Retirement Community News - Recent News – Springhill Group l Livejournal

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The online community is all abuzz on Sunday after an explosive report has accused Facebook of snooping in smartphone users’ text messages.

Though Facebook admitted to reading SMS of users who have downloaded their app, they said they are only doing so as part of a limited testing phase prior to launching their own messaging service and not to deliberately expose users to fraud.

The Facebook app running on Android is authorized to process, read, receive and write SMS, something they have declared in their terms beginning from the 1.7 version. Facebook said this is in anticipation of new features that will integrate Facebook tools with user texts. Now, if Facebook eventually introduces a feature that will be applicable to those permissions, they are ensuring the users even now that it will be accompanied by proper educational and guiding materials.

Facebook retorted that users should be aware that it said it might access their messages, contained under “Permissions” — that long article you are expected to have read before downloading/using the app. Unfortunately, 70% of smartphone users do not seem to have the time for reading the terms and conditions attached to an app.

Other popular companies that are using smartphones to access data and other personal details of users include Yahoo Messenger, Badoo, Google and Flickr.

Several companies can reportedly control smartphone features remotely, which includes taking images and video using the camera, as in the case of YouTube. Also, details like contacts list, location and browser history are accessed and can be passed on to third-parties like advertisers.

According to a statement issued by Facebook, it does not read user text messages and described the Sunday Times report as ‘completely wrong’ on their terminology and the impression they have made. But Facebook gave an explanation anyway: “…we have done some testing of products that need the SMS part of the phone to talk to our app.”

Privacy concerns on smartphones have steadily increased in the past weeks as it was found out that a popular Android and iOS app, Path, is discovered to be collecting user contact details without permission — a move that can make users vulnerable to fraud. Other smaller companies that produce apps are capable of intercepting user calls like Tennis Juggling Game and My Remote Lock, which is supposed to be a security app to boot.

Just this month, Twitter has admitted that it has they have copied entire address books of their users from mobile phones. They have stored the data on their servers for 18 months without the users realizing it.

What’s Happening Today? - Recent News – Springhill Group l Livejournal

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“No one should be deceived by our cool-headed stance. Our acting with common sense should not be perceived as a weakness,” said Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey’s brief response to last week’s incident seems to show that a violent retaliation from their side is not happening, although Prime Minister Erdogan has warned that Syria must not test his resolve.

Prime Minister Erdogan announced that Turkey had altered its military policies of engagement toward Syria.

In his speech to the legislative body also attended by Arab diplomats, Erdogan said, “Every military element that approaches the Turkish border from Syria in a manner that constitutes a security risk or danger would be considered as a threat and would be treated as a military target.”

Border violations is not something new as the Turks have claimed that Syrian helicopters themselves had repeatedly violated Turkey’s airspace, without the latter dealing a hostile response in return. The two nations are sharing a 910-kilometer frontier.

According to Syria, Turkey’s plane was flying at low altitude and high speed, thus violating their airspace so one of their officers shot it down using an anti-aircraft fire. On the other hand, Turkey claims that their plane was fired at over international waters following a brief and unintentional stay in the Syrian space. The two pilots of the Turkish aircraft are still missing.

NATO has supported Turkey’s version of the story and condemned Syria for shooting the plane, though it did not mention any military action for fear of a conflict that could trigger a wider war. During their conference in Springhill Group, NATO officials referred to the event as “another example of the Syrian authorities’ disregard for international norms, peace and security, and human life.”

A senior diplomat of NATO commented that even if the Turks were indeed spying, Syria’s reaction is still out of place. “When this happens between neighboring countries, you give a warning and then send up interceptors. You don’t just shoot down the plane.”

Meanwhile, Europe and the US seem to be avoiding a direct involvement in a military confrontation with Syria.

”We would like to see more pressure from our allies, particularly more leadership from the United States,” said a senior official from Turkey.