WhatsApp to trace the origin of fake messages, set up servers in India

The instant messaging platform had earlier expressed inability in tracing the origin of messages citing privacy of consumers.

Fake News Controversy: With the government threatening action against WhatsApp over spread of fake news, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the American messaging platform, Chris Daniels, flew down to New Delhi to fix things.

Daniels, who took over as the boss of WhatsApp in May, on Tuesday told the government it would work out a technological solution to trace the origin of fake messages. The Facebook-owned firm, with more than 200 million active subscribers in India, also committed to complying with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rules relating to local storage of financial data by having servers in India.

Daniels, a Facebook insider known for running internet.org at the California-based social media firm, has been firefighting with the Indian authorities over fake news soon after he was appointed as the WhatsApp boss.

Whatsapp Fake News Measures

Following an exchange of letters with the Department of Information Technology on the steps to block fake news, the WhatsApp team decided to meet the authorities in person to list out the corrective measures planned by the company. In the country for three to four days, the team would meet other ministers and bureaucrats as well. It could not be confirmed if a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled.

Within hours of his interaction with Daniels, Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was off to Argentina for an ICT conference. From there, he will travel to Silicon Valley, which houses several prominent tech companies including WhatsApp. The minister is scheduled to meet top executives of many tech companies including Google during his...continue reading

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News Source: BS

Fake News Menace: You can share WhatsApp messages with only up to 5 people

The Facebook-owned instant messaging service is also reportedly testing more features to crack down on fake news on its platform.

Technology News: In response to the government's crackdown on the circulation of fake news, especially using its platform, WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned instant messaging mobile app, has limit the number of people to whom you can forward a message to five.

The move follows several other steps with the same objective, such as issuing guidelines on how to identify forwarded messages and be a responsible user of the service.

The new feature would roll out as part of an app update from this week itself. The step came soon after the government asked WhatsApp and other social media platforms to take onus and help curb fake news circulation, which had been causing violence -- even lynching in some recent cases.

WhatsApp Forward Messages

WhatsApp has also reportedly been testing more features to crack down on fake news on its platform. Recently, the company had started testing a feature in its beta app for Android in which the app recognises authenticity of the link and marks unusual links as ‘suspicious’.

“Spammers may use some character combinations to trick you into tapping on links that appear to go to a legitimate website, but actually take you to a malicious site,” the company said in a statement.

The statement further added that these checks on links happen only on the user device because of end-to-end encryption which does not allow the company to see the content of messages. This also implies that WhatsApp will not be able to stop a malicious link from being forwarded, but can only label it as suspicious once it has…continue reading

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News Source : BS

Priorities fake news issue over payments service plans: Govt to WhatsApp

WhatsApp has been told that the fake news issue is far more important than other plans in the current circumstances.

Latest News → IT Ministry is keen to see WhatsApp priorities curbing of fake news on its platform, against the backdrop of lynching incidents claiming many lives, over its plans to launch payments service, as per a senior government official.

The official told PTI that WhatsApp's payment service matter had figured in the meeting on Monday between IT Secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney and top WhatsApp executives, including COO Matthew Idema.

The meeting saw the executives outlining the steps initiated by the Facebook-owned company recently to combat circulation of fake messages which incited lynching incidents in several parts of the country.

Whatsapp Fake News Issue

The ministry is of the view that WhatApp needs to resolve on priority basis the overhanging issue of misinformation and take more steps to control the rampant abuse of its platform for circulation of fake messages.

WhatsApp has been told that the fake news issue is far more important than other plans in the current circumstances, said the official, who was privy to the recent discussions.

WhatsApp did not respond to an emailed query.

The official noted that there are outstanding concerns over Whatsapp's proposed payment service plan, including how and where will the data of users be stored in the backdrop of RBI's instructions, mandating that data be stored in India.

The government wants greater clarity on how the storage issue is being handled by WhatsApp and these matters are under discussion, the official said, adding that detailed examination is required also given that....continue story

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News Source : BS

Ramdev’s Patanjali takes on WhatsApp with ‘Swadeshi Messaging app Kimbho’

Kimbho application is touted to be a competitor of the messaging app WhatsApp. The tagline of Kimbho is kept as “Ab Bharat Bolega”.

 

Latest News India : Yoga guru Ramdev launched a new messaging application called Kimbho under his flagship company Patanjali.

Patanjali’s spokesperson SK Tijarawala tweeted, “Now Bharat will speak. After launching sim cards, baba Ramdev has launched a new messaging application called Kimbho. Now Whats App will be given a competition. Our own #SwadeshiMessagingplatform. Download it directly from Google Play store.”

Kimbho application is touted to be a competitor of the messaging app WhatsApp. The tagline of Kimbho is kept as “Ab Bharat Bolega”.

