TECHDIGEST – The Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB), this week in Abuja, held separate talks with the Government of Finland, and tech-giant Meta on bolstering partnerships to achieve a better data protected Nigeria.

The talk with the Finish government was outcome of a working visit by the National Commissioner, NDPB, Dr. Vincent Olatunji to the Ambassador, Finland, Leena Pylvänäinen.

Olatunji had similarly held talks with senior officials of Meta led by the Head of Public Policy Anglophone West Africa Global, Adaora Ikenze.

The visit to Ambassador Pylvänäinen was geared at leveraging opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and capacity building on data protection for NDPB with the Finland government.

Finland has robust data protection environment

Finland already has a highly robust data protection environment fostered on the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the (EU GDPR) further supplemented by the Data Protection Act which entered into force on 1 January 2019.

Enforcement of the GDPR in Finland is the prerogative of data protection regulator, the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman (Tietosuojavaltuutetun toimisto), which supervises compliance with GDPR and the Finnish Data Protection Act.

READ ALSO: NITDA Shares Country’s Roadmap With Stakeholders At Dubai’s Blockchain Gathering

The Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) is the country’s principal legislation. The equivalent of the GDPR, the NDPR is enforced by the NDPB.

Ambassador Pylvänäinen assured Olatunji’s led NDPB, – the equivalent of Finland’s Tietosuojavaltuutetun toimisto of support.

Data protection has become an important factor in the economy and security of individuals and nations, requiring greater sense of commitments and partnerships by all the global actors, said Olatunji.

According to one report, the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman recently imposed administrative fines on three companies in Finland for violations of data protection legislation. “These violations concerned giving insufficient information on data protection rights, neglecting to conduct a data protection impact assessment and the unnecessary collection of personal data,”

The dynamics of the data economy and the increasing complexity in data protection calls for closer collaboration between governments particularly data regulatory authorities like the NDPB in Nigeria and the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman in Finland.

NDPB to work with Meta

Meanwhile, Olatunji has assured Meta of a closer working relationship to jointly promote data protection and ensure the rights of users of social media are safeguarded on the platforms of the social media giant.

Meta, an American multinational technology conglomerate, is the parent organisation of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, among other subsidiaries.

Ikenze said Meta was committed to promoting businesses, social engagements and the defence of privacy rights.

Source: ITedgenews 

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TECH DIGEST – The discovery of data as the new oil to power the global economy has directed more attention to the issue of data governance. Concerns over data management or mismanagement have heightened following the privacy policy update announced by social media platform, WhatsApp.

WhatsApp’s controversial decision to share users’ information with its parent company, Facebook, is generating strident conversations in the media.

The change in the terms of use and privacy policy has sparked a major uproar by users across both the traditional and social media spaces.

In fact, WhatsApp has been sharing some data with Facebook since 2016, after it was acquired by the latter in 2014. This 2021 privacy policy means that the instant messaging platform wants to increase the volume of user information it will be sharing with the other entities in its parent company.
The new policy review is aimed at monetising WhatsApp to enable Facebook and its other apps market their business services. As the main beneficiary, Facebook would capitalise on the information shared from WhatsApp to boost its revenue through targeted advertisement.

Using the data harvested from the instant messaging company, other businesses would benefit by tracking users across all related platforms, in order to sell their products and services.

In Nigeria, the new privacy policy has succeeded in alerting the app users to a practice that has been going on for about five years now. But this realisation is raising suspicion among users in Africa and other affected regions in the world.
However, the instant messaging platform has explained that the policy update is not mandatory, as users have a choice to either accept or reject the policy. It also explained that users are free to delete their WhatsApp accounts at any time.

WhatsApp has emphasised that users’ chats and calls are safe, as they remain end-to-end encrypted and no third party like Facebook or even the operators of WhatsApp can read their messages.

Going forward, users will be repeatedly reminded to accept the new policy whenever they open the app, and when they still choose to not accept it, over time, WhatsApp will cease to be useful to them and it will eventually becomes totally useless to those categories of users.

Interestingly, those who accept the new WhatsApp policy will not notice any difference in their messaging experience. For users who refuse to accept the policy, their accounts will be deleted after 120 days of inactivity or staying unconnected.

The WhatsApp accounts that do not accept the new terms will gradually lose many of their features or experience limited functionality. Such users will no longer be able to access their chat lists, make calls or send messages across the platform.

However, users in Europe do not have to accept the new terms of service. This is so because by virtue of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), they have the right to opt-out of the privacy policy.

The GDPR shields users from sharing data and grants them the power to reject WhatsApp’s new terms and conditions. Under this law, individuals hold control over their personal data and how this is managed.

In Nigeria, WhatsApp users do not have a choice and have to comply with the new privacy policy. As such, industry stakeholders have expressed their reservations over the skewed nature of the privacy policy upgrade across geographies.

Reacting to the new privacy policy, the information technology (IT) sector regulator, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) issued an advisory addressing the concerns of Nigerians over the policy review.

NITDA acknowledged WhatsApp as the leading social media platform of choice for millions of Nigerians who use the app for business, social, educational, and other purposes.

Flowing from its engagement with Facebook Incorporated, the agency advised that while Nigerians can explore other platforms with similar features, they should be guided by data-sharing practices, privacy, ease of use, and other terms.

