Brazilian authorities were urged to act on WhatsApp’s forthcoming privacy update, amid concerns over privacy rights and data protection.Consumer rights non-profit organization Idec has notified various governmental organizations, including the National Data Protection Authority, the National Consumer Secretariat and the Federal Prosecution Service with a request for joint action to prevent irregularities stemming from the changes, set to take effect from May 15. WhatsApp’s new privacy policy update will allow Facebook to aggregate all of its users’ data across all of its services. Introduced quietly to users through a prompt to accept the new terms late last year, the update caused uproar over the data the social networking giant could access, and, as a result, the company has delayed enforcing the new terms from the originally planned date of February 8 to mid-May. “It is essential that the Brazilian authorities press [Facebook] for clear answers and that the administrative procedures implemented respect the data protection rights of Brazilians”, said the lawyer leading the digital rights program at Idec, Michel Roberto de Souza. Facebook-owned apps are the smartphone tools Brazilians use more often and for longer periods of time, according to a survey carried out by Brazilian technology news and research…
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Brazilian authorities urged to act on WhatsApp privacy update
