Group seeks to block WhatsApp deal until its affect on privacy can be determined

A group made up of privacy advocates is asking U.S. regulators to hold off on approving Facebook's $19 billion acquisition of messaging app WhatsApp. The group is concerned about what Facebook intends to do with the personal information belonging to the 450 million WhatsApp subscribers. The messaging app had an understanding with its users that it would not collect such data for advertising.

The group that filed the request with the Federal Trade Commission includes members of the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Digital Democracy. In the filing, the group expresses its concern that once Facebook acquires WhatsApp, the personal data collected will be used for advertising purposes.

Facebook and WhatsApp agreed to the transaction last month and the deal is awaiting regulatory approval from agencies like the monopoly-busting FTC.

source: Reuters
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Evasi0n Jailbreak Group Drops Pirate App Store TaiG

In a short letter to the jailbreak community, the Evasi0n group has announced they are refusing to distribute TaiG, a Chinese app store released alongside an iOS 7.x jailbreak. Users found that the app store contained hundreds of pirated apps.

Evasi0n said they “dropped the ball” and that the TaiG partnership was a mistake.

We terminated our relationship with them. We are very disappointed that they have decided to put up a cracked version of the jailbreak on their site that installs Taig. We did not give them any permission or source code.

They also reverse-engineered the software to assess how TaiG handled user privacy, finding that the software sent no private data and that the software sent unique identifiers in encrypted form. Noted home-brew app developer Jay Freeman confirmed that Evasi0n was to receive at least $1 million from TaiG, although the actual sum was not disclosed.

The group has also announced that they are not accepting cash from TaiG:

There have been a lot of rumors listing various amounts we’ve been paid. We have received no monies from any group, including Taig. We will not be accepting any money. Our donations are being given to Public Knowledge, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure to help protect jailbreaking as your legal right.

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