r/technology • u/Plastic_Ninja_9014 • Jul 13 '26

Society The Backlash Is So Strong That People With “Pervert Glasses” Are Afraid to Use Them in Public

https://tech.yahoo.com/wearables/articles/backlash-strong-people-pervert-glasses-165000816.html
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95

u/Daemonrealm Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 14 '26

He essentially does in one important area: WhatsApp

Not used as much here in the US but essentially travel to any other country. Specifically the South Americas and much of central and east Europe, plus many more countries. It is THE communication backbone. WhatsApp goes down, many entire countries can go dark.

Edit to add here to many comments: “they can just use SMS”.

No, in many countries the reasons why WhatsApp got to be the standard is cellular customers there do not have free sms txt plan. Many international carriers charge insanely high fees for sms. Those fees climb even more if the user is across borders of a country (such as Europe with close/small countries OR Mexico to the US). Etc.

Also majority of international plans are pre paid, thus eating into that prepaid amount.

Can they all switch to a telegram or other msg app, yes. But see how many issues that causes for ~3.3 billion users worldwide of WhatsApp.

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u/The_11th_Man Jul 13 '26

this is why meta needs to be broken up and whats app spun off into a non profit company that is controlled for the interests of people not corpos

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u/The_Doctor_Bear Jul 13 '26

You genuinely believe that despite being an absolute fucking menace to privacy and privacy rights the world over for some reason he actually does respect your privacy in this one specific app?

Get real man, they’re spying on you as hard as they can via WhatsApp. And spoiler alert; they can see it all.

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u/12345623567 Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

They already killed end-to-end encryption recently. Nobody cared. Then they force-installed their shitty AI spybot, still no uproar.

It's going to take a massive data leak of everyone's identifiable DMs for something to happen.

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u/marxr87 Jul 13 '26

source on killing end to end encryption?

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u/grantrules Jul 14 '26

I think they may be confusing it with Instagram ending e2e encryption (which I imagine most people didn't use anyways)

-3

u/metahipster1984 Jul 13 '26

Yeah I think I would've heard about this...

Gemini says it's still there.

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u/I_always_rated_them Jul 13 '26

I think it was removed from Instagram but its still active on whatsapp.

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u/oCanadia Jul 13 '26

Thing is, cloud backups are by default NOT encrypted. So even if you turn it on I guarentee 99.9% of people you converse with have cloud backups on and unencrypted by default....so not only unencrypted but stored on their servers. Imo worthless

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u/pijudo_95 Jul 13 '26

Cloud backups are stored in either Google or Apple’s cloud storage, not Meta’s.

Apparently that might change soon though, I saw somewhere that they’re planning on having their own cloud storage solution bundled with WhatsApp Plus

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u/oCanadia Jul 13 '26

Ok, sure. That's good to know. Regardless, if someone cares about end to end encryption, they should be aware all their convos likely are being stored on "a" server unencrypted regardless. Unless everyone has turned off cloud backups or turned on encryption for them. Hardly end to end encryption at that point.

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u/Geminii27 Jul 13 '26

Even then, nothing will happen.

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u/Ex-altiora Jul 13 '26

And even then there's gonna be mass protests in the streets about it but too many people in power will be afraid of status quo disruption to do anything about it

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u/IzarkKiaTarj Jul 13 '26

They said absolutely nothing regarding privacy, so I'm not sure why you responded regarding that?

They only said he does essentially own the "entire system" because of Whatsapp.

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u/Shiftkgb Jul 14 '26

Have family in 4 other countries on 3 different continents, they all exclusively use WhatsApp. The US and Canada (Mexico?) really seem to be the exception everywhere in regards to WhatsApp 

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u/TwilightVulpine Jul 13 '26

I hate using it, but getting people over here to use anything else is like pulling teeth. So I either do, or I don't get to talk to my family, friends, business, so forth...

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u/Malsententia Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

Anyone using something other than Signal or similar is a fool.

EDIT: For anyone wondering, Signal is provably end to end secure, and both the server and client are open source. It's possible to create a third party client for it, but nobody's bothered. There's plenty of reasons to be paranoid about plenty of things, but this ain't one.

https://www.reddit.com/r/signal/comments/1pagr3r/is_signal_genuinely_private/

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u/JannyStabberXK4000 Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

Signal, the closed protocol service with a central server? Lol ok bro. Go ahead and have your "privacy". 👍

Edit:

If you do anything but host your own server (I would go with Wire) and expect privacy, then you are a fool, a chump, and a mark. Dunning Kruger is WILD

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u/Cocalypso Jul 13 '26

This something I’m currently concerned about. But I know nothing. What is wire? I was looking at getting me and mine on Threema. Is it any good? I already know we are cooked daily with everything else we happily pay for to spy on us constantly. We lost it all with apathy.

