| Cult of Mac

MacPaw’s SpyBuster helps you weed out Mac apps reporting to Russia

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SpyBuster stops apps reporting to Russia
It's completely free to use.
Image: MacPaw

Ukrainian developer MacPaw today released SpyBuster, a new (and completely free!) Mac app that identifies software built by and reporting to “undesirable countries of origin” — such as Russia and Belarus.

SpyBuster also lets you block those connections so that you can prevent additional data being sent to overseas servers, where it may not be protected by the same privacy laws that we’re accustomed to in other countries.

UK plans dramatic ‘publicity attack’ against encryption

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UK steps up fight against encryption
It will use children for dramatic anti-encryption stunts.
Photo: Markus Spiske/Unsplash

The U.K. will spend taxpayer money on a dramatic “publicity attack” against end-to-end encryption, according to a new report. The country apparently hopes to sway public opinion before taking further steps to crack down on the security feature.

A major focus of the campaign will be child safety. M&C Saatchi, the agency hired to run the marketing blitz, reportedly will use child actors to carry out emotive stunts that suggest encryption is being used by predators to conceal their activities.

Beeper app promises to bring iMessage to Android and Windows

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Beeper brings iMessage to Android and Windows
15 different chat platforms in one.
Photo: Beeper

Beeper is a new all-in-one chat app that merges 15 different platforms into one. That sounds pretty interesting already, but what makes Beeper really exciting is its promise to put iMessage on Android and Windows.

The app, from Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky and his team, is “using some trickery” to make the impossible possible. But you’ll have to cough up a monthly subscription fee if you want to take advantage of it.

Coalition for a Safer Web sues Apple for not giving Telegram the boot

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Telegram flames
Telegram is under fire. And Apple as well.
Photo: Telegram/Cult of Mac

The Coalition for a Safer Web, a Washington DC-based nonprofit, is suing Apple for not removing messaging app Telegram from the App Store.

In a lawsuit filed Sunday, Marc Ginsberg, a former U.S. ambassador to Morroco, and the coalition say the app remains in the App Store “despite Apple’s knowledge that Telegram is being used to intimidate, threaten, and coerce members of the public.”

Apple demands that Telegram removes posts involving protests in Belarus

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Telegram flames
More controversy involving Telegram.
Photo: Telegram/Cult of Mac

Apple is currently facing a mini-scandal involving messaging app Telegram and posts made by pro-democracy protestors in Belarus, which Apple asked to be removed.

The posts concern political controversy in the country, following this year’s election of President Alexander Lukashenko. Lukashenko, who has been president of Belarus since 1994, supposedly won 80 percent of the vote in August. However, opposition has accused his party of rigging the election, with the fallout continuing several months later.

Secure messaging app Telegram files antitrust complaint against Apple in EU

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Telegram logo
Telegram adds its voice to the chorus of developers complaining about Apple.
Photo: Telegram

Popular secure messaging app Telegram filed a formal antitrust complaint with the European Union over App Store practices, the Financial Times reports.

In a complaint addressed to EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager, Telegram’s creators argue that Apple must “allow users to have the opportunity of downloading software outside of the App Store.”