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KOLLAM: Truth can be stranger than fiction. No one knows better than Sajitha of Kottarakara. How else can she explain electric fans turning on by themselves and her TV exploding after receiving WhatsApp messages predicting the same thing?

Now the 32-year-old, who lives with her parents and child, spends every day in constant fear as she believes every activity in her home is being controlled from the outside.

Sajitha told TNIE that over the past six months she has been receiving scary messages on WhatsApp from her mum Vilasini’s phone – about everything going on at her house. She believes both her mother’s phone and her own were hacked.

“I contacted the cyber police but no case was filed,” she said. On Tuesday, the police installed some security features on their phone. The scary news has now stopped. However, Sajitha said she was still scared.

“We lived in constant fear. Our phones have been hacked. Electrical devices in our house are externally controlled. Up until Tuesday, I was receiving intimidating and scary WhatsApp messages from my mom’s phone. One such message said that my TV would soon explode. And it happened. I’ve had such disturbing experiences over the past six months,” she said. According to Sajitha, the strange events began almost six months ago when she bought a new phone.

Shortly thereafter, the phone began to ring. It would turn itself off and on again. Details on the device would change automatically. “My call log would change. Offensive messages were sent from my phone to relatives and close friends. At first I thought my phone was having problems,” she said. Sajitha then switched phones. “The problems continued, however,” she said. She contacted the police and the cybercrime unit. Apparently, however, no adequate action was taken. The stream of abusive and intimidating messages continued. The family became afraid when electronic devices in the house were controlled by others.

“I decided to use my mother’s phone and put my SIM card in it. After that I started getting strange WhatsApp messages from my phone. I would get a message that my fan would stop, my TV would explode, and the electric meter would explode. Soon these things would happen. My father Rajan is an electrician. He checked our devices but found nothing.

We changed the wiring. But the scary incidents didn’t stop,” Sajitha said. On November 8, she contacted the Cyber ​​Department of the Kottarakkara Police Department. However, officials refused to register a case. She later approached the Kollam rural SP and Kodikunnil Suresh, MP. On Tuesday, the cyber police inspected the entire house. However, officers could not find anything suspicious. “I think something’s wrong when I’m in the house.

I don’t get these messages when I’m outside,” she added. Investigating officer Elias P. George said Sajitha’s and her mother’s phones were checked, but police found nothing suspicious. “We received a complaint. So far there is no evidence,” he said.

</p> <p>KOLLAM: Truth can be stranger than fiction. No one knows better than Sajitha of Kottarakara. How else can she explain electric fans turning on by themselves and her TV exploding after receiving WhatsApp messages predicting the same thing? Now the 32-year-old, who lives with her parents and child, spends every day in constant fear as she believes every activity in her home is being controlled from the outside. Sajitha told TNIE that over the past six months she has been receiving scary messages on WhatsApp from her mum Vilasini’s phone – about everything going on at her house. She believes both her mother’s phone and her own were hacked. Sajitha “I contacted the cyber police but no case was filed,” she said. On Tuesday, the police installed some security features on their phone. The scary news has now stopped. However, Sajitha said she was still scared. “We lived in constant fear. Our phones have been hacked. Electrical devices in our house are externally controlled. Up until Tuesday, I was receiving intimidating and scary WhatsApp messages from my mom’s phone. One such message said that my TV would soon explode. And it happened. I’ve had such disturbing experiences over the past six months,” she said. According to Sajitha, the strange events began almost six months ago when she bought a new phone. Shortly thereafter, the phone began to ring. It would turn itself off and on again. Details on the device would change automatically. “My call log would change. Offensive messages were sent from my phone to relatives and close friends. At first I thought my phone was having problems,” she said. Sajitha then switched phones. “The problems continued, however,” she said. She contacted the police and the cybercrime unit. Apparently, however, no adequate action was taken. The stream of abusive and intimidating messages continued. The family became afraid when electronic devices in the house were controlled by others. “I decided to use my mother’s phone and put my SIM card in it. After that I started getting strange WhatsApp messages from my phone. I would get a message that my fan would stop, my TV would explode, and the electric meter would explode. Soon these things would happen. My father Rajan is an electrician. He checked our devices but found nothing. We changed the wiring. But the scary incidents didn’t stop,” Sajitha said. On November 8, she contacted the Cyber ​​Department of the Kottarakkara Police Department. However, officials refused to register a case. She later approached the Kollam rural SP and Kodikunnil Suresh, MP. On Tuesday, the cyber police inspected the entire house. However, officers could not find anything suspicious. “I think something’s wrong when I’m in the house. I don’t get these messages when I’m outside,” she added. Investigating officer Elias P. George said Sajitha’s and her mother’s phones were checked, but police found nothing suspicious. “We received a complaint. So far there is no evidence,” he said.<br /> ]]> https://rc-irk.net/whatsapp-update-means-users-can-now-message-themselves/ Thu, 17 Nov 2022 18:04:54 +0000 https://rc-irk.net/whatsapp-update-means-users-can-now-message-themselves/

WhatsApp will finally allow people to talk to someone they never could before: themselves.

