A newbie question no doubt but what's the deal with WhatsApp here? My mum (who likes to worry) has got herself worried by reading stories online of people jailed on WhatsApp for swearing etc. I'm part of a few groups with friends where swearing, sharing of photos etc happen a lot. Am I right in thinking that encryption means you're only going to get in trouble if someone takes your chat to the authorities? I.e. If you swear at someone over the app and they take offence and take it the police? Or is the app being monitored? If it is I need to exit a few groups!!
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just if they take the image to the police, Whatsapp cannot be monitored as such but the company will give authorities transcripts if requested - the chances of this being requested and given cos you"called" someone is remote to the extreme.
If you want extra encryption go to Telegram and use their encrypted service.
If you want extra encryption go to Telegram and use their encrypted service.
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Its what Mums do - long may that continue.
If you're not prepared to say something face to face in public, and take the consequences of that, then don't post it on social media.
The vast majority of people get by just fine.
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And you think encrypted apps aren't monitored? Think again.
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Just don't post anything silly / offensive and be generally sensible.
Also, if you are planning on calling your mum via WhatsApp you can only do this from a wifi connection and even then it is a bit hit and miss. Use Skype instead. Again, you will only be able to use it via a wifi connection. The local mobile service networks block these services hence the wifi.
Also, if you are planning on calling your mum via WhatsApp you can only do this from a wifi connection and even then it is a bit hit and miss. Use Skype instead. Again, you will only be able to use it via a wifi connection. The local mobile service networks block these services hence the wifi.
Social media isn't a problem, it's Whatsapp. Some of the groups I'm in from home with mates from college, football etc can send some pretty dicey stuff at the best of times - swearing, viral and soemtimes p0rnographic videos etc. Obviously no one on there is going to take that to the authorities, it's more if it's being monitored really.
Already picked up on the whatsapp call thing, thankfully skype seems to work fine on wifi.
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No, its when someone looks at your lock screen and sees an inappropriate messages and complains. They wont bother monitoring but *** help you when an Emirati complains.
Its a case of guilty until proven innocent and you will hand over the lock codes for your phone, or stay in jail until you do.
Well, yes, that is the worst case scenario. However, there are hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of whatsapp messages which get circulated every day in the country, and there may have been a couple of cases where the poster may have been prosecuted for (a) blasphemy or speaking against religion, or (b) general appropriateness. So if you are reported, then yes, there may be trouble. But the probability of that happening is next to zero. Else a lot of the population would be behind bars already.
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1,816 Posts
It's all good until something happens, then you get all kinds of questions you might not want to answer. So 99.9% safe, just hope you don't wind up in the 0.1% group.
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