Is WhatsApp violating privacy laws by sharing contact detail without user's consent?

As we progress with the whole new generation of the digital world, the more vulnerable our privacy is becoming, WhatsApp Messenger, an instant messaging application which is currently used by more than 1 billion people in over 180 countries to stay in touch with their friends and family. It’s freely available to every smartphone user.

What makes this application so user-friendly is that it doesn’t need any username or password you only need the contact number of your friend or family saved in your smartphone and have the application installed.

The information it collects, apart from the info you provide:

1.    Contacts in your address book:

After you agree to the terms and conditions during the installation it automatically retrieves all the contacts in your address book and this happens on a regular basis, meaning WhatsApp takes the hold of all the contacts (only the contacts who has agreed to the Service of WhatsApp )that you have in your storage.

2.    Instant messages:

When you send a message to the other contact it WhatsApp saves them in their server unless the message is delivered to its recipient, once delivered it automatically deletes the message from its server, if not then it deletes the message after 30 days till that time WhatsApp keeps retrying.

3.    ‘Last seen’ timestamp:

WhatsApp also keeps a track of your online activity by storing the timestamp when you last accessed the service, this can be customized under the privacy settings.

4.    Device information:

WhatsApp also collects the device information: Hardware model, IP address, mobile network information and the location information as well if you have accessed the location services or someone has shared the location coordinates for ‘diagnostic purposes’.

5.    Cookies:

As part of cookies in the smartphone or desktop web browser, WhatsApp collects the data such as FAQ choices, and other relevant data for improving the web-based services.

Apart from this WhatsApp also stores all the contacts present in a group chat, and so anyone can access that contact number provided you are in that group chat.

Just imagine how many contacts can be exposed to someone who is in a group chat which is having contacts, not in his/her address book.

There have been many allegations by the Germany’s Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information to WhatsApp that it is violating the data privacy laws by storing all the contact information for a user (point #1 above), WhatsApp seems to be unresponsive to this allegation.

There is an easy way to fetch all the contact information in a group chat using developer tools in google chrome (or any other browser) desktop while accessing web WhatsApp

Just open the dev tools and inspect the region under the group chat name, like in the picture below :

You just need to copy the information on the highlighted area and paste it to notepad.

SES 11/EchoStar 105 launch successful by Falcon 9, 1st stage rocket landed successfully in Atlantic Ocean

SES 11/EchoStar 105 launch successful by Falcon 9, 1^st stage rocket landed successfully in the Atlantic Ocean

Falcon 9 booter liftoff  from launchpad 39A in Florida

The 229-foot tall rocket poised for launch from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida has been successfully made it to space and back in its 2-hour launch window.

The Falcon 9 rocket reached its Mach 1 velocity (equivalent to the speed of sound) in about T+1:10 minutes, and then Max Q by T+1:18(the maximum aerodynamic pressure). After T+2:35 Falcon9’s Merlin D engine shut off. Shortly after that in T+2:38 Stage 1 engine separation happened.

Now after T+2:40 as a part of the second stage ignition of the Merlin 1D vacuum engine for about 6 minutes to put the rocket and SES11/EchoStart 105 into the preliminary orbit, As per SpaceX it was a “good orbit insertion”.

Finally after T+8:30 the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage booster touches down on Space X’s drone ship (Of course I still Love you) in the Atlantic Ocean.

Liftoff of previously flown Falcon9 rocket booster with the hybrid communication satellite SES 11/EuroStart 105

The second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket was shut down after reaching its preliminary low-altitude orbit, this was at T+08:38. After the re-ignition SES11/Echostar 105 was propelled into a supersynchronous transfer orbit, at T+27:58  the engine was shut down as it was programmed to shut down just before it runs out of propellant, just before ensuring it gets to the highest possible point in an orbit around 24, He launch concluded at T+36:07 when the hybrid communication satellite SES 11/EchoStar 105 separates from the Falcon 9

Falcon 9 landed at the SpaceX's drone ship(Of course I still love you)  

rocket in a supersynchronous transfer orbit.

SES confirms ground controllers have received the first signal from the newly –launched SES 11/EchoStar 105 satellite.

SES 11/EchoStar 105 satellite to be launched by reusing SpaceX's Falcon 9 today

Few days before SpaceX launched 10- Iridium Satellites into the low Earth Orbit, SpaceX is now set to send SES-11/EchoStar 105 hybrid communication satellites today. The liftoff is scheduled at 6:53 p.m. EDT at the Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad 39A.

The most significant thing about this launch is that SpaceX will be using ‘flight-proven’ Falcon 9 rocket. This will be the third mission for SpaceX re-using a rocket booster.

Falcon9 arrived at the launch pad 39A in Florida, Courtesy: twitter 

The main objective

The main objective of this launch is to replace AMC-15 and AMC-18 satellite by placing the hybrid communication satellites SES-11/EchoStar-105 in the geostationary orbit (which is about 22, 000 miles – nearly 36, 000 kilometers)over 105 degrees west. The hybrid communication satellites SES-11/EchoStar-105 is optimized for digital television delivery which utilizes the Airbus Eurostar platform and is designed to accelerate the roll-out of high and ultra-high definition video services to North America including Hawaii, Mexico, and the Caribbean. As per SES, the spacecraft Ku-band will replace AMC-15 at 105 degrees west, while the spacecraft C-band will provide the replacement for AMC-18 at the same position.

