Day: January 26, 2022

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IHC Suspends HEC Notification on BSc Engineering & B.Tech Equivalence

The Islamabad High Court on Wednesday suspended the Higher Education Commission (HEC) notification regarding the equivalence of the graduate engineers and B.Tech graduates.

Justice Babar Sattar issued notices to Federal Secretary Education and HEC after a preliminary hearing into the petition filed by Pakistan Engineering Council. On behalf of PEC, Barrister Raheel Ahmed took the stance that the HEC notification was in violation of the PEC Act and the Supreme Court decision.

He said that BSc Engineering and B.Tech Technology were not equivalent degrees, but HEC declared the two equivalent and issued a letter to the provinces asking them for implementing its decision. The petitioner told the court that the notification issued by HEC had created confusion, and some institutions had started entertaining applications of the B. Tech degree holders for the posts specified for engineers only.

He asserted that the notification had created serious concerns for PEC and the engineering community, as according to the PEC Act and the Supreme Court decision, non-engineers were not allowed to perform the duty of engineers.

It is to note that PEC had challenged the HEC equivalence notification on 25 January. The notification was issued on 8 December 2021 by HEC, declaring a bachelor’s degree in engineering (16 years education) equivalent to a bachelor’s degree (16 years education) in equivalent technology.

HEC had issued notification after the decision of the 10th meeting of its Accreditation and Equivalence Committee. According to HEC, the committee had approved the modification after due deliberation and a PEC representative was also present in the meeting.

Source: Pro Pakistani

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WhatsApp is Bringing Back a Very Important Feature

Popular social messaging application, WhatsApp, constantly tries to upgrade features to provide a better experience for its users. The app is now trying to bring back an old feature.

WhatsApp plans on bringing back technical support and assistance that enabled users to communicate with a WhatsApp representative and ask them their queries.

The feature for now will only be available to a select few users. The WhatsApp update 2.22.3.5 and iOS version 22.2.72 with this feature have already started rolling out for beta users.

How to Use it

Users can simply open ‘Settings’, then ‘Help.’ Once the Help Centre and Contact Us options appear, users can select ‘Contact Us,’ and drop a message to get in touch with an assistant who will help solve a problem.

Conversations with WhatsApp assistants are highlighted via a green sign indicating it as an official WhatsApp service. Issues such as malfunctions, scams, etc. can all be reported via this feature.

Source: Pro Pakistani

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Facebook Charged Pakistanis Over $2 Million for Using a Free Service

Facebook recently partnered with mobile carriers in developing countries including those from Indonesia, Pakistan, and the Philippines, to grant free access to Facebook and a few other services. However, according to a recent report from the Wall Street Journal, users have been unknowingly charged by their mobile carriers for using Facebook’s “free” services.

Meta Connectivity, formerly known as Facebook Connectivity, offered the service known as Free Basics and was supposed to provide “access to communication tools, health information, education resources, and other low-bandwidth services,” free of cost.

Meta Connectivity has been operational since 2013 and as of October 2022, serves over 300 million people. Yet, an internal report by the Wall Street Journal states that Facebook reportedly knew users were being charged to use the Free Basics services for months. Facebook referred to the issues as ‘leakages,’ as the issue occurred when paid services started to overlap with free ones.

Pakistani Users Were Robbed The Most

Most users in developing countries make use of prepaid phone plans, and hence many do not realize they are being charged for using mobile data until they have run out of funds. WSJ notes that Facebook users in Pakistan have been charged the most, at a total of $1.9 million, and the issue has also affected two dozen other nations.

The root cause of the issue appears to be Facebook’s software, User Interface (UI), and videos on the platform. While using Free Basics, videos are not supposed to appear, yet bugs in Facebook’s software let a few videos pass through. Notifications alerting users that they will be charged for watching the videos also failed to appear due to the glitches.

Facebook “Fixed” The Issue

As per WSJ, Facebook was aware that about 83% of the additional charges on mobile data were from videos. Facebook claims to have since fixed the issue.

Meta spokesperson, Drew Pusateri, in a statement to The Verge, stated:

We tell people that viewing photos and videos will result in data charges when they sign up, and we do our best to remind people that viewing them may result in data charges. The issue identified in the internal report that affected some of those reminders has largely been addressed. We’ll continue to work with our partners to meet our obligations to these users and ensure accurate and transparent data charges.

The Wall Street Journal aptly highlighted that Facebook’s recent growth has come mainly from low-connectivity countries, while it has been stagnant in developed ones.

Acting as both a social media platform and internet provider in low-connectivity countries, Facebook has deployed its Wi-Fi services and introduced Facebook Discover. Similar to Free Basics, Facebook Discover grants users limited free data every day. While some countries including India banned Facebook’s Free Basics service in 2016, claiming that the service violates the values of net neutrality.

Source: Pro Pakistani