messages | Common News Update

Apr32021 by adminNo Comments

Rising number of celebrities selling video messages during pandemic – with some bizarre requests

Technology

Ever wanted some words of support from your football hero? How about help with a marriage proposal from a famous musician?The coronavirus pandemic has hit the entertainment industry hard - and it's seen a growing number of celebrities selling personalised video messages online. Websites such as Cameo and Memmo give members of the public the chance to ask stars to record a shout-out for their friends or relatives, with prices ranging from around £15 to several hundred pounds.Nigel Farage is one of the latest names to sign up to Cameo - a site which has attracted big stars in the US - with a video from the former Brexit Party leader setting you back £75.Simon Webbe, who found fame with the boyband Blue, says he charges around £50 for a personalised video on Memmo and he received about 100 re...

Mar162021 by adminNo Comments

Instagram to allow teens to block messages from adults

Technology

Instagram is introducing new anti-grooming safety measures that will prevent adult users from sending direct messages to teenagers unless they follow them.It follows criticism of Facebook over its actions on child grooming, with multiple international statements calling for the company to ensure that young people using its platforms were kept safe. Of particular concern has been the company's plans to move all of its platforms to using end-to-end encryption, similar to WhatsApp. Critics allege this would disable Facebook's own internal monitoring of messages for potential grooming. Image: Facebook also owns Instagram and WhatsApp Instagram's policies require that all of its users are over 13. People who identify themselves as teenager...

Dec92020 by adminNo Comments

UK has not ordered ‘backdoor access’ to WhatsApp messages

Technology

The UK has not ordered Facebook to provide law enforcement agencies with a way to access end-to-end encrypted messages on WhatsApp, Sky News has learnt, despite a legal power which could allow it to do so in secret.However, the power may be used to prevent Facebook from applying the same encryption protocol to its other services, something the company plans to do despite concerns the move will blind it to child predators' grooming victims over its platform. The notice would allow Facebook to use a potentially weaker form of encryption to protect users' messages, while also forcing the company to retain the ability to monitor those messages and be able to deliver decrypted conversations in response to a warrant - something it cannot do with WhatsApp. Ima...

Jan112020 by adminNo Comments

Internal messages reveal Boeing worker wouldn’t let his family on 737 MAX

Business

The Boeing 737 MAX was mocked by an employee as being "designed by clowns" more than a year before the first of two fatal air crashes, it has emerged.The disparaging comment was contained in hundreds of internal messages released by Boeing, which also revealed attempts by staff to dodge regulatory scrutiny of the development of the aircraft. In another exchange, an employee told a colleague he would not let his family fly on a 737 Max. Image: The Ethiopian Airlines crash in March 2019 came just five months after the Lion Air disaster in October 2018 The aircraft has been grounded since last March after an Ethiopian Airlines plane came down outside Addis Ababa, just five months after a similar Lion Air crash in Indonesia.The two disast...

Jan42020 by adminNo Comments

Record 100 billion WhatsApp messages sent on New Year’s Eve

Technology

More than 100 billion messages were sent using WhatsApp on New Year's Eve, setting a new record.The Facebook-owned service said it was the highest number sent in a single day in the app's 10-year history. In the UK alone, more than 900 million WhatsApp messages were sent as people welcomed the start of 2020.The company said more than 12 billion of the messages sent globally were picture messages.The app, which has more than 1.5 billion active users, was bought by Facebook in 2014 for around £14.5bn. Advertisement WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption means messages and calls cannot be intercepted by others, including the company itself. This has been a source of controversy, with concerns raised by Britain's hom...