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WhatsApp Founder Defends His Commitment To Privacy After $19B Facebook Deal

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Jan Koum, the founder of messaging giant WhatsApp, has defended his company’s commitment to user privacy in the wake of a $19 billion acquisition by Facebook and “inaccurate and careless information” that Koum says has circulated as a result.

“Respect for your privacy is coded into our DNA, and we built WhatsApp around the goal of knowing as little about you as possible,” Koum said in a post published Monday on WhatsApp’s blog titled “Setting the record straight.”

Facebook said on Feb. 19 that it was buying WhatsApp, the world’s largest messaging service with approximately 480 million active users, for $19 billion in cash and equity.

 

 

People join WhatsApp’s network by giving their cell phone numbers, but Koum said they don’t give the service their name, email address or any other identifying information like GPS. “None of that data has ever been collected and stored by WhatsApp, and we really have no plans to change that.”

 

 

Koum, who is now worth $6.8 billion after selling his messaging app to Facebook, said his commitment to privacy was personal. He said Monday that his family immigrated from Ukraine to the U.S. when he was 16, in part because of the fear of being spied on by the KGB: “One of my strongest memories from that time is a phrase I’d frequently hear when my mother was talking on the phone: ‘This is not a phone conversation; I’ll tell you in person.’”

 

Way to stick to your beliefs man, good on ya Jan. I think it's great to see smaller developers not giving in to facebook such as Instagram did, what do you think?

 

Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2014/03/17/whatsapp-founder-defends-his-commitment-to-privacy-after-19-facebook-deal/

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Fight the power Quote TTGL . Way to put it Jan Koum

Please become a member of the Linus Tech Tips forum, keep writing smug remarks & let us love you. Peace out.


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It'd be nice if you wouldn't mind adding snipits from the article and personal opinion. I'm not a fan of reading full articles haha :)

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Font sizing in the quotes pretty insane man. And good I like having my privacy.... 

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Font sizing in the quotes pretty insane man. And good I like having my privacy.... 

 

 

It'd be nice if you wouldn't mind adding snipits from the article and personal opinion. I'm not a fan of reading full articles haha :)

 

Fixed and fixed  B)

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lol the whole reason the offer was for so much was because of the user base.

Instant access to 450+ million people. Not a bad revenue stream either at a buck a year.

The guy essentially sold everyones cell number you know basically to facebook for 19billion.

Privacy? lol

 

I just wish I did it first lol

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"and we really have no plans to change that"

 

Haha, that single comment right there makes his principles as they apply to whatsapp, completely worthless. If Facebook decide to change that at any point in the future, he is powerless to stop them, because they bought the app for 19 billion in cash and equity.

 

It's kinda like when a company gets sold onto a new owner, and they say. We have no plans to lay off any current staff. Then 12 months down the line, efficiency measures are required, and half the workforce is made redundant.

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"and we really have no plans to change that"

 

Haha, that single comment right there makes his principles as they apply to whatsapp, completely worthless. If Facebook decide to change that at any point in the future, he is powerless to stop them, because they bought the app for 19 billion in cash and equity.

 

It's kinda like when a company gets sold onto a new owner, and they say. We have no plans to lay off any current staff. Then 12 months down the line, efficiency measures are required, and half the workforce is made redundant.

Well of course. You can't just stun the entire company and change everything overnight, that only confuses everybody.

 

Still, when you're suddenly worth billions, I have a strange feeling he will easily learn not to care.

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Still, when you're suddenly worth billions, I have a strange feeling he will easily learn not to care.

That's exactly my point, he sold out, he can no longer apply his principles to Whatsapp. He lost that control.

Not that I have a problem with that, you'd be a fool not to accept that offer.

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Saw someone on twitter today who posted the AES key used for all whatsapp chats...  :lol:

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I am very committed to my principles, but I would probably admit that 19 billion dollars could make me forget all that pretty quickly.

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He is still working? Man, I would retire immediately after I get the money and would't give a shit what happens to people using Whatsapp. Screw principles, I have money.

The stone cannot know why the chisel cleaves it; the iron cannot know why the fire scorches it. When thy life is cleft and scorched, when death and despair leap at thee, beat not thy breast and curse thy evil fate, but thank the Builder for the trials that shape thee.
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He is still working? Man, I would retire immediately after I get the money and would't give a shit what happens to people using Whatsapp. Screw principles, I have money.

 

 

Oh, I would still world because I would be insane if I stayed home. But I would just buy other peoples principles. 19 billion could buy you a country

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