Title what Pageare the risks? Messaging apps:
28 March 2017 Presented by Tom Walker | @thomwithoutanh
Out of reach for many.
Source: Pew Research, 2015
But there are always exceptions.
“We came in with the idea that SMS would be the best way of reaching marginalised refugees coming into Jordan. Unequivocally, it was WhatsApp.�
Source: eMarketer, April 2016
‌.and when people use them, they really use them.
How are organisations using them?
Source: Syrian refugee making a phone call after disembarking from a Hungarian bus that brought her to the border.
Disseminating information
BBC using Viber (Nepal) and WhatsApp (West Africa); ICRC using WhatsApp (Yemen)
As part of a hotline
“With any number you put out there, you can expect that strangers will use it to try to connect via WhatsApp and Viber. It has happened to me and it happens to pretty much everyone here. People just assume that you can be reached that way – and they do not hesitate to try - at all hours of the day and night.” Interviewee describing experiences in Iraq
Conducting surveys
WFP-Bot asking questions about food security
Giving tailored information
Refugee Text Facebook Messenger bot: http://refugeetext.org/
Governments want messaging app data.
Source: https://twitter.com/prasanto/status/722334153320980480/photo/1, April 2016 Associated Press, August 2016:
...and so do others.
Source: Vocativ, April 2015, http://www.vocativ.com/world/yemen-world/yemen-houthi-rebels-whatsapp/
How could they access this data? - Access to physical device - Legal requests - Covert methods - Screenshots
Consent …?
Recommendations • Prioritise privacy: end-to-end encryption, minimal metadata • Collect as little data as possible • Plan for verification & validation • Consider bias in data collected through messaging apps