New privacy hires at WhatsApp: Nate Cardozo (EFF), Robyn Greene (Open Technology Institute)

This bodes well for WhatsApp users.

Attorney Nate Cardozo of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (for the last 6 years!) and Robyn Greene from the Open Technology Institute are among new privacy team hires at social networking company WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook. Cardozo announced the move on a Facebook post, Greene announced her news in a tweet.

Cardozo announced the move in a post to Facebook on Tuesday:

Personal news! After six and a half years at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Ill be leaving at the end of next week. Im incredibly sad to be leaving such a great organization and Ill miss my colleagues with all my heart.

Where to? Starting 2/19, Ill be the Privacy Policy Manager for WhatsApp!! I could NOT be more excited.

If you know me at all, youll know this isnt a move Id make lightly. After the privacy beating Facebooks taken over the last year, I was skeptical too. But the privacy team Ill be joining knows me well, and knows exactly how I feel about tech policy, privacy, and encrypted messaging. And thats who they want at managing privacy at WhatsApp. I couldnt pass up that opportunity.

Its going to be an enormous challenge professionally but Im ready for it.

Taylor Hatmaker at TechCrunch:

In an effort to bolster its public credibility in the wake of a very rough year, Facebook is bringing a fierce former critic into the fold.

Next month, longtime Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) counsel Nate Cardozo will join WhatsApp, Facebooks encrypted chat app.