Threema vs. WhatsApp

A couple of days ago Facebook announced the buy of WhatsApp. The funny thing is that the founders of WhatsApp had been turned down by Facebook years earlier when applying for a job. What I consider not that funny is that - as already in various media described - Facebook is now an even larger giant collector of data. 

 

It is no secret that WhatsApp is not encrypted and not considered safe. And that Facebook will continue finding ways how to use our data in ways we initially hadn't volunteered it for is widely known as well. 

I was using both, Facebook and WhatsApp. But two days ago I deleted WhatsApp and purchased Threema, an apparently much securer messaging app, Swiss made moreover. And yes, I paid for it. 

Why? I was asked. If I had given my data to Facebook already anyway, why would I switch? Easy enough:

I respect the privacy of my friends and all contacts in my address book. Not everybody in my address book is on Facebook. They chose not to be. So I just think it's disrespective if I sync my contacts with WhatsApp and thus they land somewhere in Facebook's giant server landscape. 

And those who will argue that it is too late anyway and that Facebook has that data already from somewhere else - well, that might be true. But at least I am not just accepting yet another smart move of the big player, with the excuse that they know everything anyway and we are transparent in all ways. And for those who claim they have nothing to hide, I don't either. 

But I want to be the one who decides what I publish.

Further reads:

http://www.huffingtonpost.de/2014/02/20/whatsapp-loeschen-gruende_n_4822317.html

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/digital/seit-facebook-deal-whatsapp-konkurrent-threema-verdoppelt-nutzerzahl-1.1894768 

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