This aligns with and gives unambiguous expression to NCC’s strategic vision plan centring on strategic partnership and collaboration with necessary stakeholders to achieve regulatory objectives.

The two organisations made the commitment when a delegation from Google Global Services Nigeria paid a courtesy visit to the Commission’s Head Office in Abuja to deliberate on viable collaborative interventions to propel digital transformation across the country and Africa.

Receiving the Google delegation, the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, said the commission’s expectations, initiatives, and vision towards increasing broadband penetration, quality of service, advancement of a digital economy and commitment to improving national security through technological advancement are at the front burner of its regulatory interventions.

Underscoring the importance of such synergy between the commission and Google, Danbatta, who was represented by the Executive Commissioner, Technical Services (ECTS), NCC, Ubale Maska, said the Commission looked forward to making the initiatives of both parties more impactful by enhancing cooperation between the NCC and Google Nigeria for quantifiable and remarkable impact.

The EVC expressed optimism that Google’s investment in the subsea cable, Equiano, which is expected to land in Nigeria by end of April 2022, will be more impactful in driving NCC’s ongoing implementation of the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP), 2020-2025, aimed at increasing broadband penetration to 70 per cent by 2025.

“I am hopeful that Equiano will have additional landing points in the hinterlands through collaborative efforts with the licensed Infrastructure Companies (InfraCos) to reduce retail data prices significantly and thereby complementing the commission’s efforts at ensuring affordable Internet services are available to boost the Commission’s ongoing broadband policy drive,” he said.

Earlier in her remarks, the Director, Google West Africa, Juliet Ehimuan, who led the delegation to NCC, commended the NCC for its consultative approach in formulating regulatory policies, as an engine room for optimal delivery of telecommunications services that will in turn impact the digital economy drive of the government.

She particularly applauded the commission for its seamless, fair, credible, impartial and successful auction of the 3.5GHz spectrum for the deployment of Fifth Generation (5G) in Nigeria, stating that it is evident that both the NCC and Google share a common goal.

According to Ehimuan, demands for Internet services have increased the need for more capacity, and sustainable collaborations with all relevant stakeholders within the public and private sectors. She asserted that Google’s commitment of $1 billion across five years in various interventions will support digital transformation in Nigeria and across Africa.

Ehimuan stated that research has proven that Africa will have an additional 300 million Internet users and Nigeria will lead in that number, given its current statistics of over 141 million internet subscribers and broadband penetration of over 40.88 per cent as of January 2022.

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The Russian government has been seeking to tighten control over the Russian segment of the web and develop a so-called “sovereign internet” and has said foreign technology companies must store Russian users’ data in the country.

Moscow’s Tagansky district court on Thursday found Google guilty of breaching data localisation laws and fined the company 3 million rubles ($41,000), a court spokeswoman told state news agency RIA Novosti.

The maximum penalty is six million rubles.

This is the first time the US company has been penalised for breaching the controversial law passed in 2014 that requires the personal data of Russian users to be stored inside Russia.

Twitter and Facebook were fined last year for failing to comply while the networking website LinkedIn was blocked by Russia after it refused to move the data of Russian users.

In recent months, Russia has been taking legal action against foreign tech companies, especially social networks, for failing to delete content at the request of the state media watchdog.

Kremlin critics say the government uses the pretext of protecting minors and fighting extremism to remove content linked to the opposition, which is largely based online.

During protests in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny in January, authorities accused internet platforms of interfering in Russia’s domestic affairs by not deleting posts calling for minors to join the rallies.

Facebook and Google have been handed fines for failing to remove illegal content, while Twitter had its services throttled by Russia’s government media regulator earlier this year.

The media watchdog also threatened to ban Twitter completely if the prohibited content was not removed.

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It is “the biggest ever fine” imposed by the Competition Authority for a company’s failure to adhere to one of its rulings, the agency’s chief Isabelle De Silva told reporters, saying the decision was intended to “reflect the gravity” of Google’s shortcomings.

The regulator also ordered Google to present media publishers with “an offer of renumeration for the current use of their copyrighted content”, or risk paying additional damages of up to 900,000 euros a day.

A Google spokesperson said in a statement to AFP that the company was “very disappointed” by the decision.

“We have acted in good faith during the entire negotiation period. This fine does not reflect the efforts put in place, nor the reality of the use of news content on our platform,” the company insisted.

“This decision is mainly about negotiations that took place between May and September 2020. Since then, we have continued to work with publishers and news agencies to find common ground.”

