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+23 +1
WhatsApp backdoor allows snooping on encrypted messages
A security vulnerability that can be used to allow Facebook and others to intercept and read encrypted messages has been found within its WhatsApp messaging service. Facebook claims that no one can intercept WhatsApp messages, not even the company and its staff, ensuring privacy for its billion-plus users. But new research shows that the company could in fact read messages due to the way WhatsApp has implemented its end-to-end encryption protocol.
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+22 +1
Security researchers call for Guardian to retract false WhatsApp “backdoor” story
A thirty-strong group of security researchers have co-signed an open letter calling for the Guardian to retract a story it published last week that had claimed mobile messaging app WhatsApp contains a “backdoor”. “Unfortunately, your story was the equivalent of putting “VACCINES KILL PEOPLE” in a blaring headline over a poorly contextualized piece,” writes academic Zeynep Tufekci, who organized the open letter.
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+21 +1
Flawed reporting about WhatsApp
Open door: Cumulative effect of missteps led the Guardian to overstate the potential impact on the security of users’ messaging
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+8 +1
Removing WhatsApp encryption ‘would help terrorists’, says Facebook boss
Allowing governments access to Facebook’s encrypted message service, used by the Westminster Bridge terrorists, would make extremists harder to track, its boss claims.
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+12 +1
Afghanistan orders suspension of WhatsApp, Telegram
Afghanistan has ordered the suspension of WhatsApp and Telegram to resolve "technical problems", officials said Saturday, sparking outcry among social media users. Facebook-owned WhatsApp and Telegram are popular messaging apps among smartphone-using Afghans -- including Taliban and Islamic State jihadists. So far state-owned Salaam Network is the only internet provider to obey the order, which applies from November 1 to November 20, telecommunications ministry spokesman Najib Nangyalay told AFP.
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+15 +1
Social Media Steps in to Ease Cape Town Water Crisis
As Cape Town braces for the day when it will run out of water, a campaign to donate water to its residents has become a social media phenomenon.
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+17 +1
WhatsApp Co-Founder Puts $50M Into Signal To Supercharge Encrypted Messaging
In the four or so years since it launched, end-to-end encrypted messaging app Signal has become the security community's gold standard for surveillance-resistant communications. Its creators have built an encryption protocol that companies from WhatsApp to Facebook Messenger to Skype have all added to their own products to offer truly private conversations to billions of people. And it's done so as a non-profit with, at any given moment, a tiny staff that includes just two or three full-time coders. Now imagine what it might accomplish with actual Silicon Valley money behind it.
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+32 +1
WhatsApp co-founder tells everyone to delete Facebook
Facebook bought his app for $16 billion
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+6 +1
WhatsApp co-founder tells everyone to delete Facebook
In 2014, Facebook bought WhatsApp for $16 billion, making its co-founders — Jan Koum and Brian Acton — very wealthy men. Koum continues to lead the company, but Acton quit earlier this year to start his own foundation. And he isn’t done merely with WhatsApp — in a post on Twitter today, Acton told his followers to delete Facebook.
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+3 +1
Drug dealer caught by WhatsApp photo
A pioneering fingerprint technique used to convict a drugs gang from a WhatsApp message "is the future" of how police approach evidence to catch criminals.
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+2 +1
WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum quits Facebook due to privacy intrusions
“It is time for me to move on... I’m taking some time off to do things I enjoy outside of technology, such as collecting rare air-cooled Porsches, working on my cars and playing ultimate frisbee,” WhatsApp co-founder, CEO and Facebook board member Jan Koum wrote today. The announcement followed shortly after The Washington Post reported that Koum would leave due to disagreements with Facebook management about...
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+3 +1
In India, Facebook’s WhatsApp Plays Central Role in Elections
Unlike Facebook and Instagram, WhatsApp has received little attention for its influence on voters. But in one Indian state, the messaging service became a prime election tool.
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+41 +1
There Is No Justification for What Mark Zuckerberg Did to WhatsApp
The Facebook CEO can’t be trusted.
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+9 +1
Tip: WhatsApp can re-download deleted media, hide it from your gallery
First, and this was pointed out by our tipster Nitin, is the fact that WhatsApp can re-download media that was deleted from the device's storage. I can't say how new (or old) this is. It's been years since I've deleted some WhatsApp media, but a friend did so several months ago and asked me how to get them back. The option wasn't there then. So the best I can guess is that it's relatively new-ish.
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+12 +1
Facebook’s New Message to WhatsApp: Make Money
Four years after Facebook Inc. bought WhatsApp for $22 billion, it is formally starting the messaging app on a new mission: bringing in revenue. WhatsApp on Wednesday detailed plans to sell advertisements and charge big companies that use its service to interact with customers, launching its first major revenue streams as growth at Facebook’s main app is starting to decelerate.
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+17 +1
Stop Using WhatsApp If You Care About Your Privacy
Privacy has always been a key feature and popular selling point for the messaging app WhatsApp. Company co-founder Jan Koum grew up in the Soviet Union under heavy government surveillance, and he promised to keep user data protected after Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014. Now, with Koum on the way out, it may be time to ditch WhatsApp before that promise leaves with him.
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+24 +1
WhatsApp founder, Brian Acton, says Facebook used him to get its acquisition past EU regulators
WhatsApp founder, Brian Acton, who left Facebook a year ago — before going on to publicly bite the hand that fed him, by voicing support for the #DeleteFacebook movement (and donating $50M to alternative encrypted messaging app, Signal) — has delved into the ethics clash
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+16 +1
You’re not quitting Facebook if you still use Instagram and WhatsApp
So you’ve decided you’ve had enough with Facebook and its continuing antics, or all the times it’s been hacked this year, or perhaps you’re just sick of how much time you spend on it. You’ve finally made the plunge to delete it from your life. And after all, between apps like Instagram and WhatsApp, you’ve got all the social media you need. Sadly, I am here to burst your bubble, if you weren’t already aware: Instagram and WhatsApp are both run by Facebook.
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+43 +1
Facebook plans to let Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp users message each other
All apps will support end-to-end encryption.
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+10 +1
Facebook's plan to merge its messaging services ignites further antitrust concerns
Facebook's reported plans to integrate its three messaging platforms could very well lead to additional regulatory scrutiny for a company that's already under a legal microscope. The New York Times reported on Friday that Facebook plans to combine the technical infrastructure behind WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger, though the apps will continue to function as separate services. The paper cited four people familiar with the company's plans.
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