Signal downloads skyrocketed 4,200%

/in /by

Wed. Jan. 13, 2021 |By Isobel Asher Hamilton and Grace Dean – Business Insider |

Signal downloads skyrocketed 4,200% after WhatsApp announced it would force users to share personal data with Facebook. It’s top of both Google and Apple’s app stores.

WhatsApp’s rivals got a massive boost after the messaging app announced last week that it would make users share some personal data with its parent company, Facebook.

WhatsApp told users on January 6 they would have to agree to let Facebook and its subsidiaries collect WhatsApp data — including phone numbers and locations — before February 8 or lose access to the app. WhatsApp has since clarified that this affects users only outside the European Union and the UK and said that the change “does not affect the privacy of your messages with friends or family in any way.”

Data from app-analytics firm Sensor Tower shows Signal, a rival encrypted messaging service, saw an enormous surge in user numbers following WhatsApp’s announcement.

“From January 6 to January 10, Signal saw approximately 7.5 million installs globally from across the App Store and Google Play,” a Sensor Tower representative told Insider.

This represented a 4,200% increase from the previous week.

On Wednesday, the app topped both Google and Apple’s app stores in the US, according to data from App Annie, the analytics company. Fox News reported the app has been top of both stores since Monday.

The surge in downloads also coincided with Parler, the social media app popular with supporters of President Donald Trump, being forced offline. Amazon booted the app from its web-hosting service, Monday saying it “cannot provide services to a customer that is unable to effectively identify and remove content that encourages or incites violence against others.”

Read the full story here.

T-Mobile is shutting down service to these phones, but will offer free replacements

/in /by

By: Ryne Hager  |  Jan 8, 2021  |

Based on internal documents from T-Mobile given to Android Police, some older devices, including the OnePlus One, Xperia Z3 series, and Nexus 9, will be unable to connect to the company’s network beginning on January 29th. 19 devices, including phones, tablets, and even cameras, are named by the document. Affected customers will be notified by SMS beginning on December 28th, and will be able to upgrade to one of four phones for free.

According to the documents sent to us (which we have verified as accurate), the following devices will be unable to use T-Mobile’s network as of January 29th, following the deployment of a network update:

  • Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (AT&T model)
  • Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (Verizon model)
  • Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
  • HTC Desire 10 Lifestyle
  • HTC Desire 650
  • Google Nexus 9
  • Huawei Mate 8
  • Huawei P9
  • Mikrotikls SIA_R11e-LTE6
  • Netgear Arlo Security Camera System
  • OnePlus 1
  • Quanta Dragon IR7
  • Samsung Galaxy S5 Duos
  • Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  • Sony Xperia Z3
  • Sony Xperia Z3 Orion
  • Sony D6616 Xperia Z3 Orion
  • Soyea M02
  • ZTE ZMax

Note that although the AT&T and Verizon Note 4 are affected, the T-Mobile version of the phone is not. It is also possible other devices not on this list may be affected.

Most of the devices T-Mobile lists as being left behind are quite old in smartphone terms. The majority are from 2014-2015, though the Huawei P9 landed in 2016. These are devices that stopped getting official updates a long time ago, and even excluding this end of carrier support, it’s in these customers’ best interests to upgrade to something with more recent security patches. However, the inclusion of the Arlo security camera and R11 e-LTE6 are odd, for reasons we’ll touch on later.

Connected to the list is a longer text that explains the devices are being left behind due to their inability to receive an update required for continued functionality on T-Mobile’s network, following a network change. We originally thought this was tied to the long-awaited mandatory VoLTE support associated with T-Mobile’s legacy network shutdown, but the company tells us that isn’t the case — though the timing and details remain suspicious. The change will also affect Metro and Sprint subscribers, and details there get a bit muddier.

T-Mobile is required to maintain Sprint’s 3G network for three years as a condition of the merger, and presumably, customers with these devices should still be able to connect to that network. The document still claims Sprint customers will be impacted, but a later section states only those on T-Mobile or Metro by T-Mobile will lose all network connectivity. Sprint subscribers with affected devices will only lose T-Mobile network roaming.

The document claims that snail mail letters were sent to those affected by the change beginning on the 18th, and SMS-based notifications will be sent on December 28th, giving customers around a month to replace their devices. Some business customers will be pushed to an existing $150-off promotion, and T-Mobile employees are told to “stay tuned for additional offers that will be specifically targeted to impacted customers.”

After our story was initially published, T-Mobile reached out to confirm this change is not part of either its VoLTE requirement or any legacy network shutdown, even though the timing, the apparent requirements, and the list of devices imply a connection. We asked T-Mobile for more details regarding the change that is pushing these devices off the network, but that information wasn’t provided. The company did not accept our offer to publish a statement when asked.

