Today, with the help of instant messengers, we are in touch with our loved ones in real-time and it barely costs anything except for an internet connection. These applications have become a part of our day to day lives, but do we know how they adversely affect privacy in our lives? But there are two sides to a coin; likewise, the centralized messengers of today, while offering ease of communication, siphon off your data. Using messengers to stay in touch with our near and dear ones has become part of our daily routine. Right after waking up, the first thing we do is to go through our mobile phones. With centralized messengers like WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, there is an illusion of privacy.
We know that centralized messengers play a significant role in our lives. Without WhatsApp, Telegram, and other messengers, our lives would be more complicated. Centralized messengers are mostly used for personal messaging, but nowadays, they are also being used for business development purposes. They may provide several advantages, but let's delve on what’s really going on under the hood. Have you ever thought, what happens if your personal and business secrets got out or were shared with your competitors?
This is something that’s very likely to happen on centralized messengers, given the numerous privacy concerns they’ve had for a while now. How is it possible to know your secrets, you may ask. It is certainly not implausible. These messaging platforms store your information on centralized servers (data farms) that are susceptible to a central point of failure. Anyone insider or a person with sufficient technical knowledge of how these platforms work may try to hack your information.
These centralized entities sometimes share your data with third parties and even regulators who track the activities of ordinary users. Once, WhatsApp stated in its privacy policy that it would share your phone number and profile name with Facebook. Furthermore, Facebook companies can collect and share more detailed information about the underlying messages you send, known as metadata, such as the timestamp and your IP address. This is an open statement from WhatsApp. With such messengers, you don't control or own your data.
Your data is aggregated and shared with platforms that use it to target you with cookies and ads. Moreover, data breach is a common and recurring affair on these platforms. In April 2021, the BBC reported that data of 533 million people from 106 countries was published on a hacking forum. Entities with vested interests will seek to profit from your data. If your data is compromised, you may receive spam messages or phishing links that access your contacts and gallery. Some may even try to collect your bank account details or encrypt your data with ransomware.
While it is entirely not possible to resolve these issues, you can make a conscious switch to applications that protect your data. For instance, the BChat decentralized private messenger that ensures your privacy. It is built on top of the Beldex decentralized network and doesn't collect any personally identifiable information.
You can create an account without submitting your name, phone number, email address etc. All you need to use BChat is a pseudonym and a BChat ID which is generated by the network when you create an account. BChat helps you send truly anonymous messages. The BChat ID is a string of hexadecimal characters generated during the account signup. Users can use it as their identity, and by sharing this BChat ID, they can connect with others on BChat.
BChat also doesn't collect your device information such as IP address, location, etc or metadata such as the type of message and time stamp. The messages you send and receive on the BChat dApp are truly end-to-end encrypted and stored only on your local device. It is not stored anywhere on the Beldex network. No one other than the receiver can read your messages.
The BChat Messenger helps you to own your data.
While the current version of the application lets you send private messages, subsequent updates will allow you to make high definition voice and video calls. An in-built wallet will also be integrated so you can pay as you chat. You can send and receive BDX, the network's native crypto.
Beldex is a privacy network launched in 2018, building private decentralized applications. The Beldex ecosystem consists of dApps that include BChat, BelNet, Beldex browser, and the Beldex privacy protocol. The Beldex project is committed to enhancing your privacy online.