WhatsApp’s idealism and Facebook realism: A study in contrast

[Commentary] WhatsApp founder Jan Koum asserted that Facebook's acquisition of his company does not mean that WhatsApp's internal values will change.

Koum called speculation that WhatsApp will turn traitor to its users' data not just "baseless and unfounded" but "irresponsible," countering the concerns of privacy advocates.

Since Facebook laid out its $19-billion plan to acquire WhatsApp, both users and expert onlookers have derided the partnership as an opportunity for Facebook to make a massive data-grab to correlate with its own user information troves. Per WhatsApp's privacy policy, the company stores virtually no customer information, not even phone numbers -- messages are associated with a phone number "dynamically" on each device, according to Koum. WhatsApp's statements are not only strong, but highly unusual.

While ownership has transferred, Koum now has a seat on Facebook's board of directors, so he is still positioned to protect the app. It's refreshing to see an app founder not only stick to his guns, regardless of what those guns are, but also stand up for pro-consumer privacy policies.

But there are some side concerns about WhatsApp's commitments, too, in light of the number of security flaws the app has displayed, including vulnerabilities that expose message histories locally and allow sent communications to be easily decrypted. While the app ideologically protects its users, it seems to have some trouble putting its ideas into practice.