On some platforms, messaging is a useful way to store or transfer information between devices. Some chat apps, like Slack, encourage having a conversation with yourself to take notes.

But others, including WhatsApp, haven’t let people talk to themselves at all. However, with a new update it will be possible.

With a new version of the app for iOS and Android, users can now start a conversation with themselves. The feature is rolling out slowly and may not be available to everyone just yet, but should be available automatically.

When it’s available, users can start a new chat and see themselves listed at the top of the screen, along with a message prompting people to message themselves. It is available in iOS version 2.22.23.74 and Android version 2.22.23.77.

Sending yourself a message can be a useful way to jot down information without leaving the chat app, for example. It can also be a useful way to transfer information or files from one device to another as many chat apps including WhatsApp can be used on different platforms.

For example, if someone sends a picture from their cell phone, it will be available on the web version of WhatsApp for use there.

WhatsApp recently added improvements to the feature that allows users to sign in on other devices. Newer versions of the app allow users to use the same account on multiple devices, where they stay signed in – where previously other versions of the app simply mirrored the phone and required it to stay powered on.

Until now, it was only possible to write yourself on WhatsApp with complicated workarounds. The easiest way was to create a group and then kick out other people who were in it – which could be annoying for everyone else involved.

Comments ]]> https://rc-irk.net/a-security-guard-who-sent-death-threats-via-whatsapp-has-been-fined-100000/ Thu, 10 Nov 2022 15:06:38 +0000 https://rc-irk.net/a-security-guard-who-sent-death-threats-via-whatsapp-has-been-fined-100000/

A security guard who pleaded guilty to WhatsApping death threats to a resident of the apartment complex where she was stationed was fined $100,000 when she appeared in Kingston and St. Andrew Parish Court on Tuesday .

Following an altercation, Samantha Edwards-Smith sent a resident of the apartment complex where she was stationed a series of WhatsApp messages that read, “You’re going to die soon… your time has come” and “We’re going to teach you a lesson.”

Edwards Smith pleaded guilty to charges of malicious communications on October 25.

READ: ‘You’re going to die’: Security guard jailed for texting resident death threat

Before the verdict was announced, Senior Parish Judge Lori-Ann Cole-Montague Edwards-Smith asked if she had anything to say. Edwards-Smith apologized to the complainant.

“I’m very sorry. I’m not a troublemaker. I’ve been doing safety work for years. I apologize that ignorance has led me to where I am now and I’m really sorry for what I did. I have regrets everything I said,” said Edwards-Smith.

The judge turned to the applicant and asked if she had anything to say. The complainant said she was “interested in finding out who ‘we’ are”, referring to the message sent by Edwards-Smith.

The judge agreed and Edwards-Smith said she only got the news out of “ignorance” and that she had no friends. “It’s just my son and my husband.”

At the sentencing hearing, Cole-Montague told the defendant that the crime she was charged with could result in a fine or imprisonment.

However, the judge told her that she would show leniency given her early guilty plea.

Edwards-Smith was subsequently sentenced to a $100,000 fine or six months in prison.

80% of payments are made through apps and SMS, RTA says, since all parking terminals are automated

About 80 percent of parking fees in Dubai are processed through mobile apps and text messages, a senior official said. About 9,000 payments are processed daily via WhatsApp. With this payment method, motorists save the 30-fil fee that is charged when paying the fee via SMS.

“Daily usage of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) Dubai app has grown from 20,000 to 45,000 transactions per day this year,” said Ahmed Mahboub, Executive Director of Parking, Traffic and Roads Agency.

These came as the RTA announced that all public parking machines in Dubai now have touchscreens, eliminating the need to print paper tickets. Motorists can use the touch screens to enter vehicle details to receive the e-tickets.

“The recent overhaul of parking systems in September 2022 marked the completion of the renovation of parking terminals in all metered parking zones across the emirate. Accordingly, all parking tickets have become 100 percent electronic,” said Mahboub.

New initiatives

In 2024, the RTA will launch several initiatives, including a smart payment system for multi-storey car parks, automatic payments, and a “company-specific payment system”.

