Brazilian Judge Shuts Down WhatsApp And Brazil’s Congress Wants To Shut Down The Social Web Next

[Ena]

So after some rumors and a lot of speculation, the Brazilian Congress issued a request in order to shutdown whatsapp for 48 hours, starting at 9pm Eastern tonight.

 

WhatsApp being the MOST used application by something arround 93% of the brazilian population, "they put the internet on fire" as a lot of people say here in brazil.

 

With the popularization of cheap smartphones and many cellphone carriers offering unlimited access to whatsapp with cheap prices per month,

whatsapp became very, very quickly the Main communication tool in brazil, as well as a lot of corporations and small business use whatsapp as the main front door, on my job for exemple, about 90% of our costumers come from whatsapp.

 

The reason behind this blocking are kind of being throwed around there, some say its because the police needs to investigate some pedophilia case, because of the encrypted nature of whatsapp, it is near impossible to track people and messages from it,

 

others say that its because whatsapp its an "unregulated service" providing "unfair competition" for the cellphone carriers,

i personally think that offering a better service doesn't imply unfair competition, but still, it is beyond my opinion.

 

The fact is, twitter, and facebook are on Fire right now on brazil, people are all over the place talking about how it is bad, and how it is wrong,

but for now, what i am going to do is sleep, knowing that tomorrow will be a easier day at my job since whatsapp is down, and i even don't use this thing.

 

i always hated it since the start, i don't know how popular whatsapp is in the rest of the world or how many of you care, but there it is, gimme your opinions about this, bellow i leave a link for a more "trust worthy" news site so you guys can have your own opinion.

 

 

source: http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/16/brazils-congress-has-shut-down-whatsapp-tonight-and-the-rest-of-the-social-web-could-be-next/?ncid=rss

[FAQBytes]

I think people will fulfill their WhatsApp-craving no matter what the Gov't does.

[Ena]

I think people will fulfill their what-craving no matter what the Gov't does.

 

something that i didnt mention, is that at least i think, people most prefer whatsapp over the other options cuz it is that much private and secure, its like "what happens on whatsapp, stays on whatsapp" cuz there are a lot of groups on whatsapp focusing on sharing pornography, and since it is all encrypted its a very handy tool, for those who wants to share things like pedophilia.

[AresKrieger]

More government stupidity when regulating things they don't understand, it's a global issue it would seem, as I've seen similar things come out of every continent.

[FAQBytes]

something that i didnt mention, is that at least i think, people most prefer whatsapp over the other options cuz it is that much private and secure, its like "what happens on whatsapp, stays on whatsapp" cuz there are a lot of groups on whatsapp focusing on sharing pornography, and since it is all encrypted its a very handy tool, for those who wants to share things like pedophilia.

While I don't agree with what the gov't is doing, what I was saying is that people will use VPNs (as well as other tools) to use it either way.

[_ASSASSIN_]

wasn't whatsapp not encrypted end to end?

[Trik'Stari]

More government stupidity when regulating things they don't understand, it's a global issue it would seem, as I've seen similar things come out of every continent.

And we all know where it will lead.

 

Communism/fascism.

[Ena]

wasn't whatsapp not encrypted end to end?

 

it it, thats the problem, the gov is afraid of what they can't tap into.

[_ASSASSIN_]

And we all know where it will lead.

 

Communism/fascism.

are you using that slash as an "or" statement? Because communism and fascism are very different.

 

it it, thats the problem, the gov is afraid of what they can't tap into.

I recall reading an article talking about how whatsapp isn't that secure.

[Slyhawk]

how people use the app is their choice and if they government cant crack past it thats their fault and not the consumers, it shouldnt be banned casue of that

[AresKrieger]

And we all know where it will lead.

 

Communism/fascism.

Yeah, I don't like the way politics have been turning, I'm a libertarian and both conservative and liberal groups worldwide have been pushing farther left and right, which is the exact opposite of what I want, sigh, history just keeps on repeating and no one seems to learn.

[Trik'Stari]

are you using that slash as an "or" statement? Because communism and fascism are very different.

 

I recall reading an article talking about how whatsapp isn't that secure.

In theory they are different, in reality they end up being exactly the same. Totalitarianism of some kind.

 

The punchline is, the majority of the population suffers.

[Ena]

how people use the app is their choice and if they government cant crack past it thats their fault and not the consumers, it shouldnt be banned casue of that

 

totally agreed, it has been 2 hours since the takedown, there still more 46 hours to go, man, i have no idea, the world will burn in these 2 days.

[Ena]

are you using that slash as an "or" statement? Because communism and fascism are very different.

 

I recall reading an article talking about how whatsapp isn't that secure.

 

i know, but still, its is not as easy as "asking" for whatsapp for the messages of X person in order to start an investigation, things that has been proven to be possible with facebook.

[_ASSASSIN_]

i know, but still, its is not as easy as "asking" for whatsapp for the messages of X person in order to start an investigation, things that has been proven to be possible with facebook.

probably because it isn't the US government asking lol

 

In theory they are different, in reality they end up being exactly the same. Totalitarianism of some kind.

 

The punchline is, the majority of the population suffers.

point made.

[Ena]

probably because it isn't the US government asking lol

LOL, i think they could, but from what know whatsapp doesn't store its messages as plain text, they are very very encrypted, they only get decrypted at the phone ends where the decryption key lies, but providing the encrypted messages should help even FPI if they needed those.

[AresKrieger]

 

Just an illustration I slapped together about politics

[carolkarine]

I use what's app to talk to the one Brazilian I know and keep up with. I like the encrypted nature and it's better for sending audio clips then any other service I use.

[carolkarine]

 

Just an illustration I slapped together about politics

I feel like a proper implementation of social services in a capitalist market (a quality of life floor, so to say) would fill in the middle nicely.

[AresKrieger]

I feel like a proper implementation of social services in a capitalist market (a quality of life floor, so to say) would fill in the middle nicely.

Eh what is in the middle is hard to figure out, one issue I realized afterword is that fascism is actually a liberal movement as well (at least at it's inception by italy) so I don't really know what to put on the right after giving it some thought, maybe imperialism?

[carolkarine]

Eh what is in the middle is hard to figure out, one issue I realized afterword is that fascism is actually a liberal movement as well (at least at it's inception by italy) so I don't really know what to put on the right after giving it some thought, maybe imperialism?

You're not describing left vs right in that diagram. You're describing political movements that can on some level be defined by the sides of the triangle. Fascism definitely doesn't allow for social freedom, so you're right on that account.

[Ena]

Funny how most Free VPN services are down because of this tidal wave of access from brazil, i can't even use tunnel bear anymore.

[MrDynamicMan]

something that i didnt mention, is that at least i think, people most prefer whatsapp over the other options cuz it is that much private and secure, its like "what happens on whatsapp, stays on whatsapp" cuz there are a lot of groups on whatsapp focusing on sharing pornography, and since it is all encrypted its a very handy tool, for those who wants to share things like pedophilia.

as a WhatsApp user, its really not that safe. The main reason its gained popularity is the group function, great GUI, and it uses data instead of airtime which is much more cost effective in 3rd world countries with stupid carriers.

[AlTech]

In Asia Whatsapp is massive among English speaking people. Especially in Hong Kong. It's funny cos Facebook owns Whatsapp. I like whatsapp. But I like Line more.

[GoldSrc]

"unfair competition" lol, no wonder they used that cheap "think of the children" tactic.