Germany blocks WhatsApp data transfers to Facebook

German data protection authorities on Tuesday said they had blocked Facebook from collecting subscriber data from its subsidiary WhatsApp, citing privacy concerns.
Facebook and WhatsApp promised in the wake of the Silicon Valley giant’s 2014 acquisition of the messaging app that they would not share data, Hamburg’s Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information Johannes Caspar recalled in a statement.
He added that Facebook would be required to delete any data already received from WhatsApp in Germany.
“It has to be (the users’) decision whether they want to connect their account with Facebook,” Caspar said. “Facebook has to ask for their permission in advance.”
WhatsApp announced in August that it would begin sharing data with Facebook, in a bid to allow better targeted advertising and fight spam on the platform.
Currently, users of the instant messenger must opt out of sending information to Facebook through WhatsApp’s settings on their smartphone.

Nigeria’s broadband penetration reaches 21 per cent

The Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Umar Danbatta, says the Nigeria Broadband Penetration has reached 20.95 per cent.
Mr. Danbatta said this on Monday in Abuja while presenting the first progress report of the eight point agenda he unveiled to the media in 2015.
According to him, broadband is a flagship of the eight point agenda he unveiled in Kano and Lagos.
“The active mobile broadband penetration released by the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development shows that Nigeria has reached a penetration of 20.95 per cent.
“On the percentage of internet penetration, the country has reached a milestone of 47.44 per cent, second to South Africa in the continent,” he said.
Mr. Danbatta said the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development was set up by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and UNESCO in 2010.
He said the provision of the National Broadband Plan that had a set target of 30 per cent penetration from 2013 to 2018, also accentuated emphasis on broadband penetration.

Researchers restore first ever computer music recording

New Zealand researchers said Monday they have restored the first recording of computer-generated music, created in 1951 on a gigantic contraption built by British genius Alan Turing.
The aural artefact, which paved the way for everything from synthesizers to modern electronica, opens with a staunchly conservative tune — the British national anthem “God Save the King”.
Researchers at the University of Canterbury (UC) in Christchurch said it showed Turing — best known as the father of computing who broke the WWII Enigma code — was also a musical innovator.
“Alan Turing’s pioneering work in the late 1940s on transforming the computer into a musical instrument has been largely overlooked,” they said.
The recording was made 65 years ago by a BBC outside-broadcast unit at the Computing Machine Laboratory in Manchester, northern England.

Thailand is considering tougher tax rules for tech firms like Alphabet

Thailand is studying plans for tougher tax collection rules governing internet and technology firms, according to the head of the country’s Revenue Department.
The plans would also cover the mobile transfers and internet payment sector, Prasong

Samsung delays South Korea re-start of Note7 sales by 3 days

Tech giant Samsung Electronics said on Sunday it was delaying the start of new Galaxy Note 7 smartphone sales in South Korea by three days to Oct. 1, a move it says is needed for speedy completion of the ongoing recall in the country.
Samsung announced on Sept. 2 a recall of at least 2.5 million Galaxy Note7 smartphones in 10 markets, including South Korea, due to a faulty battery causing the phones to catch fire, offering refunds or replacement devices using safe batteries.
The firm hopes to complete the recall quickly and restart sales in the fourth quarter to salvage earnings, but the latest hitch in South Korea underscore continuing challenges in those efforts.
Though product exchanges in South Korea began on Monday, only about 200,000 affected customers have turned in their devices – which Samsung says represents half of affected customers and a recall pace that is much slower than other markets such as Singapore and the

NCC receives 6,163 complaints from telecoms subscribers in Q2

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says it received 6,163 complaints from telecommunications subscribers in the second quarter of 2016.
Mr Abdullahi Maikano, the Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB) of the commission made the disclosure to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.
Maikano said that of the 6,163 complaints, 4,739 issues were resolved, giving a resolution of 76.9 per cent.
He also said that the commission received 23,694 complaints from telecommunications consumers in the first quarter.
NAN reports that the complaints received in the second quarter reduced by 17,531 or by 73.99 per cent compared with that of first quarter.
The director said that the reduction was as a result of the “2442 Do Not Disturb’’ directive of the regulatory body to the operators.

Trump opposes plan for US to cede control of ICANN to global community

U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump opposes a long-planned transition of oversight of the internet’s technical management from the U.S. government to a global community of stakeholders, his campaign said in a statement on Wednesday.
Congress should block the handover, scheduled to occur on Oct. 1, “or internet freedom will be lost for good, since there will be no way to make it great again once it is lost,” Stephen Miller, national policy director for the Trump campaign, said in a statement.
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a former presidential primary foe of Trump’s who has refused to endorse the real estate developer, has led a movement in Congress to block the transition, arguing it could cede control of the internet itself to authoritarian regimes like Russia and China and threaten online freedom.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg pledges $3bn to wipe out ‘all disease’

Mark Zuckerberg and his wife have pledged more than $3bn towards an ambitious plan to rid the world of disease.
The Facebook founder and his wife, paediatrician Priscilla Chan, said the goal was to “cure, prevent or manage all disease within our children’s lifetime”.
Investment will go towards research into cancer and infectious disease as well as heart and neurological disease, the couple said.
The plans were revealed during an event in San Francisco for their philanthropic group, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, on Wednesday.
Dr Chan said they launched the initiative following the birth of daughter Max last year, with the goal of dramatically improving the lives of all other children in her generation.
She recalled experiences of telling parents their child had an incurable disease or could not be