It urged users to limit the sharing of sensitive personal information on private messaging and social media platforms, as business considerations have taken prominence over the initial promise of privacy and security.

The IT regulator questioned the disparity between the privacy standards applicable in Europe and those of the rest of the world, and assured of ongoing engagement with Facebook to ensure compliance with the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR).
In view of the foregoing, NITDA should expedite action on plans to organise a hackathon for Nigerians to develop digital solutions that would serve as functional alternatives to existing global social platforms.

The national regulator has to cooperate with privacy rights groups and experts to escalate the coordinated sensitisation of users, and for government to urgently act against policies that seek to undermine data security and privacy.
It is imperative for Nigeria’s legislative and regulatory authorities to complete work on the draft Data Protection Bill 2020 as a legal bulwark to ensure uniformity in the protection of data of WhatsApp users.

The African Union (AU) should lead the conversation towards mobilising member countries to enact and ratify the African Cybersecurity Convention in order to create a continental framework similar to the GDPR for Europe.

Accordingly, such national and continental data protection structures are vital for setting a standard in the protection of data privacy across countries on the continent.

Inyene Ibanga is Editor TechDigest.ng and writes from Wuye District, Abuja.

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TECH DIGEST –  The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) under Section 6 (f) of the NITDA Act 2007 wishes to provide this advisory to Nigerians to address Nigerian concerns on changes to Whatsapp Terms of Service and Privacy Policy which took effect on 15th May, 2021. Millions of Nigerians use Whatsapp platform for business, social, educational, and other purposes. The platform is the social media platform of choice for many Nigerians.

To understand the issues and give an opportunity to explain its views, NITDA in collaboration with the African Network of Data Protection Authorities engaged Facebook Incorporated, the owners of Whatsapp platform, specifically, its global Policy officials on 9th April, 2021. After the engagement, NITDA, as Nigeria’s data privacy regulator, wishes to advise Nigerians on how Facebook’s business decision affects their privacy rights.

What Has Changed?

Facebook acquired Whatsapp in February 2014. Facebook currently has over 2.5 billion users globally, while Whatsapp has over 2 billion users. Whatsapp shared a reviewed Privacy Policy on 4th January 2021, informing its users outside the European Union that it would now share their information with Facebook and its sister companies.

Datasets collected by Whatsapp

Whatsapp collects the following information on users:

1.    account information; messages (including undelivered messages, media forwarding);
2.  connections;
3.   status information;
4.  transactions and payments data;
5.  usage and log information
6.  device and connection information;
7.   location information;

8.   cookies etc.

Other information collected by Whatsapp include:
⮚   battery level;
⮚   signal strength;
⮚   app version;
⮚   browser information;
⮚   mobile network;
⮚   connection information (including phone number, mobile operator or ISP), language and time zone;
⮚   Internet Protocol address;
⮚   device operations information;
⮚   social media identifiers.

The new policy best renders the platform’s information sharing practices with Facebook and its companies-

“As part of the Facebook Companies, WhatsApp receives information from, and shares information with the other Facebook Companies. We may use the information we receive from them, and they may use the information we share with them, to help operate, provide, improve, understand, customize, support, and market our Services and their offerings, including the Facebook Company Products…”

Whatsapp shares the above listed information and the following with the Facebook company:

⮚   account registration information;
⮚   details on how users interact with others;
⮚   mobile device information;
⮚   Internet Protocol address;
⮚   Location data etc.

The Facebook Team confirmed that private messages shared on WhatsApp consumer version are encrypted and not seen by the company. But the metadata (data about the usage of the service) which is also personal information is shared with other members of the Facebook Group.
Whatsapp users are at liberty to decide on giving consent to the processing of their data based on the new privacy policy. The Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) recognizes consent (a clear, unambiguous expression of privacy terms communicated by the controller and accepted by the Data Subject) as one of the lawful basis for data processing. Acceptance of the new privacy policy and terms of use implies that user data would now be shared with Facebook and other third parties. Users will now be subject to the terms and policies of Facebook and other receiving entities with or without being direct subscribers to such services.

Advise

As a result of the foregoing, NITDA advises as follows:

Nigerians may wish to note that there are other available platforms with similar functionalities which they may wish to explore.

Choice of platform should consider data sharing practices, privacy, ease of use among others; and

Limit the sharing of sensitive personal information on private messaging and social media platforms as the initial promise of privacy and security is now being overridden on the bases of business exigency.

Nigeria’s engagement with Facebook continues. We have given them our opinion on areas to improve compliance with the NDPR. We have also raised concerns as to the marked difference between the privacy standard applicable in Europe, under the GDPR and the rest of the world.

Given the foregoing and other emerging issues around international technology companies, NITDA, with stakeholders, is exploring all options to ensure Nigerians do not become victims of digital colonialism. Our national security, dignity and individual privacy are cherished considerations we must not lose. Because of this, we shall work with the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy to organize a hackathon for Nigerians to pitch solutions that can provide services that will provide functional alternatives to existing global social platforms.

Mrs. Hadiza Umar MNIPR, M.ARPA, MCIPR
Head, Corporate Affairs and External Relations
Corporate Headquarters, Garki, Abuja

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