“Additionally, we plan to make parking services smart and proactive, using big data to visualize parking space occupancy and projected fees,” Mahboub explained.

go paperless

The digital transformation of parking systems included means of payment such as intelligent parking machines, new payment methods, apps and intelligent scanning vehicles.

Payments can be made through the App Clip where QR code stickers are placed on parking machines and signs. A great benefit of the application is that you don’t need to download the RTA Dubai app or register for the service.

The WhatsApp payment service has also been overhauled with the Mahboub chatbot, as well as the Dubai NOW mobile app, which allows motorists to pay by credit card, buy back a previously purchased ticket and view nearby areas on an interactive map.

ALSO READ:

WhatsApp has been quite active in the last few days and has introduced new features from time to time. The company recently rolled out features like communities and in-chat polls. The company now also allows groups with 1024 users. Apart from that, people can add 32 users in a group video call.

Speaking of which, the company has now come up with a new feature. Popular messaging app WhatsApp has now added its own “Photo Upload Quality” section in the app’s settings. This new feature allows users to send the best quality photos to their contacts. Aside from that, there’s also an additional “data saver option,” which essentially means the app sends a compressed photo and uses less data. Sending a poor quality photo doesn’t use up much of your data plan.

While the third option called “Auto” allows the app to decide whether to send the best quality images or select them to send to the data saver option.

According to WhatsApp, “best quality” photos are larger and take longer to send than usual. Well, if they don’t want to sacrifice quality, users can always upload files to Google Drive to email high-resolution photos.

The messaging app settings panel contains a link to this feature. To reach the settings option, just open WhatsApp, touch the three dots icon and then touch Storage & Data again. The photo upload quality feature is here at the bottom of the screen. By default, the Automatic (preferred) option is selected.

ALSO READ | Launched WhatsApp communities for everyone, here’s what this feature does

• A young Nigerian shared a screenshot of the funny messages she received from her younger sister
• While sharing the screenshot, she lamented her younger sister’s attitude of always asking for money
• Netizens reacted massively to the WhatsApp conversation, with many sharing their experiences

A Nigerian woman, Tbillion, shared her WhatsApp conversation with her younger sister.

Sharing the screenshot on Twitter, she revealed that her younger sister is the last born in her family and lamented her attitude.

On the news, the girl first showered her older sister with praise before asking her for money so she could feel her presence.

In her words:

also read

‘Our last born has so much boldness’: Mann shares messages his sister sent to group chat after ASUU strike

“I miss you. I’m so emotional. In my next life, if there is, I will always choose you as my sister. I miss you so much. Send me money so I can feel your presence. Hope you ‘re good. I miss you too much these days.”

Reactions on social media

Kotuma said:

“Come on, why don’t you go out for us like that? Me and my twin sister need better treatment even though they say my twin sister was a thorn in my own side sha. RIP on her beautiful soul.”

The Anointed Awara commented:

“Better corporate ooo before she starts seeking attention elsewhere.

Orange is added:

“The funny thing is that she sends all these messages in the same minute, she didn’t even pretend to check on you before sending the actual message she wanted to send.”

also read

Married Bank Manager Plans To Cheat On Husband With Office Colleague, Her Leaked Chats Emerge

Wale Akinfesi wrote:

“Lol like my Jrn brother would just walk into my room and pick everything like it’s a mall. Baba doesn’t speak until I ask. Una, they show us Shege.”

See tweet below:

Man shares messages sent by his sister to group chat

In the meantime, Legit.ng previously reported that Facebook user Emerald Friday Samuel shared a hilarious post on Facebook revealing his sister’s action after the strike ended. The young girl created a WhatsApp group chat where she added all her family members to join the group.

After adding her family to the group, she sent a document to the group chat listing all her school requirements. This comes shortly after the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) ended its month-long strike.

Samuel shared the screenshots via Facebook and said: “Audacity wormed its way into my family and disguised itself as our lastborn.”

also read

WhatsApp chat emerges as mom uses trick to find out daughter mingling with men

Source: Legit.ng

WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps among Samsung Galaxy smartphone users, especially in markets where the company offers customer support through the Meta-owned app. The app gets better with every update, and you may or may not have known it, but if you want to keep your messages safe, you can secure WhatsApp behind a fingerprint-based lock.

