encryption function as a response to the survey.

The Dutch Data Protection Commission says it will continue to oversee WhatsApp, which could be penalized if violations of privacy laws continue to occur.