Running on Mint Debian, I got a strange problem with Whatsapp lately.

I can't link up my Android phone to PC via Firefox and Chrome. On Firefox I can't get the QR code loaded it keeps spinning, on Chrome the QR code shown but can not complete linking, but I can do it on Chromium no problem at all, the reason may be Chromium does not 'call home' like the other two, any comment ?

Firefox works here. I don't have chrome.

I suggest you clear cache & history stuff. Directories like

• ~/.cache/mozilla/firefox/*
• ~/.mozilla/firefox

hold offensive and inoffensive stuff. They also might have bookmarks and saved passwords, so be careful. There's alst stuff in ~/config usually.

It might help.

1 members found this post helpful.

To answer your original question, yes, some open source software "calls home" (for example, to report bugs or misfires), but it asks your permission first.

No-one remembers the Ubuntu kerfuffle a while back ????.

Not necessarily.

Evo2.

Yeah I removed the profile and re-sync again Whatsapp works again, thanks a trillion what a relief !!

Glad it worked.

also, re 'calling home:' Firefox, chrome & probably chromium all call home to a greater or lesser extent. All are owned by Google, which wants to know about it every time you break wind or do anything else. Chromium phones home least of all. There is also chromium-ungoogled, a fork of chromium to stop offensive behaviour. I have no guarantee it does a 100% job.

Firefox isn't owned by Google. It's owned by the Mozilla Foundation.

Yeah, and who owns the Mozilla Foundation? (Hint: Where does the Foundation get 90% of its income from...)

2 members found this post helpful.

Something that needs be said here.

Open source does not automatically mean safe and not going to do something bad.

Closed source does not automatically mean it's going to destroy your entire world.

The only benefit to open source is that people can potentially see it. But when you look at some of the more recent 0 day's that have been in the wild for a decade or more you begin to ask how many people really do look over the code despite it being open source.

Open source in theory is an amazing thing. Unless you can actually read the code though you are just hoping for the best just like closed source.

I think tracking is the issue, really, although nobody's said that. Google tracks your every move, and that data can persist. If your political leanings or religion suddenly became unpopular, this sort of information can be dragged out and used against you. It going further now with security camera footage being used for facial recognition. We're not there yet, but China probably is.

Regarding tracking, all techs track us some for good and some for bad, some tech relies on tracking in order to work. Say for instance, I used the Nokia N73 back then which was a 2G non GPS phone, I installed an early version of MAP that can track my whereabouts, not as accurate as GPS but useful. If you have basic knowledge of how cell phone works then you will know it uses cell site/tower location to determine your whereabouts, so that the exchange can connect to you directly without searching the whole network, once you turn on the cell phone your location instantly exposed ! GPS and add on apps are added convenience and accuracy that can go without.

You've nailed it! Added convenience. That's the business model for all modern IT companies. You are offered added convenience in return for personal information. Most people are happy with this bargain.

When Orwell published Nineteen Eighty Four, many people said it could never happen because people wouldn't accept a spy in every living room. And they couldn't be forced to either until the government already had a degree of control over the public that would require a spy in every living room. There was no way of breaking into that circle. Well, there is now!