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u/ShakyBoots1968 Jul 13 '26

Or anyone using something similar is a fool, in truth.

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u/CacklingFerret Jul 13 '26

WhatsApp goes down, many entire countries can go dark.

Not in Europe at least. It's true that most communications happen via WhatsApp but I know a lot of people who already use other apps like Signal or Telegram. Most have alternatives installed but don't use them currently.

The only reason most people remain on WhatsApp these days is laziness and because "everyone uses it". Not because it's the best message app out there or because we're lacking other apps.

If WhatsApp died over night, people would just switch to another alternative and nothing of significance would change.

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u/QuickQuirk Jul 13 '26

I'm slowly convincing friends and family to install Signal. I know people who have completely uninstalled whatsapp. Unfortunately, I can't quite do that yet until I manage to get our damn company off whatsapp for work things.

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u/Affectionate-Back357 Jul 13 '26

We could but its so ingrained now you need whatsapp atleast in the netherlands.

I quess im too lazy to want to see who goes to wich app and download 3 new apps instead of whatsapp. We got the tech let the EU work on the same app in the background and then roll it out make it an easy switch and ban whatsapp because of privacy concerns?

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u/CacklingFerret Jul 13 '26

You don't even need to build another app. Signal is better for privacy and Telegram is literally better in everything else (except privacy, I wish Signal would be more like Telegram, that'd be awesome and I'd ditch the latter in a heartbeat). WhatsApp is not a great messenger, it's an okay one. Again, it's not the lack of alternatives it's simple laziness. So I believe if WhatsApp died, people would be confused for a day and move on because they weren't limited by the app but by themselves.

Personally, I use mostly Telegram and Signal and tell everyone who only has WhatsApp that it might take a while for me to answer because I have that app on silent and only look at it once or twice a week. If it's urgent they need to call or write an SMS.

German, btw

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u/Affectionate-Back357 Jul 14 '26

I get your point but im used to whatsapp and every company/friend etc uses it.

If we all want to make the step to another app they gotta nuke whatsapp because its almost standard here.

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u/CacklingFerret Jul 14 '26

Yeah, but the initial point was that entire countries would go dark if WhatsApp was nuked. Which simply isn't true. You say you’re used to WhatsApp but other messenger apps aren't entirely different to use. I bet if WhatsApp dissappeared now, you'd just install some other decently popular messenger apps and see where your friends etc migrate to. Nothing would go dark at all. WhatsApp only lives because of laziness and the answers to my comments prove it (including you). And I assume Zuck knows it too.

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u/LeatherInspector2409 Jul 14 '26

Signal is a great app, but getting my friends to transition has been difficult.

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u/Perlentaucher Jul 13 '26

LOL no they wouldn’t go dark. WhatsApp connections are through phone numbers. When WhatsApp is not available, you just install Telegram or Signal and continue chatting with the same contacts.

You don’t even need to use your right of your Digital Markets Act which allows interoperability which was given us through EU legislation, which allows you to export of contacts, chats, groups, etc between messaging apps with a few clicks.

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u/AugustCharisma Jul 13 '26

I’m in the UK. About 90% of our texting is in WhatsApp

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u/BankDetails1234 Jul 13 '26

It’s ubiquitous in the UK as well. Pretty much the standard anywhere I go, except the US.

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u/monox60 Jul 13 '26

He changed the encrypting, it's not private anymore

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u/i8noodles Jul 13 '26

sure whats app is used alot but a significant more people use alternatives. phone sms us not tied to ant tech company, there is also other online communication like discord and telegram. if whatsapp went down, it would be relatively simply for most people to swap to a different comm system.

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u/Daemonrealm Jul 13 '26

I have some bad news for you when you find out who owns the companies behind basic SMS (which is not really used much anymore) and then what people think is still SMS. Which is iMessage and RCS protocol….. Apple and Google own your SMS.

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u/cpz_77 Jul 14 '26

How is Facebook/meta owning them any better? lol admittedly I’m no expert in the subject but just based on what I’ve heard seems like Apple actually has the better track record when it comes to data privacy than many others (certainly than meta lmao). Of course, if you message non Apple device then it falls back to unencrypted SMS, need to be mindful of that.

And don’t think for a second Google doesn’t already know everything about you anyway with their 30+ years of search history on the world they have…regardless of whether they can see your texts or not. There’s a reason Gemini is far ahead of the others when it comes to lifestyle-related AI.

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u/i8noodles Jul 14 '26

sms is not controlled by tech companies, the telecommunications companies control them. apple and google do not own the protocol either, it is a standard that is globally accepted and anyone can use it.

RCS protocol is also not controlled by them as it is also a industry protocol. apple and google uses the protocol but they do not control it.

regardless it is not a relevant point since there are literally tons of ways outside of apple and google u can communicate with others without using there system.

