WhatsApp’s latest privacy features include the ability to hide your online status

WhatsApp just introduced several important privacy features including the online status blocking option it recently showed in beta, TechCrunch has reported. The aim is to eventually make WhatsApp “as private and secure as face-to-face conversations,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. 

The new “online presence control” feature allows you to send messages while appearing to be offline. That offers another level of privacy over the ability to hide your “last seen” status from specific contacts, a feature introduced earlier this year. 

You can control the feature in a granular way, deciding which contacts can view your online status and which can’t. There are no limits, and you can swap people in and out at any time. The feature will roll out to all users across desktop and mobile, later this month. 

WhatsApp is also testing screenshot blocking for view once messages that disappear after a single view. When those messages were introduced last year, Meta said that you should still take caution as you wouldn’t know if someone screenshotted them. A new feature that lets you block such screenshots is now in testing, but the company hopes to get it to all users “soon.” 

With the final change, you can leave leave groups privately without sending out a mass notification to everyone else that you’re gone — though group admins will still be notified. That should save some awkwardness when it rolls out to the desktop and mobile apps, also later this month. 

EU will require all new cars to include anti-speeding tech by 2024

Every new car sold in the European Union will soon include anti-speeding technology known as intelligent speed assistance, or ISA. The EU regulation (part of the broader General Vehicle Safety Regulation) goes into effect today, and states that all new models and types of cars introduced to the European market must include an ISA system. The policy doesn’t apply to any new cars that are in showrooms today — at least, not yet. By July 2024, every new car sold in the EU must have a built-in anti-speeding system.

“The roll out of ISA is a huge step forward for road safety and has the potential to dramatically reduce road traffic injuries and fatalities. Car manufacturers now have the opportunity to maximise the potential ISA presents for creating safer roads for all,” said the European Commission in a press release.

For those unfamiliar with ISA, the term describes a whole raft of systems that can detect road speed limits via front-mounted cameras, GPS data or both. Depending on the specific ISA and how it’s configured by the driver, the technology can provide reminder feedback about the speed limit, automatically adjust cruise control to match the road’s speed or even reduce power to the motor to slow speeding vehicles.

Many drivers in Europe are already using ISA-equipped vehicles, and major automakers such as Honda, Ford, Jeep and Mercedes-Benz sell certain models with these systems in the European market. According to a projection by the EU-funded PROSPER, a scenario such as this one, where ISA becomes mandated, could result in between 26 and 50 percent fewer fatalities.

As Autocar notes, ISA technology still isn’t perfect. During one test, the ISA system was occasionally “slow to respond” and at one point set the speed limit at 60 mph while driving through a quiet English village.