[kictanet] Brazilians Locked out of WhatsApp

[Ebele Okobi]

Uber moment? Tell me more!

WhatsApp is protecting the privacy rights of its users-here's a FB post from WhatsApp's founder, Jan Koum (btw, when you get a chance, look up his personal history. It gives a sense of why he is so passionate about the right to privacy.)

"We are disappointed in the short-sighted decision to cut off access to WhatsApp, a communication tool that so many Brazilians have come to depend on, and sad to see Brazil isolate itself from the rest of the world."

Ebele Okobi | Head of Public Policy, Africa
m. +44 (0) 771 156 1315<tel:+44%20(0)%20771%20156%201315>
10 Brock Street | London<x-apple-data-detectors://0/1> | NW1 3FG
ebeleokobi at fb.com<mailto:ebeleokobi at fb.com>

[6F376569-CC77-422B-BAD3-794055B1E02B]

On Dec 17, 2015, at 9:42 AM, Mose Karanja via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:

A Brazilian judge has ordered a 48 hour WhatsApp lockdown.
The order claims WhatsApp refused to cooperate with Law Enforcement agencies on data handover.
The harshness of the verdict is thus seen as a retaliation to show whois boss.
However, there is the Telco Lobby pushing for regulation (that word again) of VOIP (WhatsApp calls) under the claim that Brazilians are no longer using voice calls and yet they are taxed for the spectrum which WhatsApp is not being taxed for since it is not classified as a Telco.

You can read more here (in Portuguese):
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/mercado/2015/12/1719934-justica-determina-bloqueio-do-whatsapp-em-todo-brasil-por-48-horas.shtml

or here in English
http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/16/brazils-congress-has-shut-down-whatsapp-tonight-and-the-rest-of-the-social-web-could-be-next/?ncid=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&utm_content=FaceBook&sr_share=facebook<http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/16/brazils-congress-has-shut-down-whatsapp-tonight-and-the-rest-of-the-social-web-could-be-next/?ncid=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Techcrunch+(TechCrunch)&utm_content=FaceBook&sr_share=facebook>

An Uber-moment for WhatsApp.
---
Moses Karanja | @Mose_Karanja<https://twitter.com/Mose_Karanja> | PGP: 0x1529552F<https://pgp.mit.edu/pks/lookup?op=index&fingerprint=on&search=0x1529552F>




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