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WhatsApp CEO supports Signal’s concerns over UK’s Online Safety Bill

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Voicing concerns and strong reservations over the United Kingdom’s (UK) new legislation “Online Safety Bill” the rival messaging platforms WhatsApp and Signal have united in its opposition. 

The bill hoping to regulate communication platforms is currently under discussion in the UK’s House of Commons.

WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart backed Signal’s stance while retweeting the rival messaging app on Twitter. 

In the tweet, Signal shared its President Meredith Whittaker’s detailed blog on the bill. 

End-to-end encryption is a secure form of communication offered by WhatsApp and Signal which allows users to enjoy safe and secure communication without decryption other than the recipient.

The bill focus’s on end-to-end encryption is being criticised by both the platforms. 

WhatsApp CEO opposed the bill earlier saying it would erode freedom of expression and compromise its well-established end-to-end encryption privacy. 

“We have never seen a liberal democracy do that,” he said.

The WhatsApp CEO termed the bill “the most concerning piece of legislation currently being discussed in the western world”.

While in a blog post published on Signal’s website, the messaging app’s president wrote: “Signal exists to provide people everywhere with a tool for real private communication. That’s our only goal, and we take it very seriously, but the current state of the Online Safety Bill in the UK puts the future of privacy and expression in grave jeopardy.”

The Signal president was of the view that the bill contains provisions that may undermine encryption, and could create an unprecedented regime of mass surveillance that would eliminate stop the people of UK to communicate with each other outside of government interference.

She termed the bill a “grab bag”. 

Whittaker said: “We cannot let well-meaning emotions lead us to authoritarian futures.”

She said she opposes the bill in its current form and believes key provisions need to be fundamentally reconsidered.

As per the legislation, the government would be in a position to push the platforms for content moderation which cannot be done without compromising end-to-end encryption.

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Cybersecurity firm reports exposure of sensitive DeepSeek data on the internet.

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The New York-based cybersecurity firm Wiz has discovered a cache of sensitive data from the Chinese artificial intelligence business DeepSeek that was mistakenly exposed to the public internet.

In a blog post released on Wednesday, Wiz reported that examinations of DeepSeek’s infrastructure revealed that the company had inadvertently exposed over a million lines of unencrypted data. The materials were digital software keys and chat logs that seemingly documented prompts transmitted from consumers to the company’s complimentary AI assistant.

The chief technical officer of Wiz stated that DeepSeek promptly safeguarded the data following the notice from his organisation.

“It was removed in under an hour,” stated Ami Luttwak. “However, this was exceedingly easy to locate, leading us to believe we are not the sole discoverers.”

DeepSeek did not promptly respond to a request for comment.

DeepSeek’s rapid success after the introduction of its AI helper has exhilarated China and incited concern in America. The Chinese company’s evident capacity to rival OpenAI’s skills at a significantly reduced cost has raised concerns regarding the viability of the business models and profit margins of U.S. AI behemoths like Nvidia and Microsoft.

By Monday, it surpassed the U.S. competitor ChatGPT in downloads from Apple’s App Store, prompting a worldwide decline in technology stocks.

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WhatsApp launches bulk channel management functionality

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WhatsApp has initiated testing of a bulk channel administration feature on iOS for select beta users, enabling the simultaneous selection of many channels, hence enhancing the efficiency of managing following channels.

This essential update enables users to perform bulk activities, including muting many channels simultaneously, designating them as read, and altering notifications. If the chosen channels are muted, users will now have the option to activate notifications. Users can swiftly silence unmuted channels in one action.

Additionally, this feature enables users to unfollow many channels simultaneously, thereby optimizing the process of decluttering their channel list. This change is particularly beneficial for users that oversee numerous subscriptions, as reported by WABetaInfo.

Previously, users were required to manage each channel individually, rendering tasks such as muting or designating channels as read laborious and time-consuming.

The functionality provides enhanced flexibility and control over channel subscriptions, enabling users to efficiently manage notifications. The solution streamlines laborious operations for consumers who subscribe to numerous channels, hence enhancing their entire experience.

Accessibility
The bulk management feature is presently accessible exclusively to a limited number of beta testers who installed the latest WhatsApp beta for iOS using the TestFlight application. WhatsApp, owned by Meta, plans to expand the feature’s availability to a larger user base in the next weeks.

This update demonstrates WhatsApp’s dedication to enhancing user experience by offering a clear and efficient method for managing channels and notifications.

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Pakistani internet slowdown: ongoing submarine cable issue

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Even after two weeks, the global submarine cable AAA-1 problem that was discovered on January 2 near Qatar has not been fixed, causing sluggish internet connection in several Pakistani towns.

According to a representative for Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), the issue has affected customers’ capacity to effectively access social media applications and browse the online. Even with initiatives to fix the problem, social networking sites still lag during busy times.

Internet traffic has been redirected via alternate channels to lessen the impact, and more capacity has been set up to stabilize the service.

The PTCL representative promised that “Internet service across the country is operating normally, and there will be no issues with web browsing,” noting that social media applications’ lag is common during

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