The inclusion of devices like the original Arlo security camera and R11e-LTE6 mini PCIe card also cast some doubt on the VoLTE requirement as a cause, since neither should need that. When asked how this affects future software support and functionality on T-Mobile’s network, a representative from Arlo told us that no official decision has been made to discontinue the product.

In the meantime, T-Mobile subscribers using any of those 19 devices should reach out to see if they are eligible for the promotional offer. If you’re worried about your phone, you can check and see if your device supports VoLTE with our guide.

T-Mobile has now published public support documents about the device cutoff, and has started sending out texts to affected customers. There’s no new information compared to the previous leaks, except there is now confirmation that T-Mobile Prepaid and Metro by T-Mobile (formerly MetroPCS) customers are also affected.

Read the original article and access associated links from AndroidPolice.com HERE.

Authorities search for Sleepy Eye woman

/in /by

Charged with violating order for protection
| 12/24/2020 | by Fritz Busch |

BROWN COUNTY — Law enforcement is searching for a 48-year-old Sleepy Eye woman facing a felony domestic abuse charge for violating two previous, qualified domestic violence related offense convictions in the past 10 years.

The charge was filed in Brown County District Court Dec. 23 against Debra J. Bloemke, 204 Elm St. N.E., Sleepy Eye.

According to court documents, Sleepy Eye Police Chief Matt Andres received a phone call at 9 a.m. Dec. 22 from a woman regarding Bloemke contacting her even though there is still an Order For Protection (OFP) in place.

The woman told Andres she lived in another state now and Bloemke has made several recent attempts to contact her, including sending her a video of a park with Christmas lights on the trees and text messages.

In addition, the woman said she had numerous missed calls from Bloemke and that she was in the state she currently lives in to see her in the past.

Andres looked up the OFP and found it expires May 20, 2021. He received email items from the alleged victim including video of Christmas lights in a park that appeared to be lights in the Sleepy Eye Sportsman’s Park display that included a large tree shaped out of lights, which the Sleepy Eye display has.

Police received text messages labeled from the contact “Debra J. Bloemke” that mentioned confirming the Christmas lights video with holiday lights sent.

Andres reviewed missed call logs including seven missed calls from Bloemke between 2:35 and 2:45 a.m., Dec. 19.

Police searched the cell phone number using Cell Hawk and identified the carrier as T-Mobile, drafted a preservation letter and sent it to T-Mobile.

Police signed a search warrant for cell phone records for the cell phone number and faxed a signed search warrant to T-Mobile.

A review of Bloemke’s criminal history showed she was convicted of violating an OFP on Sept. 20, 2019 and convicted of domestic assault on Sept. 10, 2019.

Police requested an arrest warrant as they were unable to locate Bloemke and her whereabouts are unknown.

Read the original article at nujournal.com HERE.

She didn’t know her kidnapper. But he was using Google Maps — and that cracked the case!

/in /by

By Jon Schuppe – NBC News| Tues. Dec. 29, 2020 |

A woman in medical scrubs with a swollen, bruised face walked into a truck stop outside Milwaukee just before 3 a.m. on June 16, 2017, and begged a driver to use his cellphone. She dialed 911 and said she’d been attacked by two men.

“They carjacked me, they beat me up and raped me,” she said.

The woman, a health care worker in her 30s, told police that, as she was driving home from her shift at a nearby hospital, a stranger had lunged into her open window at a highway exit. Armed with a box cutter and hammer, he made her drive off with him, then forced her to pull over and get into a dark-colored pickup truck, where he sexually assaulted her while an accomplice drove. Then they left her at the side of the road.

The odds of solving such a random crime seemed slim…

Read the full story HERE.

Big Tech in 2021: Washington is ready to lay down the law

/in /by

By Marguerite Reardon – c|net | Thur. Dec. 24, 2020 |

From antitrust lawsuits to a potential privacy law to limits on free speech protections, Silicon Valley will face calls for more regulation in the coming year.

For more than a decade, lawmakers and regulators have taken a hands-off approach to Silicon Valley. But that’s all likely to change for Big Tech companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook and Twitter as the folks in charge in Washington look to rein in their power and influence.

Politicians and policymakers on both sides of the aisle have grown increasingly alarmed by the power these companies wield — how it might harm consumers by enabling the firms to choke off competition from smaller players, exploit personal data for profit, and distort what media is shared and consumed online.

Some on Capitol Hill are calling for a full-scale reset. In October, the House Judiciary Committee published a scathing, 449-page report that concluded Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google have transformed into monopoly powerhouses.

“Companies that were once scrappy, underdog startups that challenged the status quo have become the kinds of monopolies we last saw in the era of oil barons and railroad tycoons,” the report reads.

Read the full story HERE.