13 Sept 2016

What's with this personal data security!

A few days ago, there was this huge outcry about Whatsapp asking you to share your phone number with its parent, Facebook. A lot of informed people not only opted out of it but took it as their duty to educate the general public about the same. What right does a business have to access our personal information, even if for a service!

It's astonishing how valuable Whatsapp has been to our lives. It's a simple piece of software to which even our illiterate parents/grand-parents have adopted naturally. It has helped large families, alumni groups, teams, etc. keep connected with each other every minute of the day. It has filled a lot of available time in the everyday life of our retired parents with jokes, funny videos, motivational messages, and well with its fair share of hoax. It has united classmates from the previous generation. In ways unique to each individual context, it has added a lot of value to our lives. It has almost become an indispensable part of our lives. And it has done all this for free.

How do we price such an added value to our lives? How much are we willing to pay for this value? Perhaps nothing if you ask millions of people using it. Not until the last such service goes out of business not being able to pay for itself and we're left isolated, unconnected, undiscoverable. And it takes time after any such existing service goes out of business and before new one gains a critical mass to offer the same level of connectivity. If this happens 2-3 times, people will get tired of switching and perhaps the world will not be as connected much before the last service dies.

So here is a company asking for no money but just for you to share your phone number with its parent platform. A number which you've perhaps already put on your profile page on its parent platform, whether visible or invisible to the public. A number which you've perhaps shared with it so that it can allow you to reset your password using your phone number in case you forget it. A number which you happily give to every retail chain on the street just to earn 1% purchase value worth of loyalty points. Let's face it, you're anyways going to see ads on your Facebook wall. What will happen if this company is able to get a better picture of your preferences by linking Whatsapp? You'll get more relevant ads. It may actually end up saving you some time, improving your experience with ads, or adding to your gratification!

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