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How WhatsApp messages can identify you
A team of researchers has trained an algorithm to extract personal data from anonymous conversations in an experiment that highlights the importance of protecting privacy.
What is the extent of our digital footprint? We know about the traces we leave on social networks and from sharing content on other websites on the internet. But we edit this content according to who is going to see it and the image we want to portray. Instant messaging platforms, such as WhatsApp which is owned by Facebook, are another matter altogether. “You reveal more about yourself in private messages, not only in the content, but also in the way you use language,” explains Timo Koch, a researcher at Munich University’s department of Psychology.
Koch and his team analyzed more than 300,000 WhatsApp messages and trained an algorithm to recognize the age and gender of their authors – an experiment, he says, that highlights the importance of protecting privacy in these spaces. “End-to-end encryption is an important first step,” says Koch. “But beyond that, we need to be informed – platforms need to be transparent and add labels when information is not encrypted.”
Source: https://english.elpais.com/usa/2021-08-31/how-whatsapp-messages-can-identify-you.html. Access: Ago, 2021.