The long-running legal battle has centred on claims that Google has been showing articles, pictures and videos produced by media outlets when displaying search results without adequate compensation, despite the seismic shift of global advertising revenues towards the search giant.

In April 2020, the French competition authority ordered Google to negotiate “in good faith” with media groups after it refused to comply with a 2019 EU law governing digital copyright.

The so-called “neighbouring rights” aim to ensure that news publishers are compensated when their work is shown on websites, search engines and social media platforms.

But last September, French news publishers including Agence France-Presse (AFP) filed a complaint with regulators, saying Google was refusing to move forward on paying to display content in web searches.

– ‘Systematic lack of respect’ –
While Google insists it has made progress on the issue, the French regulator said the company’s behaviour “indicates a deliberate, elaborate and systematic lack of respect” for its order to negotiate in good faith.

In particular, the Competition Authority rebuked Google for having failed to “have a specific discussion” with media companies about neighbouring rights during negotiations over its Google Showcase news service, which launched late last year.

Tuesday’s ruling had been keenly anticipated by news outlets across Europe, as the first decision of its kind by a regulator over the EU’s neighbouring rights policy.

News outlets struggling with dwindling print subscriptions have long seethed at Google’s refusal to give them a cut of the millions of euros it makes from ads displayed alongside news search results.

Google initially refused to pay media outlets for the snippets of news stories, photos and videos that appear in the search results, arguing that the traffic these searches send to their websites was payment enough.

The internet giant has since softened its stance, and announced in November that it had signed “some individual agreements” on copyright payments with French newspapers and magazines, including top dailies Le Monde and Le Figaro.

Google and AFP are “close to an agreement” on the issue, the news agency’s chief executive Fabrice Fries and Google’s France director Sebastien Missoffe said in a joint statement Tuesday.

Google has further defended itself against claims that it is contributing to the demise of traditional media by pointing to its support for news outlets in other ways, including emergency funding during the Covid-19 crisis.

But the company is coming under increasing pressure from regulators around the world as concerns grow that media outlets will find it increasingly difficult to hold those in power to account faced with such chronic underfunding.

Australia has taken one of the most aggressive positions, demanding that Google and Facebook pay media organisations when their platforms host their content or face millions of dollars in fines.

The landmark legislation resulted in Google and Facebook signing deals worth millions of dollars to Australian media companies.

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Digital rights activists say New Delhi’s latest rules could be used by the government to identify authors of critical posts on social media sites.

But the government argues they are needed to investigate national security offences and cases involving sexually explicit material.

India’s electronics and IT ministry said Saturday it was “dismayed” over Twitter’s “non-compliance” and flagged the May 26 deadline, when the new rules came into force.

“The refusal to comply demonstrates Twitter’s lack of commitment and efforts towards providing a safe experience for people of India on its platforms,” its notice said.

“Needless to state, such non-compliance will lead to unintended consequences including Twitter losing exemption from liability as an intermediary,” the ministry said.

“As a gesture of goodwill, Twitter Inc is hereby given one last notice to immediately comply with the rules.”

The regulations demand that social media companies give details of the “first originator” of posts deemed to undermine India’s sovereignty, state security or public order.

Tech companies are also required to appoint a chief compliance officer for the rules and a “grievance redressal officer”, both based in India.

New Delhi last week said most major social media sites had already shared details of their chief compliance officer, contact person, and grievance officer, including Koo, ShareChat, Telegram, LinkedIn, Google, Facebook, and WhatsApp.

The row between India and Twitter escalated in May after the tech firm marked a tweet from a ruling party spokesman as “manipulated media”.

New Delhi accused Twitter and other US tech giants of “double standards” in taking down disputed content.

Delhi police visited Twitter’s office to serve a notice ordering it to join an official inquiry into the “manipulated media” label — a move the company described as “intimidation”.

There was no immediate comment from Twitter on the latest notice from New Delhi Saturday.

India’s IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said the government respects people’s privacy and the new rules are aimed at preventing “abuse and misuse of social media”.

But critics say Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration is seeking to stifle online opposition in what is a huge market for Twitter, Facebook, and other tech firms.

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Sundar Pichai , in a statement said, “We plan to invest over $7 billion in offices and data centers across the US and create at least 10,000 new full-time Google jobs in the US this year”.

Details later…

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Igwe was the writer and producer of acclaimed classic comedies Fuji House of Commotion and award-winning TV soap ‘Checkmate’.

The broadcasting executive who died in 2014 is being celebrated by the tech giant for her contribution to the Nollywood movie industry.

