WhatsApp under fire?!

Currently, the media are making big headlines calling on people to leave WhatsApp and use an alternative messenger for communication instead. You may also have received an impulse to do so from a friend. What is behind this and why is seetal chile now also publishing an article on the topic? We see it as our responsibility as a church to take a stand on this issue.

What happened?

In our latitudes, WhatsApp is the most popular messenger app of all. You can reach practically anyone on WhatsApp. Since its first release in 2009, however, a lot has happened that has increasingly weakened trust in the company. For example, WhatsApp has since been taken over by Facebook and is heavily criticised for the reuse and commercialisation of user data. In addition, the security of the service is criticised in many respects. It would be too much to go into detail here. You can find relevant information in current media reports.

What is clear, however, is that WhatsApp has recently published new terms of use and is thus asking every person to agree to them. Without consent, it will not be possible to continue using the service. This is precisely the crux of the matter: the terms of use raise many questions in a society that has become more sensitive about privacy and data protection. For example, the longer it goes on, the more it is assumed that WhatsApp passes on user data to Facebook & co. in order to use it for advertising purposes, among other things. In addition, WhatsApp passes on data protection obligations to users so that they do not have to comply with them in case of emergency.

So it can be said indisputably: Man, with all his doing and being, has become a product. We pay for our everyday communication via the popular messenger by disclosing personal information that is actually worth protecting.

Communication in the seetal chile

The seetal chile lives from communication between people - especially for the countless volunteers, the exchange of messages is an important means. The current wave of information on the subject of WhatsApp has prompted us to consider whether we want to/can agree in principle to its further development and what influence this decision will have on us as a church.

There are two fundamental issues at stake:

• To what extent can we represent the further development of WhatsApp from an ethical point of view and how much personal information do we give away?
• Is the way WhatsApp processes our data compatible with our values on data protection? More about our current process regarding data protection

We classify the continued use of WhatsApp as "unreasonable". We will be happy to explain in detail how we came to this decision on request. Please use the comment function below this post.

This statement is also intended to reinforce that we as a church see ourselves as having a responsibility to represent exemplary values within our society.

What next?

We want to stimulate thinking and raise awareness. Which messenger - WhatsApp or an alternative - you want to use in the future is up to you.

Nevertheless: With regard to seetal chile, the situation has become more complex. For example, we now regularly receive messages from people encouraging them to switch to a personally preferred alternative (Telegram, Threema, Signal, ...). This makes it immensely more difficult to reach a specific person, as it now has to be determined which service someone is using. It is particularly difficult in group chats with staff when people suddenly leave and leave a team incomplete.

We recommend: Threema

On the one hand, we want to stand up to WhatsApp and not continue as before; on the other hand, it would be desirable for the social environment (especially in the seetal chile) to decide in favour of a common messenger. This will probably never be completely possible, but we want to encourage you to join in.

After an extensive analysis, we are of the opinion that switching to Threema makes sense. Compared to other services, Threema scores mainly with:

• Messages are encrypted end-to-end (incl. bypass protection) and deleted immediately after successful delivery on the transmission server (no long-term storage).
• Threema is a Swiss company that cultivates a sustainable corporate culture.
• All Threema servers are located in specially operated data centres in Switzerland.
• Threema is the only provider that allows anonymous use (without providing contact details).
• All software components of Threema are open source. This means that anyone can check what exactly Threema does when using the app. Regular independent audits confirm the quality of the technical implementation.

You can use Threema either in the App Store (iOS) or in the Google Play Store (Android). When downloading Threema, a one-time fee of Fr. 3.- is due, which can be paid via the mobile phone bill, by entering an anonymous voucher code or by credit card.

For opponents of paid apps: This is not a subscription or anything like that, but a one-time investment in a Swiss company that is not financed by advertising revenue. And let's be honest: we quickly spend hundreds of francs on a smartphone, so we should also be prepared to pay the modest price of a cup of coffee for the messenger we use every day.

Outlook

In the spirit of our reorganisation in the direction of agility (cf. this contribution), we are also working on creating a way for groups to communicate with each other more easily. Since there are constantly many changes within the staff teams and these in turn are complexly interconnected, traditional group chats are no longer suitable for communicating with each other. We will provide more information on this at the appropriate time.

For private chats and already existing groups, we recommend switching to Threema (see above).

Where can you be found?

The fact that many people now prefer different messenger services does not exactly make it easy to communicate directly and quickly. As the seetal chile staff team, we have therefore decided that in future we will increasingly proceed according to the following scheme: We try to reach a person via Threema and alternatively resort to communication via SMS/email/phone.

With this in mind, I hope you enjoy chatting!

Side note: By the way, we are not sponsored by Threema, but simply want to set a sign 😉