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EPHRAIM HARDCASTLE: Downing Street WhatsApp messages at the Covid Inquiry alarm royal archivists worried about the lack of written material for historians from younger members of the Royal FamilyBy Ephraim Hardcastle for the Daily Mail Published: 19:24 EDT, 1 November 2023 | Updated: 20:25 EDT, 1 November 2023 The profusion of Downing Street WhatsApp messages at the Covid inquiry alarms royal archivists worried about the lack of written material for future historians from younger members of the Royal Family. A Windsor Castle archivist whispers that as they catalogue the mountains of letters and documents of the late Queen, as with Prince Philip, they reconstruct a personal history that scholars of the future can rely on. However, she says that the younger royals prefer emails to writing things down and often resort to social media (which is heavily secured and encrypted). There is no protocol for retaining such material. Suggestions that one be introduced have fallen on deaf ears. Historians of the future could be in for a hard time. Former special advisor at 10 Downing Street, Dominic Cummings, giving evidence to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry on Tuesday At Tuesday night's leaving party for V&A chairman Sir Nicholas Coleridge he accepted plaudits, like a frog swallowing

IANS | 01 Nov, 2023 Meta-owned WhatsApp is reportedly rolling out a message reaction filtering feature for channels on iOS, making it easier for administrators to see which of their contacts have reacted to channel updates. According to WABetaInfo, this feature will help channel owners promptly identify which of their contacts have reacted to their channel content using an emoji, simplifying their understanding of which updates are most popular. This feature might enhance interaction and feedback for channel administrators when sharing a new update. It can also be considered a valuable tool to help them understand which updates grab the attention of their contacts, the report said. The message reaction filtering feature for channels is available to some beta testers who install the latest version of WhatsApp beta for iOS, according to the report. Meanwhile, WhatsApp is reportedly testing a new "quick action bar" feature on its Business app for Android, which will let users "quickly perform different actions". A new icon may now appear above the microphone button, allowing the app to display a new quick action bar above the chat bar, allowing users to perform various actions quickly and easily. With this feature, users can promptly create orders

Nicola Sturgeon has insisted she has “nothing to hide” as she refused to say four times whether she had deleted her Covid WhatsApp messages from the pandemic.The former first minister said she could not disclose whether she had destroyed any of the messages despite Humza Yousaf, her successor, making clear the previous day that he had kept his.In her first appearance following allegations she had manually deleted her messages, she said she had not been a member of any WhatsApp groups during the pandemic but did not deny using the service.Pressed four times whether any messages had been deleted, she insisted she could not say as her responses to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry are confidential.However, she refused to repeat an unequivocal commitment she gave during an Covid press conference in August 2021 to hand over all her WhatsApps to a future public inquiry.Instead, Ms Sturgeon said she managed her messages in line with Scottish Government policies, which allowed ministers to decide which should be retained for official records and which deleted.Baroness Hallett, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry chair, has made clear that she wants to see all the messages from the pandemic and she will then decide what is “relevant or

The Scottish government will hand over more than 14,000 WhatsApp messages to the UK Covid Inquiry, Deputy First Minister Shona Robison has announced.She also said First Minister Humza Yousaf would share his messages.The government had been criticised for not handing over all relevant data to the UK Covid Inquiry, with senior figures accused of deleting messages.Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon refused to say whether or not she had erased any messages.Speaking to reporters in the Scottish Parliament, she said she had "nothing to hide".Sturgeon: I was not in any WhatsApp Covid groupsWhy would Scottish ministers delete WhatsApps?Yousaf denies deleting Covid WhatsApp messagesSturgeon Covid messages deleted from phone - report"I did not manage the Covid response by WhatsApp," said the ex-SNP leader, who is alleged to have manually deleted messages."For example, I was not a member of any WhatsApp groups. I managed the Covid response from my office in St Andrews House."She added: "I will set out in full to the inquiry how I operated, what I hold, what I don't hold and the reasons for that."Opposition MSPs have accused ministers of a cover-up.During a statement to parliament, Ms Robison apologised to bereaved families for "any lack of clarity" about material