A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google’s homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures.

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The Google Play, which was unveiled on Monday promised access to hundreds of “awesome” games free of ads or hawked virtual wares at the same $4.99 monthly subscription price as that of the Arcade service Apple launched last week for iOS devices.

“The Play Pass collection spans hundreds of titles, from games that help you unwind to apps that power productivity,” Google product manager Austin Shoemaker said in an online post.

“Play Pass is coming to Android devices in the US this week, and we’ll be bringing it to additional countries soon.”

Some of the game titles included in the launch will be Terraria, Monument Valley, Risk and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

It will also include apps such as Accuweather which are free of in-app purchases, upfront payments or advertising.

Google said it will add new games and apps to the service each month. The internet giant also enticed people with a temporary offer to let them subscribe at a reduced price for the first year.

“Play Pass helps encourage people to try new experiences they would not have otherwise,” said Maria Sayans, chief executive of Monument Valley maker Ustwo games.

Play Pass was announced just days after the launch of Apple Arcade, which rides a trend of video games played by subscribers instead of purchased as downloads or disks.

Apple Arcade offers unlimited access for a flat monthly price to more than 100 exclusive games uninterrupted by ads or the hawking of virtual goods.

Arcade, and now Play Pass, fit into a subscription model that is gaining traction, according to analysts.

AFP

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According to Google policy adviser, Adrienne Biddings said in a blog post on Friday “this new policy will prohibit ads selling treatments that have no established biomedical or scientific basis”.

Biddings added that Google will “prohibit advertising for unproven or experimental medical techniques such as most stem cell therapy, cellular (non-stem) therapy and gene therapy.”

Google will also ban “treatments that are rooted in basic scientific findings and preliminary clinical experience, but currently have insufficient formal clinical testing to justify widespread clinical use,” she added.

The online giant said it made the decision due to “a rise in bad actors attempting to take advantage of individuals by offering untested, deceptive treatments.”

The company said this was not an effort to diminish the importance of medical discoveries but maintained that “monitored, regulated clinical trials are the most reliable way to test and prove important medical advances.”

Google further informed that  it took the action after consulting experts in the field and that its move was endorsed by the president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, Deepak Srivastava.

In Google’s statement, Srivastava was quoted as saying, “The premature marketing and commercialization of unproven stem cell products threatens public health, their confidence in biomedical research, and undermines the development of legitimate new therapies.”

Online services have struggled to filter out misleading and deceptive content, including medical hoaxes, while remaining open platforms.

Earlier this year Facebook and Google-owned YouTube moved to reduce the spread of misleading health care claims after a media report showed the proliferation of bogus cancer cures on social media.

Facebook said it made changes as part of efforts to reduce the spread of misleading medical claims including from groups opposing the use of recommended vaccines.

A Wall Street Journal report, based on interviews with doctors, lawyers, privacy experts and others, found numerous false or misleading claims about cancer therapies online.

These included videos advocating the use of potentially dangerous cell-killing ointments, unverified dietary regimes, or unapproved screening techniques.

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The move could have dramatic implications for Huawei smartphone users, as the telecoms giant will no longer have access to Google’s proprietary services — which include the Gmail and Google Maps apps — a source close to the matter told AFP.

Reports also emerged on Monday that several US chipmakers providing vital hardware for Huawei’s smartphones have stopped supplying the Chinese firm.

In the midst of a trade war with Beijing, President Donald Trump has barred US companies from engaging in telecommunications trade with foreign companies said to threaten American national security.

The measure targets Huawei, the world’s second-biggest smartphone maker, which has been listed by the US Commerce Department among firms that American companies can only trade with if authorities grant permission.

The ban includes technology sharing. Google, like all tech companies, collaborates directly with smartphone makers to ensure its systems are compatible with their devices.

“We are complying with the order and reviewing the implications,” a Google spokesperson told AFP.

“We assure you while we are complying with all US gov’t requirements, services like Google Play & security from Google Play Protect will keep functioning on your existing Huawei device,” Google’s official @Android account tweeted.

Due to the ban, Google will have to halt business activities with Huawei that involve direct transfer of hardware, software and technical services that are not publicly available.

That means Huawei will only be able to use the open source version of Android.

It will need to manually access any updates or software patches from Android Open Source Project, and also distribute the updates to users itself, a source told AFP.

In a statement, Huawei said it would “continue to provide security updates and after-sales services” to all existing smartphones and tablets globally, including those not yet sold.

