Twitter restricted in quake-hit Turkiye

NetBlocks and some Twitter users have reported that users in Turkiye can still access the platforms through VPNs. (AFP/File)
NetBlocks and some Twitter users have reported that users in Turkiye can still access the platforms through VPNs. (AFP/File)
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Updated 08 February 2023

Twitter restricted in quake-hit Turkiye

Twitter restricted in quake-hit Turkiye
  • Platform has been widely used to seek help and establish personal contact
  • Turkish authorities have limited access to social media during previous national emergencies

LONDON: Twitter is facing restrictions in Turkiye as the country struggles to deal with the aftermath of the devastating earthquake, sources reported.

Independent global internet monitor NetBlocks confirmed that the social media platform has been restricted on multiple network providers, including TTNet and Turkcell, on Wednesday.

“Real-time network data show Twitter has been restricted in Turkiye,” Netblocks said in a tweet.

“The filtering is applied on major internet providers and comes as the public come to rely on the service in the aftermath of a series of deadly earthquakes.”

Twitter is widely adopted in the country and its restriction disrupts critical communication for rescue efforts.

NetBlocks Director Alp Toker said that this is the first time the company detected social media restrictions during a natural disaster.

“Twitter has been in use extensively in the aftermath of the earthquakes, both to seek assistance and rescue equipment and by those trying to get back in touch with loved ones,” Toker said.

Turkish authorities have not given any formal explanations, but NetBlocks said that Turkiye often acts to prevent alleged disinformation during national emergencies.

In November, following a terrorist attack in central Istanbul that killed six people and injured more than 80, authorities imposed a 10-hour social media ban.

Some users also reported that TikTok might have been affected by the restrictions.

In a statement, the video-sharing app said it was aware of the technical difficulties and is “investigating the matter and hope access is restored as soon as possible as platforms like TikTok remain a critical way to stay in touch during crises.”

NetBlocks and some Twitter users have reported that users in Turkiye can still access the platforms through VPNs.


Arabs excited for Apple’s latest gadgets, some wary of high price

Arabs excited for Apple’s latest gadgets, some wary of high price
Updated 06 June 2023

Arabs excited for Apple’s latest gadgets, some wary of high price

Arabs excited for Apple’s latest gadgets, some wary of high price
  • Experts predict Apple’s Vision Pro could be game changer, others ask is it worth price tag?

LONDON: Apple’s latest gadgets have sparked excitement among Arabs, although some are raising eyebrows at the hefty price tags.

Along with an upgraded iOS system, new MacBooks range and its most-powerful chips yet, Apple on Monday unveiled a long-rumored headset that will place its users between the virtual and real world, while also testing the technology trendsetter’s ability to popularize new-fangled devices after others failed to capture the public’s imagination.

Apple chief executive officer, Tim Cook, proudly introduced the sleek Vision Pro goggles at the annual developers’ conference in Cupertino, California, a campus co-designed by the late Steve Jobs.

“This marks the beginning of a journey that will bring a new dimension to powerful personal technology,” Cook said.

The Vision Pro is Apple’s maiden voyage into the mixed reality market, boasting a high-resolution display, eye-tracking technology, and a formidable processor.

For some Arabs, the Vision Pro could revolutionize work, learning, and play with potential applications in remote collaboration, education, and gaming.

Emkwan, a UAE-based tech content creator at the event, said: “I’m actually shocked at all this. There’s so much to take in about Apple Vision Pro. It’s both scary and beautiful. Has Apple killed the iPhone with the Apple Vision Pro?”

However, with a $3,500 price tag, not everyone is ready to jump on the Vision Pro bandwagon.

One user said: “Not yet. You won’t kill the iPhone with VR until you make it affordable enough to put into the average and above average consumer hands and right now, it’s priced outside of their reach.”

Saudi-based tech influencer Majed Al-Dakhiel recognized the game-changing potential of the goggles, but questioned Apple’s target audience.

“The goggles are truly transformative and open the door of competition between developers. But will they be an entertainment or retail product?” he said on Twitter.

The Cupertino company is certainly making waves with its new technological offerings and the headset could become another feather in Apple’s cap for releasing industry-altering technology, even if it were not the first to do so.

While analysts are not expecting the Vision Pro to be a big hit right away, the buzz and concerns surrounding the headset suggest it has the potential to become a major contender in the MR market. Only time will tell how Arab consumers will embrace the device.