WhatsApp, the wildly popular instant messaging app and platform currently owned by Meta, is reportedly testing the ability for people to use passkeys to sign into their accounts. That's according to code found in the latest beta version of the app.That code was found by software developer and researcher @aaronp613 on X, the social network previously known as Twitter. The code shows that WhatsApp is working on implementing support for passkeys to allow for safer account management and signing in. Passkey support would allow users of WhatsApp to sign into the iPhone app using Face ID or Touch ID on devices that support those biometric security systems. For those times when those aren't available - when wearing a mask or gloves, for example - the device's passcode can also be entered instead.Passkeys are thought to be more secure than passwords because they are unique across each account, unlike most people's passwords. They also can't be so easily phished, helping to ensure people are less likely to find their accounts have been compromised.WhatsApp is far from the first app to look into implementing support for passkeys. But it's one of the biggest apps on the planet and to many, it's also

In October 2023, amid the escalating war in Israel and Gaza, we received emails from readers who asked about a viral WhatsApp message that warned photos of "fighting in Jewish settlements" were being shared as (and apparently disguised in) a dangerous file named "Seismic Waves Card." According to the messages, this "Seismic Waves Card" file could purportedly "hack your phone in 10 seconds." For example, one of our readers asked the following in an email: This is a WhatsApp message that's been sent around to Israelis for the past two weeks: Pictures are going to be uploaded of the fighting in Jewish settlements, on WhatsApp. The file is called Seismic Waves CARD. Do not open it, it will hack your phone in 10 seconds and cannot be stopped in any way. Pass the information on to family and friends. They talked about it on TV. A cyber attack on us from all kinds of directions is also starting. However, we've researched this same "Seismic Waves Card" rumor before. It's a hoax. In September 2023, we reported that similar messages were being shared in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in Morocco. The messages claimed that the "Seismic Waves Card" file

It's unclear whether Babar consented to sharing his personal message on live TV, raising ethical questions about the PCB chief's actions, as leaking private messages might be seen as a breach of privacy PHOTO: PCB Rashid Latif, the former wicketkeeper for the Pakistani cricket team, claimed on Saturday that Zaka Ashraf, the head of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) management committee, was allegedly neglecting Babar Azam's attempts to communicate with him through calls and text messages. However, in response to these claims, Ashraf stated in an interview on a local news channel that the Pakistan captain had never reached out to him directly. Ashraf clarified, "He says that I don’t pick up his call. He has never called me. The team’s captain is supposed to talk with Director International Cricket or the Chief Operating Officer." Despite Ashraf's denial of any contact from Babar, he went to great lengths to substantiate his claim by sharing Babar Azam’s personal WhatsApp message with the interviewer. The WhatsApp exchange, aired on a live TV program, was between Babar and PCB’s Chief Operating Officer, Salman Naseer. In this revealed conversation, Naseer's message reportedly stated, "Babar, there’s also been news circulating on TV and social

Nicola Sturgeon gave a clear commitment two years ago to forward all government WhatsApp messages and Covid communications to any subsequent public inquiries into how the pandemic was handled.However, it is understood WhatsApp messages sent by the former first minister, who led the Scottish government response to the pandemic, were manually deleted from her phone.It follows revelations that the messages of 70 Scottish government figures — including the national clinical director Jason Leitch — were also not retained.Professor Jason Leitch deleted WhatsApp messages daily during the pandemicALAMYRelatives of people who died during the pandemic, which started in 2020, have demanded an inquiry into when and why the messages were deleted.The messages cannot now be given to the UK or Scottish Covid inquiries into how pandemic decisions were made.Sturgeon gaveRelated articles

An internal inquiry into the circulation of defamatory messages on WhatsApp by gardai has discovered the existence of hundreds of private messaging groups used by officers to exchange both official and false information.The discovery was made by officers investigating the circulation of false, defamatory and misogynistic allegations about gardai of both sexes on social media.An initial examination of the issue has discovered the existence of WhatsApp groups being run by gardai in almost every division across the country, representing a security risk should they be accessed by third parties.The private chat groups, which were initially established to help gardai exchange information about working conditions and rosters, have become synonymous with the circulation of false allegations. The issue is fast becoming a problemRelated articles

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