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NIN-SIM Linkage: SERAP Sues Buhari Over Security Agencies’ Access To Subscribers’ Details

Published

2 years ago

March 13, 2022

Editor

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sued President Muhammadu Buhari for failing to rescind his “approval” for security agencies to access people’s details via NIN-SIM linkage without due process of law.

The agencies were reportedly granted access to the database of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

The suit FHC/L/CS/448/2022 was filed Friday at the Federal High Court in Lagos by Kolawole Oluwadare and Opeyemi Owolabi.

SERAP is asking the court to determine whether the approval is consistent with the principles of legality and necessity.

The applicants are requesting an order setting it aside due to “violations of private and digital communication rights, right to family life, human dignity and personal liberty”.

They want an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Federal Government, any other authority or group of persons from access to NIN-SIM details.

The organization said millions of law-abiding Nigerians may feel that their private lives are the subject of constant surveillance.

SERAP argues that in a digital age, protecting the right to privacy requires exceptional attention and that interference with the right to privacy is not permissible.

The suit insists individuals should freely receive and share information of a personal nature without interference from the authorities.

SERAP noted that access to people’s personal details would contravene section 37 of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended), article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The other is article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which protect against arbitrary or unlawful interference with one’s privacy.”

“The power to access individual’s details raises serious concerns as to their arbitrary use by the authorities responsible for applying them”, the suit reads.

The Respondents are Abubakar Malami (SAN) Attorney General and Minister of Justice, and Isa Ali Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.

No date has been fixed for hearing of the suit.

Headline

Google To Offer AI-generated Answers In Search Results

Published

3 hours ago

May 14, 2024

Editor

Google has announced it would introduce AI-generated answers to online queries made by users in the United States, in one of the biggest updates to its search engine in 25 years.

“I’m excited to announce that we will begin launching this fully revamped experience, ‘AI overviews,’ to everyone in the US this week,” Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said at an event in California on Tuesday, May 14.

Google’s search results will feature an AI summary at the top of the page before the more typical unfurling of links.

The AI answers generated by Google’s Gemini technology will offer succinct summaries of what it found on the internet with links to the online sources that supplied the information.

“You can ask whatever’s on your mind or whatever you need to get done – from researching to planning to brainstorming – and Google will take care of the legwork,” said Google Search team boss Liz Reid.

The change comes as Google feels growing pressure from AI-powered search engines like Perplexity, and from the rumors that OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, is building its own AI search tool.

Searches through AI chats have also appeared on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, with users able to get information from the web without Google.

The change will soon spread to other countries, Pichai added, making it accessible to more than a billion people.

Headline

College Volleyball Player Killed In US Nightclub Shooting

Published

3 hours ago

May 14, 2024

Editor

Albany State University volleyball player Mariam Creighton has been tragically killed in a nightclub shooting in Atlanta.

Atlanta Police Department said on Tuesday, May 14, that the incident happened around 2:28 AM on Sunday, May 14, when officers responded to shots fired at the Elleven45 establishment.

Six people were shot, two of whom were pronounced dead at the scene, Creighton and 20-year-old Nakyris Ridley.

The police department said in a statement;

“Preliminary investigation indicates the shooting occurred during a physical dispute at the location that escalated to gunfire.”

Creighton was a member of the ASU Golden Rams volleyball team, and was one semester from graduating from the HBCU with a biology degree.

Her family said she was at the club on Sunday celebrating her niece’s birthday. “It’s just senseless,” Creighton’s sister, Tiffany, said. “My sister was just out having a good time, and now our lives are just altered forever.”

Headline

Nigerian Burnt To Death In Bangkok Car Crash

Published

4 hours ago

May 14, 2024

Editor

A 35-year-old Nigerian man identified as Daniel was burnt to death in a car accident in Bangkok, Thailand.

Bangkok’s Prawet Police Station, confirmed the identity of the Nigerian national in a statement on Tuesday, May 14, 2024,

Daniel, whose Thai wife came to confirm his identity with the police, died on Saturday, May 11, when his car crashed into a road median and caught fire.

This serious road accident occurred at 5:30 a.m. on a three-lane road near Soi Phatthanakan 53/1, Suan Luang Subdistrict and District, Bangkok.

When officials received the report and arrived at the scene, they found a gray Toyota Vios with Samut Prakan province license plates overturned and engulfed in flames, blocking the middle of the road.

The officers spent about 10 minutes spraying water to extinguish the fire, but the car was completely damaged by the flames.

At that time, rescuers had to use cutting and prying equipment to remove the driver’s body from the wreckage and send it to the Police Hospital for an autopsy. They found a document with a front-facing photo of a foreign man.

Eyewitnesses stated that they saw the car driving at high speed in the far right lane before losing control and crashing into the road median.

The car spun and hit a palm tree with such force that it flipped over and ended up on its roof in the middle of the road.

At that moment, good Samaritans tried to pry open the door to help the unconscious driver, but before they could pull him out, sparks ignited, and the car quickly caught fire.