About ducking time: Apple to tweak iPhone autocorrect function

About ducking time: Apple to tweak iPhone autocorrect function
Updated 06 June 2023

About ducking time: Apple to tweak iPhone autocorrect function

About ducking time: Apple to tweak iPhone autocorrect function
  • Texting tweak to stop changing some of the most common expletives

LONDON: One of the most notable happenings at Apple’s event for developers on Monday is likely the iPhone maker’s tweak that will keep its autocorrect feature from annoyingly correcting one of the most common expletives to “ducking.”
“In those moments where you just want to type a ducking word, well, the keyboard will learn it, too,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s software chief.
The iPhone keyboard autocorrect feature has always had its quirks, sometimes taking a misspelled word while texting and substituting what it deems a logical option that ends up changing the meaning of a particular phrase or sentence.
Such occurrences generally produce follow-up texts along the lines of “damn autocorrect!” But the “ducking” substitution is a long-standing source of mirth or frustration, depending on how many times one has had to rewrite their own texts or scream at one’s own device (the iPhone cannot correct one’s verbal epithets).
Apart from the texting tweak, the company had a lot on its agenda — an expensive new mixed-reality headset, details on a revamping of its desktop and a laptop revamp.
Apple shares hit an all-time record Monday, putting the company’s market valuation just shy of $3 trillion, which would also be a record. Its gains of 280 percent over the past five years clearly demonstrates the power of the iPhone’s market share.
Of course, iPhone users have always had the option to turn off the autocorrect feature on their phones, which would allow its foul-mouthed users to be as profane as they want.


Prince Harry tells UK court press has blood on its hands

Prince Harry tells UK court press has blood on its hands
Updated 06 June 2023

Prince Harry tells UK court press has blood on its hands

Prince Harry tells UK court press has blood on its hands
  • Prince Harry and more than 100 others are suing Mirror Group Newspapers, over allegations of widespread wrongdoing between 1991 and 2011

LONDON: Prince Harry said the press had blood on its hands as he gave evidence against a tabloid publisher whose titles he accuses of phone-hacking and other unlawful activities, becoming the first senior royal in a witness box in more than a century.

Harry, the fifth-in-line to the throne, briefly smiled as he passed the phalanx of waiting photographers and camera crews when he arrived at the modern Rolls Building in central London, ahead of the very rare court appearance by a royal.

He and more than 100 others are suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), the publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, over allegations of widespread wrongdoing between 1991 and 2011.

The younger son of King Charles III entered the witness box to face hours of cross-examination from Andrew Green, MGN’s lawyer, over 33 newspaper articles Harry said were based on information which had been unlawfully gathered.

Green began by personally apologizing to Harry on his client’s behalf over one instance in which it admitted unlawful information gathering.

“It should never have happened and it will not happen again,” he said, adding if the court agreed MGN had committed wrongdoing on other occasions “you will be entitled to, and you will receive a more extensive apology.”

In questioning, Harry was asked about a passage in his written witness statement in which he referred to “appalling” behavior by the British press. “How much more blood will stain their typing fingers before someone can put a stop to this madness?” he wrote.

Asked by Green if he was suggesting MGN journalists who wrote the articles at the center of his lawsuit had blood on their hands, Harry replied: “Some of the editors and journalists that are responsible for causing a lot of pain, upset and in some cases — perhaps inadvertently — death.”

The prince is the first senior British royal to give evidence for 130 years. He was speaking from the same witness box in Court 15 where singer Ed Sheeran and French actress Eva Green have both recently appeared in separate and unrelated cases.

The MGN trial began last month, with lawyers for Harry and the other claimants seeking to prove that unlawful information gathering was carried out with the knowledge and approval of senior editors and executives.

Harry is one of four test cases, and his specific allegations form the focus of the first three days of this week.

However, he did not appear on Monday, having only left the United States, where he now lives with his American wife Meghan, the previous evening as it was his daughter Lilibet’s birthday on Sunday. The judge, Timothy Fancourt, said he was surprised at his absence.

Looking serious and speaking firmly but quietly, Harry said thousands if not millions of stories had been written about him, as Green pressed him on whether he had specifically read the MGN articles in question.

Harry agreed that he and his lawyers had chosen the most intrusive articles and those which had caused the most distress for his complaint.

