FEATURE-Nigeria blocks 73 million mobile phones in security clampdown

[livingston]

FEATURE-Nigeria blocks 73 million mobile phones in security clampdown​

* Outgoing calls barred on mobile SIMs not linked to NIN database

* One-third of mobile users blocked for failing to comply

* Nigerians raise concerns over privacy, data security, access

OWERRI, Nigeria, April 20 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - C onstance Chioma calls her son every morning to check that he is safe while studying in northeast Nigeria, a region plagued by deadly attacks by Islamist insurgents and armed kidnappings.

Earlier this month, she could not get through.

She later realised her SIM card was one of about 73 million - more than a third of the 198 million in Nigeria - which have been barred from making outgoing calls because they have not been registered in the national digital identity database.

Nigeria is among dozens of African countries including Ghana, Egypt and Kenya with SIM registration laws that authorities say are necessary for security purposes, but digital rights experts here say increase surveillance and hurts privacy.
Nigeria has been rolling out 11-digit electronic national identity cards for almost a decade, which record an individual’s personal and biometric data, including fingerprints and photo.
The National Identity Number (NIN) is required to open a bank account, apply for a driver’s license, vote, get health insurance, and file tax returns.

FEATURE-Nigeria blocks 73 million mobile phones in security clampdown

* Outgoing calls barred on mobile SIMs not linked to NIN database

www.reuters.com

 

[livingston]

CDC Tracked Millions of Phones to See If Americans Followed COVID Lockdown Orders​

Newly released documents showed the CDC planned to use phone location data to monitor schools and churches, and wanted to use the data for many non-COVID-19 purposes too.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) bought access to location data harvested from tens of millions of phones in the United States to perform analysis of compliance with curfews, track patterns of people visiting K-12 schools, and specifically monitor the effectiveness of policy in the Navajo Nation, according to CDC documents obtained by Motherboard. The documents also show that although the CDC used COVID-19 as a reason to buy access to the data more quickly, it intended to use it for more general CDC purposes.

CDC Tracked Millions of Phones to See If Americans Followed COVID Lockdown Orders

Newly released documents showed the CDC planned to use phone location data to monitor schools and churches, and wanted to use the data for many non-COVID-19 purposes, too.

www.vice.com