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Telegram is the latest company to file an EU antitrust complaint against Apple
Yet more companies are piling in on Apple in the EU.
Telegram to pay $18.5 million and return $1.2 billion following SEC crypto charges
Telegram has been fined $18.5 million for not properly following securities regulations.
Telegram adds video editor and more creative tools
A robust Telegram update has added video editing to the messaging app, according to a recent blog post. The “most powerful photo editor to be implemented in a messaging app,” as Telegram described it, can now be used to make a variety of changes to video.
Telegram promises secure group video calls sometime this year
Telegram says it will add secure group video calls in 2020.
Brazil charges journalist Glenn Greenwald for colluding with hackers
Brazilian federal prosecutors have charged Glenn Greenwald with violating the country's cybersecurity laws, reports The New York Times. According to a 95-page complaint, Greenwald was part of the "criminal organization" that hacked into the phones of several public officials and prosecutors in 2019. The charges come after Greenwald's website, The Intercept Brasil, published multiple reports last year that exposed unethical behavior from some of Brazil's highest public officials, including current Justice Minister Sérgio Moro.
SEC puts a stop to Telegram's cryptocurrency plans in the US
Telegram's plans for its cryptocurrency and blockchain network may be in jeopardy. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has filed an emergency action and obtained a temporary restraining order against the company, which prevents it from distributing and selling its Gram tokens in the country. According to the regulators, the company sold 2.9 billion Grams at discounted prices to 171 initial purchasers worldwide, raising $1.7 billion in the process. A billion of those tokens were purchased by people in the US.
Reuters: New Telegram feature will protect HK protesters' identities
Telegram will roll out an update designed to protect Hong Kong protesters' identities in the coming days, according to Reuters. The upcoming feature will cloak users' phone numbers to prevent authorities from being able to look up the people participating in protesters' group chats. Telegram's security-focused features made it the go-to chat application for activists around the world. Hong Kong protesters are using it to share information on where they're holding demonstrations, to pass around the access codes of buildings where they can hide and to make sure fellow activists know the identities of undercover cops.
The safest messaging apps
So you want to send a short, instant, text-based dispatch to another human. The options are endless -- iMessage, Slack, Instagram, WhatsApp, Skype, Snapchat -- but their security is variable. Short of whispering words into another person's ear, it's difficult to guarantee that no one else will ever be eavesdropping. For anything you wouldn't want to be seen by your ISP or used against you in a court of law, end-to-end encryption is necessary. It works by giving every user of an app a public key and a private key. Messages sent to you are encrypted with your public key and can only be opened with the private key. To anybody without your private key -- including the app company or a government that comes for the data later -- the text is indecipherable.
Telegram hasn’t given up on its ‘Gram’ cryptocurrency
As Facebook's cryptocurrency Libra faces challenges from legislators, another social platform is getting ready to launch its own digital currency. According to a report in the New York Times, Telegram is aiming to launch its own coin, the Gram, within the next two months.
Telegram's silent messages keep your conversations low-key
Just because you're messaging someone doesn't mean you want to loudly advertise that fact, and Telegram thinks it can help on that front. The newly updated chat app has introduced a silent messaging feature that delivers any text or media without a sound notification, no matter what someone's phone settings might be. It's most likely to be helpful if you don't want to wake someone, but it could also be useful if you're messaging on the sly during a meeting.
China flooded Telegram to stem dissent in Hong Kong, hints founder
Secure messaging app Telegram has become the method of choice for communication between protesters and activists around the world, most recently in Hong Kong. However, this week the app has been the target of a massive cyber attack which founder Pavel Durov says was launched by China.
Telegram users can delete any message in their private chat history
Telegram's ability to unsend messages is no longer a novelty among chat apps, but it's now taking that feature well beyond what you'd get from others. An update to the service lets you delete any message in your private chat history, whether you're the sender or the recipient. You can even wipe out an entire conversation (on both sides or just your own) with two taps. It's an audacious step, but one the company feels is necessary in the modern climate.
Russian 'sovereign internet' bill could give Putin his own Great Firewall
A bill that's progressing through Russia's legislature could grant authorities deeper control over internet access. The so-called "Sovereign Internet" bill seeks to set up a centralized hub officials can use to manage the flow of information in the nation. It also proposes a national domain name system that would enable a local intranet to continue operating if Russia is cut off from the global internet.
Telegram desktop app leaked internet addresses when starting calls
Telegram has a reputation for privacy and security (much to the chagrin of some governments), but it's not immune to gaffes. Security researcher Dhiraj Mishra discovered that Telegram's desktop app was leaking both public and private IP addresses during voice calls due to its peer-to-peer framework. Where mobile users could turn off peer-to-peer calls and keep their information secret, you had no choice but use the technology on the desktop. That could open you to attacks or disclose your location regardless of how careful you might otherwise be.
Telegram's move to Swift on iOS promises a more battery-friendly app
Since January, Telegram has operated two versions of its messaging app on Android and iOS: the original and an experimental one called Telegram X. The app was rewritten from scratch for X; it's built on Apple's Swift programming language on iOS and the Telegram Database Library development tool on Android. Telegram is now set to replace its original iOS app with the Swift version within the next couple of weeks.
Telegram Passport stores your real-world IDs in the cloud
Telegram has rolled out a massive update for mobile, which gives it the ability to store copies of your IDs in the cloud. The new feature, called Passport, can share your identification documents with other apps and services whenever needed. Telegram describes it as a "unified authorization method" financial services and other industries can use to verify your identify, so you won't need to upload photos of your passport or driver's license again and again.
Apple approves first Telegram update since Russia ban
Apple has finally rolled out the latest version of Telegram on the App Store, a day after company chief Pavel Durov said that the tech giant has been blocking its updates since April. Telegram version 4.8.2 will make the app GDPR-compliant -- something that it should've been since the EU enforced the data protection and privacy law on May 25th. It also adds features that'll allow you to stop updating your contacts and to delete your synced ones, as well as to disable link previews in Secret Chats.
Apple has blocked Telegram from updating its iOS app, says founder
If you're wondering why Telegram hasn't updated its iOS app in two months, there's a clear reason for that, according to founder and CEO Pavel Durov. He says Apple blocked Telegram from issuing updates after Russia ordered the app's removal from the App Store last month.
Sophisticated Android malware tracks all your phone activities
An advanced type of malware can spy on nearly every Android smartphone function and steal passwords, photos, video, screenshots and data from WhatsApp, Telegram and other apps. "ZooPark" targets subjects in the Middle East and was likely developed by a state actor, according to Kaspersky Lab, which first spotted and identified it.
Iran tells ISPs to block Telegram
Iranian officials have called for ISPs to block both the mobile and desktop versions of Telegram in the country. ISPs are also reportedly being instructed to block the messaging service in a way that can't be bypassed by a VPN. Reuters reports that Iran's judiciary website Mizan, quoting a court order, said, "All internet providers in Iran must take steps to block Telegram's website and app as of April 30." The site also said that Telegram had threatened the country's security through "propaganda against the establishment, terrorist activities, spreading lies to incite public opinion, anti-government protests and pornography."