Obviously, to enable this fingerprint security feature in WhatsApp, you need a Galaxy smartphone equipped with a fingerprint scanner. Luckily, most Galaxy phones have this hardware component, either behind the display or embedded in the physical side button. Some cheap models lack this feature, but as long as your Galaxy device comes with a fingerprint scanner, you can follow these simple steps to enable fingerprint unlock feature for WhatsApp:

How to lock WhatsApp behind your fingerprint

WhatsApp does not have its own fingerprint registration feature. In other words, before you can use WhatsApp fingerprint unlock, you need to enable and set up your fingerprint security feature in One UI on your Galaxy phone.

Once you’ve done that, open WhatsApp and tap on the three dots button in the top right corner of the screen – next to the search icon. Beat “Settings” in the pop-up menu and then go to “Privacy,” Scroll down and tap “Fingerprint lock.”

Finally, tap “Unlock with fingerprint” turn it on and verify your identity using your fingerprint when prompted.

Once “Unlock with fingerprint” is activated, you can choose whether WhatsApp should be blocked immediately after closing the app, after 1 minute or after 30 minutes. In addition, you can choose whether or not you can preview sender information and messages via WhatsApp notifications. That’s all! You can now use WhatsApp more securely on your Galaxy device.

Meta will not tremble at the magnitude of the fine he has just been handed by Turkey’s competition authority, which today announced a 346.72 million lira penalty.

The roughly $18.6 million fine pales in comparison to a series of recent stabs they have received from European regulators. Like the $267 million fine for WhatsApp in the European Union just over a year ago – for transparency violations of the block’s privacy framework; or the UK competition authority’s $70 million caning a year ago after it said Meta failed to comply with requests for information during the review of its purchase of Giphy. Subsequently, the British CMA ordered that this takeover be reversed as well, so the whole sad saga is likely to cost them significantly more.

Plenty of other privacy complaints also hang over its head, such as the one targeting its EU-US data streams, which could be ordered in the coming months to suspend those transfers — and essentially halt its service in Europe — unless , a looming replacement as the defunct Privacy Shield framework can be rolled out quickly first.

Still, it’s the crux of Turkey’s fine – that Meta has a dominant position on social media and has attempted to handicap competitors by combining data between separate services it operates – that likely snags the social networking giant will send shivers down your spine because his business continues to be people profiling. And that depends on its ability to get people’s data and create detailed ad profiles. Therefore, any regulatory obstacles that limit its ability to conduct its unrestricted surveillance of Internet users pose an existential threat to its core microtargeting advertising model.

The Turkish approach is also remarkable because the German competition authority has had similar concerns for years.

It began investigating Facebook’s “superprofiling” back in March 2016 — and subsequently upheld an abuse finding in a February 2019 order that concluded trampling on users’ privacy amounted to “exploitative abuse” and a violation of its privacy policy dominant position equaled social network. The German Federal Cartel Office has therefore ordered Facebook to stop merging data on users of different products. But Meta appealed and an enforcement battle over this earlier German data separation order continues.

His appeal was sent to the block’s top court in March 2021, and his verdict is pending (likely next year). But an opinion from an influential adviser to the ECJ last month advocated allowing antitrust authorities to consider privacy compliance as part of their assessment of competition rules – which, if the court follows the AG’s view, is bad news for Meta in the across the EU, as it would open the door for more competition watchdogs to have a non-isolated, “big picture” and high-level view of their activities when assessing antitrust concerns.

There is therefore a growing sense that international regulators are – gradually and inexorably – closing in on Meta’s legacy of moving fast and breaking things (or, it seems, a better description of it modus operandisucking up all the data and consolidating it into a vast data lake far beyond the reach of any user control, per leaked internal documents).

“By combining the data collected from [Meta] of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp services… it causes worsening competition by creating difficulties for competitors with personal social networking services operating in online display advertising markets and creating barriers to entry,” Turkey’s Competition Authority wrote in a published article decision today – following the completion of an investigation – and explains his decision to impose an administrative penalty [the decision text is in Turkish; we’ve translated it here using machine translation].

The agency’s investigation began last year after a controversial change to WhatsApp’s terms of service sparked major privacy backlash across the world. And consumer protection authorities in Europe remain concerned that T&Cs are confusing consumers. So there could be more assertiveness on that front as well. (On top of the massive GDPR “transparency” penalty mentioned above – and potentially more GDPR enforcements due to a backlog of complaints still being handled by the tech giant’s top data protection authority in the EU.)

The Turkish Competition Authority unanimously found that Meta occupies a dominant position in the social media market and unanimously concluded that its behavior violated local competition law.

As well as being fined, the tech giant was ordered to stop the breach – and create “effective competition in the market” – with a month’s notice in which to inform the regulator of the steps it is taking must do this; and a maximum of six months (from today’s decision) for the implementation of the measures once approved.

