Ephemeral or self-destructing messaging apps are the new breed of photo-sharing apps that have caught the fancy of users and developers.
Snapchat's rival SlingShot launched by facebook that works in a similar fashion, and its challeged to the original one. Snapchat is very straightforward to use. You can send snaps to anyone on your contacts list who has installed the app. The receiver can view a photo or video for a set amount of time before it deletes itself.
Slingshot is slightly more complicated than that. Sending or ‘slinging’ a photo is easy but, to view the photo you’ve sent, the receiver will have to click a photo and sling it back to you. It also demands a reaction from the receiver every time you send a photo, which we think is quite annoying.
With Snapchat, you get notified if the receiver saves a snapshot of your photo. Though not absolutely secure, it’s better than not knowing at all. Slingshot, does not send you any notification of the receiver saving your photo. This makes it less safe in comparison with Snapchat.
If you’re looking for an app that makes it easy to send mass updates to your entire contacts list, or looking for an app that can ‘force’ your friends to chat back at you, it seems likely that Slingshot will appeal to you more than Snapchat will…assuming that all your friends adopt the Slingshot app right away. The fact that pictures and videos self-destruct is more of a practicality than anything.
Overall, Snapchat is still the better offering. Though both apps claim to do the same thing, Snapchat is a lot more refined and easy to use.
Privacy Issue Arised on SnapChat
Snapchat's central feature promised users that they could send images and videos that disappear forever after the sender-designated time period expired. According to the complaint, these claims were false. The complaint also alleged that the app tracked and transmitted some users' location information and collected data from their address books without their consent.
1. Recipients may have saved your images
Recipients of your Snapchat messages could also use their devices' screenshot capabilities to capture an image of a snap while it appeared on their screens
2. Recipients may have saved your videos
Until October 2013, recipients could connect their mobile devices to a computer and use file browsing tools to locate and save video files you sent them
3. Snapchat may have transmitted your location
While Snapchat's privacy policy says it does not ask for, track, or access any location-specific information from your device at any time, those claims are false
4. Snapchat may have collected contact information from your address book
Snapchat's privacy policy claimed that the app collected only your email, phone number, and Facebook ID to find friends for you to connect with. However, if you're an iOS user and entered your phone number to find friends,
5. The "Find Friends" feature was not secure
Because Snapchat did not verify users' phone numbers during registration, some consumers complained that they sent images or videos to someone under the false impression that they were communicating with a friend. In reality, these messages were sent to strangers who had registered with phone numbers that did not belong to them.
Source:
http://www.informationweek.com/software/social/5-ways-snapchat-violated-your-privacy-security/d/d-id/1251175
Author: Koh Ai Ling (B1401655)
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