The Hybrid communication satellite will serve North America including Hawaii, Mexico, and the Caribbean

Secondarily, Falcon 9 first stage will attempt to land on the barge -Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS), Of Course, I still Love you (OCISLY). ASDS is an ocean-going vessel equipped with the station-keeping engines and a large landing platform, this is designed by SpaceX for the recovery of first stage rockets undergoing high-velocity launches and do not carry enough fuel to return to the launch site, like in this case this GTO mission will cost a lot of fuel. SpaceX has two operational drone ships: Just Read the Instructions in Pacific for launches from Vandenberg and Of Course, I Still Love you in Atlantic for launches from Cape Canaveral. The Falcon 9 first stage rocket will attempt to land on the barge which will be located about 650-700km downrange in the Atlantic Ocean. 

The first stage rocket expected to land on ASDS :Of Course, I still Love you (OCISLY)  

This will be the first time any a rocket booster has landed firstly on land and then on water.

To make sure the booster is secured safely a robot is designed by SpaceX to secure the rocket booster.

Technical Specification of the satellites:

The satellites weigh about 5200 kg, the solar panels will provide 12kw of energy for the payload of 24Ku transponders and 24c band transponders, the ku transponders will be used by Eurostar and c band transponders will be used by SES. The static fire test for this launch has already been completed on 2^nd October 2017 16:30 EDT.

As per the reports, the weather condition is 90% favorable until tomorrow as the low pressure may move into the area, increasing winds and seas. This low will migrate west and possibly impact Florida by the weekend.

SES 11/EchoStar 105 launch successful by Falcon 9, 1st stage rocket landed successfully in the Atlantic Ocean

Blackberry Motion unveiled at GITEX Technology

After the render leak that we saw a couple of days back, now At the GITEX technology week in Dubai Blackberry has officially launched its another version of Android smartphone after KEYone.

Blackberry Motion Unveiled at GITEX Tech week in Dubai

TCL is now taking care of the designs, manufacture, sells and provides support for Blackberry-branded mobile devices. “Once again TCL Communication has delivered on their promise, to produce a true BlackBerry device that will meet and exceed expectations,” said SVP and GM of Mobility Solutions at Blackberry, Alex Thurber.

The initial launch of this smartphone is going to be limited but it’s going to arrive in additional markets later this year. 

The BlackBerry Motion will initially be sold in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Its first dual-SIM Blackberry device to be launched in the Middle East. It’s available for pre-order in some market starting today.

The smartphone is expected to hit the market on 30th November 2017 priced at Rs. 30000 in India and €499 in Europe.

Blackberry Motion Unique features:

•                    Water-resistant and Dust-proof

•                    4GB RAM

•                    Quick Charging

•                    Fingerprint Reader

•                    BlackBerry Motion runs Android 7.1 Nougat, there is no news whether   Blackberry Motion will have Android Update.

•                    5.5-inch Full HD IPS display

•                    12MP rear with LED Flash + 8MP front facing camera.

•                    The device is powered by a 2GHz octa-core Snapdragon 625 processor and 4GB   RAM

•                    32GB internal storage with expandable microSD slot up to 200 GB.

•                    Connectivity options include 4G, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS,   NFC, and a micro USB Type-C port

•                    Li-Ion 4,000 mAh battery

The fingerprint sensor will come with Blackberry company logo

If we compare overall specifications with the other smartphone market leaders such as Apple, Samsung the Battery can be a plus point. But still, there are other smartphones in the same price range that offers better and faster performance

Librem 5 smartphone hits its crowdfunding goal of $1.5 million, shipping expected from Jan 2019

South San Francisco California based computer Technology Company Purism is now one step closer to launching its one-of-a-kind privacy-focused phone. With the help of the ‘All or Nothing’ campaign Purism was able to achieve this milestone. The company expects to ship the handsets to its backers by January 2019, currently initial level tests are happening.

Librem 5 as it is called, is a smartphone which primarily focus on privacy and security, runs on Pure OS, an OS that runs on Linux Kernel and uses GNU Tools, the software is designed to provide security through isolation. Pure OS currently includes the basic applications such as phone dialer, email, messaging, voice, camera and browser.

Librem 5, Purism's linux based smart phone

Other specification includes: 5” display, 3GB of RAM, 32 GB of storage, a microSD card slot, front and back camera, a headphone jack.

This will be the world’s first ever IP-native mobile handset with end-to-end encrypted decentralized communication via Matrix, and thus making it more secure to place calls.

One of the most unique property is that it has hardware kill switch for the baseband as well as camera, mic, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth features. This has been made possible by placing the CPU of the handset isolated from the baseband and other components. Another feature of the smartphone is that it can be used like a full screen desktop view computer through a compatible keyboard, mouse and a monitor.

