Privacy

32130 readers

910 users here now

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
Don't promote proprietary software
Try to keep things on topic
If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
Be nice :)

Related communities

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

Safest way of using WeChat on Android? (lemmy.ca)

submitted 7 months ago by bionicjoey@lemmy.ca to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

85 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I live in Canada. My girlfriend is Chinese (also living in Canada), and while we are able to communicate via SMS, her mobile carrier isn't the best, and so there have often been issues for us with regular texting. She expressed a strong preference to use WeChat, at least as a backup option for when texting fails us. While I have some pretty significant reservations, it's not the hill I want to die on. So my question is: what can be done to use WeChat without compromising my whole phone? I'm okay with it if our conversations aren't private, but I'd like to know that I'm not giving unfettered access to all of my phone's systems and data to the CCP. What can be done to limit the reach of this ubiquitous app on my device?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] ReversalHatchery@beehaw.org -1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It's not at all software preferences. It's not that I would tell "matrix or I don't want to see you again", it's "switch from that chinese spy tool or we better break up", as there will be a lot of other things we won't be able to agree on. Facebook is not even that bad as wechat.

See? It's not "software preferences". It's differences in personal values as big as a chasm. It's that I value my privacy, and am not willing to give it up, at least absolutely not that much of it. If our values are so very different, that's a good sign that you shouldn't ignore.

And then, I'm not sure where you read about a multi-year relationship. I don't think such a question as OP's would pop up after multiple years of being used to it.

[–] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

switch from that chinese spy tool or we better break up

"Hey babe, you know that app which is your only way of communicating with your family and friends back home? Yeah well I'm breaking up with you if you don't ditch it."

[–] ReversalHatchery@beehaw.org 1 points 7 months ago

Obviously I did not mean to delete the app, but instead to not force you to use it, but I guess it's just easier to read it in a malicious way.