Meta was also ordered to report to the regulator on the actions it took over a five-year period.

The tech giant has been contacted to comment on the Turkish authority’s sanction. A meta-speaker emailed this short line — but didn’t confirm whether or not he’ll appeal:

We do not agree with the findings of the Turkish Competition Authority. We protect the privacy of our users and offer people transparency and control over their data. We will review all of our options.

One thing is clear: Meta’s business faces costly regulatory interventions on multiple fronts — threatening its ability to capture the world’s attention by ignoring privacy laws; threats to its ability to do so by acquiring/assimilating other companies to collect data in this way (as well as threats to its ability to combine data across separate services it already owns); and the threat to its ability to attempt to circumvent this outdated regulatory reckoning by sliding its business where it thinks the puck is going (aka “the metaverse”) – by blocking its ability to leverage its market power to buy out VR startups, which some are seeing burgeoning success (which can certainly be overhyped vaporware).

In addition, the rise of more connected regulatory thinking will only deepen these interventions.

Throw in Apple’s recent flex against the scourge of smartphone apps being quietly and without consent repurposed as tentacles for surveillance advertising (aka app-tracking transparency); and a raft of new laws (like the EU’s Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act) that will further limit what the advertising giants can do — and it sure looks like Meta’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has more reason than that most people to wear VR goggles and float away in search of digital escapism for years to come…

Just seven days ago I received a WhatsApp message from a Tory MP which said: “Rishi PM. Hunt for CX. Penny FS. And it’s a done deal.” A week later and we’re almost there.

Over the weekend, Tory MPs were faced with a choice between a leader – Rishi Sunak – who has the best chance of allaying the city’s concerns about Tories’ tax and spending policies – and a leader who has the best chance of winning the next general election to win in two years. They chose the former.

MPs noted that when Johnson flew back to the UK from the Dominican Republic on Friday to try to seize power, the pound fell in financial markets; This morning it’s back to pre-mini budget levels.

It looks like the markets got what they wanted for the new Prime Minister – and Conservative Party members are being denied theirs.

Frantic hunt for votes

Penny Mordaunt and her team are in a frantic race for votes this morning. Her team circulated polling data showing that she was “ranked as the best choice for PM by voters who know the candidates” and that she was the “most likeable choice” in the seats won by the Tories in 2019.

There is no question that Mordaunt would be a reassuring figure at the head of the Tory party and could unite both wings. But questions remain about her experience at the helm of government. MEPs seem to have already made their choice.

As of this writing, Sunak has 146 MPs and his rival Penny Mordaunt has 26. The leader of the House of Commons must collect the votes of 74 of the remaining 187 to clear the 100 MP threshold for membership.

Tory observers including Conservativehome’s Paul Goodman urged Mordaunt to withdraw this morning. But I’m with someone like Sir John Redwood who says members need to have a say. This is the best way to unite the party under one leader.

What will Sunak do as prime minister? I recommend listening to his interview with me on Chopper’s Politics Podcast in mid-August when he redoubled his commitment to upgrading the South of England and the North.
He made it clear that he prefers targeted support to tax cuts.

And not for the first time he has had to defend his vast fortune and say he “welcomes” people who raise it.

“People who are successful, people who work well by working hard – the Conservative Party has to be on their side,” he told me.

Giant ego trip?

Of course that won’t be enough. Labor will turn their lines of attack on a politician richer than the king. (“What cost of living crisis? You can’t heat your house, Sunak can afford to heat his swimming pool in Yorkshire”).

Johnson is getting a lot of praise this morning for resigning in the national interest. Yet in his 292-word statement, he used the personal pronoun “I” a staggering 27 times – nearly one in ten; there was only one mention of “national interest”.

Was it all one giant ego trip? Johnson’s testimony reminded me of a failed Apprentice star’s comment to Lord Sugar. “There are no I’s in the team, but there are five in individual brilliance.”

Tories will have noticed the teasing finale to Johnson’s statement, when he said: “I have a lot to offer but I’m afraid this is just not the right time.” The Johnson psychodrama will go on and on.

At the moment we are waiting for what looks like a coronation for Rishi Sunak, who will become Britain’s first prime minister of Asian heritage.

Looking back on that text message, Sunak is expected to keep Jeremy Hunt as his chancellor. All that remains is for Mordaunt to replace James Cleverly as Secretary of State and the ‘coup’ will be complete.

And the Conservative MP who predicted it sounded relieved this morning.

“No one wants a fifth chancellor in five months. Everyone wants some calm and stability,” he said, adding, “Everyone has to compromise a bit on what they want for us to unite.”