Understanding Data Protection, Privacy in Nigeria by Apeh Jonathan Apeh

Between 1760-1840, the world witnessed what was called industrial revolution. It was an event that was characterised by the first-time use of machine in the production of goods.

Then, textiles was the most affected industry. It was an era powered by the steam engine. After this, came the 2nd industrial revolution, characterised by the emergence of new energy sources like electricity, gas and oil to create mass production.

Now, we are in the era of digital technology, the fourth industrial revolution which is building on the successes of the third industrial revolution which is largely about electronics and information technologies to automate mass production.

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In this press statement, the NITDA had indicated that the Truecaller Privacy Policy is not in compliance with global data protection laws and the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation(NDPR).

The caller ID service which has over seven millions Nigerians active users was accused of not complying with the valid consent specificity requirement for share personal data.

This requirement demands that before a person’s personal data is shared with a third party, his/her consent must be sort and the specific reason for which the data is being used must be clearly known by the data owner.

The other point which the NITDA raised was that Truecaller collects excessive personal data which are not relevant to the provisioning of the caller ID service itself.

Examples of such data according to the NITDA include: geo-location; your IP address; device ID or unique identifier; device manufacturer and type; device and hardware settings; SIM card usage; applications installed on your device; ID for advertising; ad data, operating system; web browser; operator; IMSI; connection information; screen resolution; usage statistics; default communication applications; access to device address book; device log and event information; logs, keywords and meta data of incoming and outgoing calls and messages; version of the Services you use and other information based on your interaction with our Services such as how the Services are being accessed (via another service, web site or a search engine); the pages You visit and features you use on the Services”.

Finally, the NITDA pointed out that the Truecaller as shown on her privacy page, shares personal data of her users with “third party advertisers, agencies and networks. Such third parties may use this information for analytical and marketing purposes.”

Read Full Article here: https://thefact.ng/opinion-understanding-data-protection-privacy-in-nigeria/