अब भारत बोलेगा…!
पूज्य @yogrishiramdev @Ach_Balkrishna के मार्गदर्शन में उनके शिष्य नवदीक्षित साधुओं और राष्ट्रनिष्ठ विशेषज्ञों ने #स्वदेशी तकनीक से इजाद कर बनाया यह #KIMBHO एप#भारत #स्वाभिमान

Patanjali’s new app to challenge WhatsApp @bst_official https://t.co/hxBCbwdrnV
— tijarawala sk (@tijarawala) May 30, 2018

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 Also Read : Patanjali SIM Card

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Patanjali’s entry into telecom sector:

Patanjali on Sunday entered the telecom sector. Ramdev launched Swadeshi Samriddhi SIM cards, in alliance with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

Initially, only the employees and office bearers of Patanjali will be able to avail the benefits of the SIM card.

After its full-fledged launch, people will get discount of 10 per cent on Patanjali products with this card. Just with the recharge of Rs 144, one would be able to make unlimited calls across the country, get 2 GB data pack and send 100 SMSs. Apart from this, people will also get health, accidental and life insurances. Speaking on the occasion, Ramdev said government-owned BSNL is a ‘Swadeshi network’ and the motive of both Patanjali and BSNL is the welfare of the country.

“There are five lakh counters of BSNL and from there people can soon get Patanjali swadeshi-samradhi card,” Ramdev said.

Talking about the company’s motive “prosperity for charity”, he further said that in addition to attractive data and call package, the card also comes with the medical and life insurance covers of Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh, respectively.

However, the covers could only be availed in the case of road accident. Sunil Garg, BSNL Chief General Manager, who was also present here also praised the tie-up of Patanjali and BSNL.

“Patanjali’s plan is BSNL’s best plan. In Rs 144, one can make unlimited calls from any part of the country. We are giving 2 GB data pack, 100 SMSs. The members of the Patanjali has to just show their identity and there SIM will be activated soon after some paper work,” he said.

Read More → Kimbho

New update allows users to access Instagram and Facebook content within WhatsApp

In its latest update rolled out for select iOS users, WhatsApp support will allow users to play Instagram and Facebook videos within the app, without exiting the chat.

Technology News : In a bid to increase user engagement, popular instant messaging platform, WhatsApp, has rolled out an update by which users can view content from Facebook and Instagram within the app itself.

In the present day, a user who receives videos or images from Facebook, Instagram or any such app would be redirected to these apps to view the content. However, this is set to change with the new update, reports The Verge.

In its latest update rolled out for select iOS users, WhatsApp support will allow users to play Instagram and Facebook videos within the app, without exiting the chat.

Apart from this, the new update also introduces the ability to add and revoke admin privileges from users in a group chat and empowers admins to edit the subject, description and icon of a chat that is already underway.

In November last year, WhatsApp had announced an update through which one can view YouTube videos directly inside the messaging app, in picture-in-picture mode.

If a YouTube link has been sent on a conversation, then users can directly view the video through the link on WhatsApp itself, as it will no longer be redirected to YouTube. Instead, the YouTube clip will appear within a small floating window on your screen, thus implying that you can watch YouTube videos and message at the same time.

On a related note, the latest update is expected to be rolled out to Android users as well in the coming weeks.

Read More about the Latest → WhatsApp Update

Blackberry, VoxSmart partner to enable banks to monitor WhatsApp chats

Firms partnered to help financial corps comply with EU's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive

To enable financial institutions to monitor data on WhatsApp Chat and other encrypted messaging platforms in line with the upcoming European Union (EU) directive, BlackBerry has partnered with the leading mobile surveillance and compliance firm VoxSmart.

Together with BlackBerry UEM (Unified Endpoint Management), which connects and manages endpoints, VoxSmart's 'VSmart' will provide financial services firms with the ability to capture, record, store and analyse mobile voice, text and third-party instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp and WeChat.

"Together with VoxSmart, we can enable businesses around the world to effortlessly capture conversations on endpoints including smartphones, wearables, tablets and laptops," said Florian Bienvenu, Senior Vice President of EMEA Sales, BlackBerry.

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"This joint solution is an excellent example of how BlackBerry is leveraging its software portfolio and developing strong partnerships to secure the Enterprise of Things," Bienvenu added in a statement.
The companies have partnered to help financial services firms comply on time with the European Union's "Markets in Financial Instruments Directive" ('MiFID II').

MiFID II, which comes into effect on January 3, 2018, demands that all financial services firms in Europe must keep records of all services, activities and transactions for at least five years.

Records include all electronic and instant messaging communications, telephone conversations and text messages related to or intended to conclude in a transaction, even if one does not occur.

"VoxSmart is the only global mobile compliance solution that can capture, record, store and analyse both voice and third party instant message applications such as WhatsApp and WeChat," said Oliver Blower (read more...)

WhatsApp introduces new camera features

Instant mobile messaging app WhatsApp on Tuesday introduced new ways to customize and enhance the photos and videos you share with friends and family around the world.

With WhatsApp's new camera features, people can now write or draw on photos and videos as well as add emojis to express themselves.

"Now, when you capture a new photo or video or share one which is already on your phone, you will automatically see the new editing tools," WhatsApp said in a post.

WhatsApp has also added a convenient zooming feature for recording videos.

Just slide your finger up and down to zoom in and out and supports the front-facing flash.

The new camera features will roll out on Android phones starting Tuesday and on Apple iPhones soon.

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