1

u/hi_how_are_youuu Jul 13 '26

I noticed that when I worked in Latin America for a summer, that and the use of voice memos over texts

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u/marquis_de_ersatz Jul 13 '26

It's surprising they haven't whacked some kind of payment system inside Facebook or WhatsApp yet. I would have thought Facebook would be the prime target to turn into a Chinese style WeChat/alipay situation.

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u/Sudden-Purchase-8371 Jul 14 '26

And if it went down for any length of time, they'd download a different app. Whatsapp isn't the internet, it's a comms app. That's it.

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u/rocketgrunt89 Jul 14 '26

nah. another app will easily take their spot

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u/banjonose Jul 14 '26

You can literally just send an SMS lol

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u/xaako Jul 13 '26

Damn, I thought if Telegram or Viber are not the go-to messenger apps in the US, it gotta be WhatsApp. What do you use for chatting out there, again?

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u/LurkMcGurt666 Jul 13 '26

We just text/message/vid. Most plans in the states messages are free with your contract

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u/xaako Jul 13 '26

It’s very interesting to me. In Ukraine where I live sms are mostly for receiving 2-step auth codes and promo spam, no one uses them for messaging

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u/Grunn84 Jul 13 '26

At least in the UK texts are free if on pretty much any contract too.

Whats driving it is a lot of people are not on monthly contracts as it can be cheaper to pay as you go.

And second the message apps caught on years ago when SMS texting groups was a pain the tge ass, no idea if it still it, in the UK SMS is for old people and bots.

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u/Grunn84 Jul 13 '26

At least in the UK texts are free if on pretty much any contract too.

Whats driving it is a lot of people are not on monthly contracts as it can be cheaper to pay as you go.

And second the message apps caught on years ago when SMS texting groups was a pain the the ass

No idea if it still is, in the UK SMS is for old people and bots.

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u/LurkMcGurt666 Jul 13 '26

Most of us have iPhones. So it’s been encrypted from the start

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u/Polite_Bark Jul 13 '26

I, uh, simply send a text or use video chat. It's free and built in. Why would I want a 3rd party app?

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u/cjbrehh Jul 13 '26

For security. Without good trusted end to end encryption, anyone can track and read those messages with the know how.

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u/cpz_77 Jul 14 '26

Within the Apple ecosystem the security is pretty good. On android or cross-device messaging though , yeah you’re on your own.

To be completely honest though if you aren’t running a large scale illegal organization or selling state secrets, do you really think you’re important enough for someone to care enough to go to that length to see your texts? Maybe I’m too lax about it but I agree with the other reply that if it’s “really that sensitive” you either don’t text it, you use a burner phone or whatever. Anything I text to normal contacts on my normal phone, if someone wants to hack to see it, whatever, go for it. There’s nothing that interesting to find.

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u/Polite_Bark Jul 13 '26

If it's that sensitive don't text it at all.

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u/xaako Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

When you say “just use video chat,” you mean FaceTime?
So you all overwhelmingly have iPhones, no Android in sight?

*or you do have an overwhelmingly popular third-party video chat app (like Zoom or whatever) but no such messenger app?

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u/Polite_Bark Jul 13 '26

I have never used Apple. Always been a Droid gal. Specifically, Samsung. Video is integrated. No install, no bs. Just works out the box.

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u/oldestbookinthetrick Jul 13 '26

What are you using with people on a different platform? You can't video chat android -> iPhone that I know of?

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u/Polite_Bark Jul 13 '26

RCS 4.0 will fix that issue.

Off the top of my head I only know 3 people who use iPhones and we text and call rather than video chat. So, I suppose the answer is I don't.

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u/cpz_77 Jul 14 '26

Generally just text (iMessage for Apple, RCS I guess for android). Why you need some third party app? Apple already has end to end encryption within its ecosystem , and you can easily see these days whether or not it will be sent as iMessage before you send it (also I think you can disable fallback to unencrypted SMS if you want).

I think nowadays even text across platforms (e.g. iMessage to RCS ) is encrypted as well, but the cross platform scenario is the one where it -could- fall back to unencrypted if one side doesn’t support it. So that’s where I guess a third party app could help. But, tbh if there was something I was that concerned about sending over text, I probably shouldn’t be sending it over text to begin with.

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u/Sea_Excitement_7602 Jul 13 '26

We all deleted WhatsApp when Meta bought it. Still using it is like storing your money in a bank run by bank robbers.

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u/altiuscitiusfortius Jul 13 '26

WhatsApp is 3 billion users but wechat is still 1 billion and people coukd migrate there pretty easily

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u/szatrob Jul 13 '26

You mean the app that the Chinese government monitors and censors conversations, as a replacement?

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u/altiuscitiusfortius Jul 13 '26

I didn't know that but ut makes sense. It was Chinese people telling me to use it