Asked if he remembered reading the first story he had complained about, an article about his mother visiting him for his 12th birthday, Harry said: “I was a child, I was at school, these articles were incredibly invasive. Every time one of these articles were written it had an effect.”

On Monday, Harry’s lawyer David Sherborne said his late mother Princess Diana, had also been a victim of hacking, and the prince referred to this in his witness statement, laying the blame at the Daily Mirror’s former editor Piers Morgan.

He said the thought of Piers Morgan and his “band of journalists earwigging” into my mother’s messages “makes me feel physically sick and even more determined to hold those responsible, including Mr. Morgan, accountable for their vile and entirely unjustified behavior.”

Morgan, now a high-profile broadcaster who works for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, has always denied any involvement in, or knowledge of phone-hacking or other illegal activity.

MGN, now owned by Reach, has previously admitted its titles were involved in phone-hacking, settling more than 600 claims, but Green has said there was no evidence that Harry had ever been a victim.

The publisher also argues that some of the personal information involved had come from senior royal aides, including from one of his father’s former top officials.


US fines Microsoft $20 million over child data violations

US fines Microsoft $20 million over child data violations
Updated 06 June 2023

US fines Microsoft $20 million over child data violations

US fines Microsoft $20 million over child data violations
  • Microsoft allegedly collected personal data from children under age 13 who signed up to its Xbox gaming system from 2015 to 2020 without their parents’ permission and retained this information

WASHINGTON: Microsoft will pay $20 million to settle government charges that it collected personal information from children without their parents’ consent, officials said Monday.
The Federal Trade Commission alleged that from 2015 to 2020 Microsoft collected personal data from children under age 13 who signed up to its Xbox gaming system without their parents’ permission and retained this information.
To open an account, users had to provide their first and last names, an email address, and date of birth.
The FTC said Microsoft violated a law called the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA.
“Our proposed order makes it easier for parents to protect their children’s privacy on Xbox, and limits what information Microsoft can collect and retain about kids,” said Samuel Levine, head of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
“This action should also make it abundantly clear that kids’ avatars, biometric data, and health information are not exempt from COPPA,” Levine added.
The decision still needs the approval of a federal court before it can be implemented.
The FTC said Microsoft will be required to take several steps to bolster privacy protections for child users of its Xbox system.
Under the COPPA law, online services and websites aimed at kids under 13 must notify parents about the personal information they collect and obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting and using any personal information collected from children.
Microsoft did not immediately reply to an AFP request for comment.


US senator presses for declassified report on Al Jazeera reporter’s killing

US senator presses for declassified report on Al Jazeera reporter’s killing
Updated 06 June 2023

US senator presses for declassified report on Al Jazeera reporter’s killing

US senator presses for declassified report on Al Jazeera reporter’s killing
  • The US Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority (USSC) conducted an investigation, but the report remains classified

WASHINGTON: US Senator Chris Van Hollen called on Monday for declassifying a government report on the death of Al Jazeera’s Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist who was shot and killed while covering an Israeli army raid last year.
One of the most recognizable journalists covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for two decades, Abu Akleh was killed in May 2022 during an Israeli raid in the West Bank city of Jenin. Her death triggered outrage across the region.
Israel says Abu Akleh, who was wearing a clearly marked protective press vest and helmet, was likely unintentionally shot by an Israeli soldier but could also have been struck by Palestinian fire. Abu Akleh’s family believes she was killed deliberately, and witnesses to the incident have said there were no Palestinian fighters firing in the area she was standing.
The US Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority (USSC) conducted an investigation, but the report remains classified. In a statement, Van Hollen, a Democrat on the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, said the report contains important insights into her death.
That includes “relevant information and findings about the conduct of the Israel Defense Forces (Israeli military) unit involved in that operation – as well as other IDF units operating in the West Bank,” Van Hollen said.
Van Hollen said that while the USSC team was “unable to conduct an independent investigation” due to lack of access to key witnesses, the report’s public release was still vital to ensuring accountability in the shooting death of a US citizen.
The US State Department, which oversees the USSC, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In December, Al Jazeera made a submission to the International Criminal Court over Abu Akleh’s killing. Her family has supported such efforts while urging action by the Biden administration.
Israel insists that its soldiers do not deliberately target journalists and has refused to identify the soldier who may have shot Abu Akleh.