A person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity told Bloomberg News that Huawei will be unable to offer Google’s proprietary apps and services in the future.

China’s foreign ministry said it was actively following the situation.

“At the same time, the Chinese side supports Chinese enterprises in taking up legal weapons and defending their legitimate rights,” said spokesman Lu Kang.

 5G leader

Huawei is a rapidly expanding leader in 5G technology, and currently has the most advanced and cheapest 5G capacities in the world.

Its smartphones outsold Apple’s iPhones in the first quarter of this year, seizing the California company’s second-place spot in a tightening smartphone market dominated by Samsung.

But the Chinese firm remains dependent on foreign suppliers.

It buys about $67 billion worth of components each year, including about $11 billion from US suppliers, according to The Nikkei business daily.

US chipmakers including Intel, Qualcomm and Broadcom have informed workers that they will stop supplying Huawei until further notice, Bloomberg said Monday, citing people familiar with their actions.

Huawei “is heavily dependent on US semiconductor products and would be seriously crippled without supply of key US components,” said Ryan Koontz, a Rosenblatt Securities analyst, although the Chinese firm is believed to have stockpiles in place.

The ban “may cause China to delay its 5G network build until the ban is lifted, having an impact on many global component suppliers,” he added.

The companies themselves did not comment.

Huawei is the target of an intense campaign by Washington, which has been trying to persuade allies not to allow China a role in building next-generation 5G mobile networks.

Super-fast networking 5G, the fifth-generation successor to today’s decade-old 4G technology which is struggling to keep pace with global broadband demand, promises radically quicker transfers of data.

US government agencies are already banned from buying equipment from Huawei.

Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei said Saturday that “We have not done anything which violates the law,” adding the US measures would have a limited impact.

Ren’s army background and Huawei’s opaque culture have fueled suspicions in some countries that the firm has links with the Chinese military and intelligence services.

AFP

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This will afford millions of Nigerians access to the Internet and particularly support content distribution.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, gave the assurance during a meeting with Google executives at the company’s corporate headquarters in the Silicon Valley at the start of the investment road show he is leading to San Francisco and Los Angeles.

https://iso.keq.mybluehost.me/nigerias-vp-osinbajo-commissions-projects-in-kano/

Google CEO Sundar Pichai welcomed the Vice President to the meeting held at Googleplex, the corporate headquarters of Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc., located in California, United States.

Nigeria has been identified as one of the major countries where the latest generation of Internet users will come from, and the next billion users are said to be already changing the Internet in three key ways: the prominent use of smartphones to access the Internet, an instinct for universal computing, and a demand for localised content.

The future of the internet is in the hands of the next billion users, as the global technology company has noted, and it is reckoned that the latest generation of internet users will come online on smartphones in places like Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and Nigeria.

For Nigeria, the Google Next Billion Users plan is expected to provoke innovation on an unprecedented scale.

In the same vein, the VP and Google executives also discussed  localization of content and content creation to make content cheaper and more accessible to Nigerians.

Prof. Osinbajo also discussed other areas for possible partnership with Google, including the establishment of Google Artificial Intelligence Centers in Institutions of Higher Learning in Nigeria and the establishment of a YouTube Creator space to support Nigeria’s digital content producers and enable them make money with their craft leveraging on YouTube and Google Tools.

Other areas discussed include the expansion of Google’s Launchpad Accelerator Program in Africa. Google has also indicated interest in the policy environment in Nigeria and formulation of policy to encourage partnerships and investments from Google with companies in Nigeria’s technology space.

This is in line with Nigeria’s ERGP plans, and the country’s quest to become a data driven digital economy, knowledge and business process outsourcing hub for the global market, and making gains in terms of the efficiency and transparency of process that a digital economy offers.

Also in Federal Government’s effort of ensuring a skilled work force, it is partnering with Google to increase the number of Nigerians in the global technology firm’s Launchpad Accelerator, and Google I/O Developer Festivals.

Also Google will offer training to Nigerians on Android and Web Development, Digital Marketing and Taking Business Online.

A major objective of the Vice President’s trip is to showcase to the world the progress and strides in the country’s technology, innovation and creative space by Nigerian Start-ups and entertainment industry practitioners.

At the meeting held on Monday in Silicon Valley, the Vice President also interacted with scores of Nigerians working with Google.

The Vice President later met with a series of key technology investors and also visited the headquarters of LinkedIn where he was the Special Guest at the firm’s Fireside Chat in a room packed full of Nigerians in Diaspora among others.

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