NITDA probes Truecaller over Data and Privacy Breach

The National Information Technology Agency in Nigeria (NITDA) is set to probe Truecaller over an alleged breach of user privacy and data sharing by the App. This was revealed in a statement released on Twitter by the agency.

NITDA is the public service institution established in 2007 as the ICT policy implementing arm of the Federal Ministry of Information and Communication in Nigeria. The agency is saddled with the responsibility of developing programs that cater to the running of ICT related activities in the country and the implementation of policy and guidelines for ICT operations.

NITDA stated that smartphone users who have the India-based Caller Identification application installed on their phones complained of information breaches. This seemingly spurred the current investigation.

In the statement released on NITDA Twitter page, the agency stated that initial findings revealed that Truecaller’s privacy policy is not in compliance with the global laws on data protection and Nigeria’s Data Protection Regulation NDPR.

PRESS STATEMENT

NITDA COMMENCES INVESTIGATION INTO POTENTIAL BREACH OF PRIVACY RIGHTS OF NIGERIANS BY THE TRUECALLER SERVICE pic.twitter.com/8GwA1wkzoG

— NITDA Nigeria (@NITDANigeria) September 23, 2019

Truecaller has two sets of privacy policies; one is majorly for those in the European Economic Area (EEA) and the other is for those outside the region, where Nigeria belongs.

Truecaller, which has over 7million Nigerian users have been tagged insecure because of misusing the data provided by users.

Also, the privacy law of Truecaller revealed poor construction of service terms, disparity and incongruence with the Nigerian data protection law, as well as a total breach of what was stated in the content of the privacy law itself.

Some examples listed by the agency include the power to supplement information provided by the user with that from a third party. Truecaller was also probed for collecting data that was not provided by users, including information of sites visited and APIs.

All these information are collected without the consent of the user.

NITDA also stated that the app allegedly shares user information with third parties such as advertisers and network agencies. It reemphasized its willingness to protect Nigerians and monitor the activities of information technology companies.