The smart phone will cost around $599, but the company is also providing in bundles, along with the 24 inch monitor and wireless keyboard, mouse which will cost around $1399 (free worldwide shipping).

Can also be accessed in full desktop view with compatible devices

If you want to be one of the first to get the Librem 5 you will need to become a backer, for just $599(free worldwide shipping) you can reserve it from here, you can also donate a small amount of $20 or $118 just to show the support.

Phobos infrared image captured by NASA’s Mars Odyssey

On September 29 Phobos, the innermost and the larger of the two natural satellite of Mars (the other one is Deimos) was observed with the help of NASA’s Mars Odyssey. The researchers were able to produce a color-coded image with the infrared data and the visible-wavelengths. This image reveals about the surface temperature of Martian moon

 

THe color-coded image formed with the help of NASA's Mars Odyssey THEMIS infrared information

It has been about 16years the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) equipped in NASA’s Mars Odyssey robotic spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars since 2001, but this is the first time in such a long duration, Odyssey was able to send infrared information about Phobos. As per Jonathan Hill, THEMIS mission planner, the image formed by using the half-moon view of Phobos as it allowed to observe a wide range of temperature on the surface.

eamining phobo is different lights source

In addition, Mars Odyssey is also equipped with the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS) this includes the High Energy Neutron Detector (HEND), On May 28, 2002, NASA reported that Mars Odyssey’s GRS has detected a large number of hydrogen this signifies that there must be lying within a meter of the planet’s surface.

Phobos has a diameter of around 22 kilometers (dimensions: 27 km x 22km x 18km), it doesn’t have any atmosphere, it is considered to be the least reflective body in our solar system. It is mostly composed of similar material to carbonaceous material, low density. The gravity there is very low.

One major question about Phobos and Deimos that whether the information that is being captured are asteroids or bits of Mars knocked down into the sky by impacts. It will require the compositional information from THEMIS to find out. Since 2001 Odyssey has been orbiting and capturing all the compositional and thermal properties from all over Mars till 2014 Odyssey keeps the THEMIS camera pointed towards straight down when the team at the Lockheed Martin Space systems develops the procedure to rotate the spacecraft for upward looking imaging. Phobos observation is planned to happen under all types of lighting – fully daylit, a small crescent, during eclipse.

Iridium satellite constellation is about:

Iridium communication owned Iridium satellite constellation provides voice and data coverage to satellite phones, pagers, and integrated transreceiver over the entire earth surface, the idea of this concept was to cover every surface of Earth at every moment, the constellation consists of 66 active satellites in orbit(low Earth orbit) to provide global coverage(+ additional satellites in case of failure). With K-a band inter satellite communicate the satellites communicate with one another. The link among these satellites is designed in a way that each satellite has four inter-satellite links, one each to the fore and aft in the same orbital plane and one each to satellite in neighboring plane to either side , this ensure excellent service coverage in N and S poles, the pole to pole orbital velocity is about 100 minutes. Thus the network consists of 6 orbital planes with 11 satellites in each orbit (excluding the spare satellites).

Falcon 9 at  Vandenberg Air Force Base, California (courtesy : twitter @SpaceX)

Special about Iridium satellite constellation:

1.     4 inter-satellite links (2 in the same orbital plane and 1 each in the adjacent plane) this allows network handoff traffic among the satellites to deliver the signals with lower latency, redundancies, and a continuous connection.

2.      Low earth orbiting satellites completing each orbital revolution in 100 minutes (@ 27360 km/hr ), shorter registration time than the Geostationary earth orbits.

3.     48 spot beams per satellites – each spot comprises of 250 miles in diameter and total 48 beams will form around 2800 miles in diameter, allowing the overlapping and minimizing missed and dropped the connection.

Iridium is now developing its next generation of a worldwide network of telecommunication, Iridium Next.

Iridium NEXT – next-gen satellite network

Iridium has signed a contract with SpaceX to replace it's existing 75 Iridium NEXT satellites (including 9 on-orbit backup satellites) into space on a Falcon 9 rocket over 8 different  

launches, which will be launched at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The American aerospace manufacturer and space transport company have made their 14th successful

launch this year – releasing 10 satellites to low Earth orbit, this was the 3rd of 8 planned launches for establishing the Iridium NEXT.

Main engine cutoff and stage separation confirmed. Second stage engine burns underway. Source: twitter @SpaceX

For every space launch by SpaceX, there is a two-stage step. One to release the satellite to the destined orbit and another stage is a recovery run for recovering the Rocket booster that was used during the uplift using a drone-ship. The second stage for recovering the rocket booster used for the launch of Iridium Next satellite was successfully completed and the rocket booster was recovered at the Pacific Ocean marked as ‘Just Read The Instruction’. The next launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. SpaceX is now targeting five subsequent Iridium NEXT launches approximately every two months thereafter. SpaceX hs now planned Iridium NEXT satellite launch fourth launch in late November.