Semikkah7

Marco Polo WhatsApp?

I’ve had a number of people ask me to join Marco Polo or WhatsApp so we can keep in touch outside of Facebook messenger. This is largely due to many people signing off of Facebook.

In an earlier post I explained switching to Signal for messaging due to its end to end encryption. Signal does not store messages on any servers. Signal is a non profit so they are not driven by making money, but instead supported by users interested in a better online experience.

WhatsApp, by contrast, is owned by Facebook. So while moving to WhatsApp might seem like moving away from Facebook. But since its owned by Facebook its really the same thing.

Marco Polo, on the other hand, is owned by Joya Communications. So at least you are getting away from one of the big companies. Marco Polo encrypts your data over the internet, but not on their servers. They store your data forever, unless you opt out, or request delete. But, you can only access that archive of data if you pay $9.99 per month. Admittedly they don’t sell to advertisers. But how do you know they won’t in the future, or even sell out to Facebook eventually.

As for me, I’m sticking to signal for messaging and protonmail for email.