Google under investigation for ‘secretly tracking Android users

The long-running feud between Google and Oracle has officially spilled over into the tech-privacy debate, with Oracle prompting an Australian investigation into Google’s alleged tracking of Android phone users. 

The Australian competition and privacy regulators are jointly looking into Oracle’s allegations that Android phones quietly tell Google where users are located, even if they have location services turned off, and even if there is no SIM card in the device. 

These allegations first surfaced in November media reports. While the source of the information was not disclosed at the time, security expert Ashkan Soltani—formerly the Federal Trade Commission’s chief technologist—claimed Oracle had disseminated the story, and had been trying to do so for months. 

Oracle has now openly repeated the allegations in a presentation to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC,) which is probing Google and Facebook’s impact on the advertising market—spoiler: they own it. Oracle also said Android devices sent Google detailed information on people’s searches and surfing. 

Crucially, Oracle claimed all of these surreptitious data transfers add up to about a gigabyte per month, for which the user has to pay.

“We are exploring how much consumers know about the use of location data and are working closely with the Privacy Commissioner,” the ACCC said in a statement. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner said it was “making inquiries with Google.” 

Google, which has been fighting Oracle in court for years over the code used in Android, hit back at its nemesis by pointing out that Oracle is a major player in the behind-the-scenes trafficking in people’s data. 

“Google is completely focused on protecting our users’ data while making the products they love work better for them. Users can see what data is collected and how it’s used in one easy place, My Account, and control it all from there,” Google said. “Like many of Oracle’s corporate tactics, this presentation is sleight of hand, not facts, and given that Oracle markets itself as the world’s biggest data broker, they know it.” 

“Any location data that is sent back to Google location servers is anonymized and is not tied or traceable to a specific user,” the company added. 

Oracle declined to respond to Google’s parry.

Ronaldo leads Portugal’s 35-man squad

Portugal have named Real Madrid star, Cristiano Ronaldo, in their 35-man provisional squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Ronaldo again will lead Seleção das Quinas to this summer’s tournament after he captained the team four years ago in Brazil.

The 35-man squad announced on Tuesday by Portugal coach, Fernando Santos is made up of three goalkeepers, thirteen defenders, nine midfielders and nine strikers.

The squad include: Goalkeepers: Anthony Lopes, Beto, Rui Patricio

Defenders: Vitorino Antunes, Bruno Alves, Cedric, Joao Cancelo, Jose Fonte, Luis Neto, Mario Rui, Nelson Semedo, Pepe, Raphael Guerreiro, Ricardo Pereira, Rolando, Ruben Dias

Midfielders: Adrien Silva, Andre Gomes, Bruno Fernandes, William Carvalho, Joao Mario, Joao Moutinho, Manuel Fernandes, Ruben Neves, Sergio Oliveira,Forwards: Andre Silva, Bernardo Silva, Cristiano Ronaldo, Eder, Gelson Martins, Goncalo Guedes, Nani, Paulinho, Ricardo Quaresma, Rony Lopes

Musk tells Tesla Staff he is planning ‘reorganization

Tesla's chief executive officer told employees on Monday the company is undergoing a “thorough reorganization,” as it contends with questions over its production schedule and two crashes last week involving its electric, self-driving cars.

CEO Elon Musk said in an email that as part of the reorganization it was “flattening the management structure to improve communication, combining functions where sensible and trimming activities that are not vital to the success of our mission” in an email that was confirmed by Tesla after being disclosed earlier by the Wall Street Journal.

Senior Tesla executives have departed or cut back work

Waymo, Alphabet Inc's self-driving unit, said on Sunday that Matthew Schwall had joined the company from Tesla, where he was the electric carmaker’s main technical contact with U.S. safety investigators. Last week, Tesla said Doug Field, senior vice president of engineering, was taking time off to recharge.

Tesla is at a critical juncture as it tries to fix production problems that have slowed the rollout of its Model 3 sedan, a mid-market car seen as key to the company’s success, and as it expands on other fronts.

The company has registered a new car firm in Shanghai, China, in a likely step toward production in China.

Musk said on a May 2 earnings call that the company was “going to conduct sort of a reorganization restructuring of the company ... this month and make sure we’re well set up to achieve that goal.”

He added that “the number of sort of third-party contracting companies that we’re using has really gotten out of control, so we’re going to scrub the barnacles on that front. It’s pretty crazy. You’ve got barnacles on barnacles. So there’s going to be a lot of barnacle removal.”

Tesla will still rapidly hire critical positions “to support the Model 3 production ramp and future product development,” Musk said in the email.

Tesla faces a variety of issues

Investors gave a rare rebuke to Musk after he cut off analysts on the earnings call asking about profit potential, sending shares down 5 percent despite promises that production of the troubled Model 3 was on track.

In the latest of two reported crashes last week that have drawn attention, a Tesla Model S sedan was traveling at 60 miles per hour (97 km per hour) when it smashed into a fire truck stopped at a red light in South Jordan, Utah, about 20 miles south of Salt Lake City on Friday night, police said on Monday.

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said on Monday “at this point it doesn’t appear that NTSB is investigating” the Utah crash.

The Tesla driver suffered a broken ankle and was taken to a hospital while the firefighter was not injured, the police said.

Witnesses said the Tesla sedan did not brake prior to impact, police said in a statement, adding it was unknown if the Autopilot feature in the Model S was engaged at the time.

“Tesla has not yet received any data from the car and thus does not know the facts of what occurred, including whether Autopilot was engaged,” the company said in a statement on Monday.

The NTSB said last week it was investigating a Tesla accident in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on May 8 that killed two teenagers and injured another — the agency’s fourth active probe into crashes of the company’s electric vehicles.

Autopilot, a form of advanced cruise control, handles some driving tasks and warns those behind the wheel they are always responsible for the vehicle’s safe operation, Tesla has said.

A U.S. traffic safety regulator on May 2 contradicted Tesla’s claim that the agency had found that its Autopilot technology significantly reduced crashes.

Tesla shares dipped 0.5 percent to $299.45 on Monday.

Senator Omo-Agege withdraws from resumption at Nigerian Senate

Contrary to the avowed intention to resume legislative session on Tuesday, senator Ovie Omo-Agege representing Delta central did not appear in plenary today.

The embattled lawmaker has premised his resumption on the high court judgement that vacated the suspension slammed on him by the hallowed chamber.

Omo-Agege was suspended over his comment allegedly tarnishing the image of the senate.

He, however, approached the court to challenge senate’s decision to suspend him.
When the court delivered judgement in his favour, he made declarations that he was going to be in plenary to continue to represent his constituents.

The Senate leadership has,however, reconsidered its position and decided late Monday night to comply with the judgement of the Federal High Court and do nothing to stop Senator Ovie Omo-Agege from his scheduled resumption.

The Senate stated, “As an institution that obeys the law and court orders, the Senate has decided that it will comply with the judgement of the Federal High Court and do nothing to stop Senator Ovie Omo-Agege from resuming in his office and at plenary from tomorrow May 15, 2018, pending the determination of the application for stay of execution”.

“The Senate leadership has been briefed by our lawyers on last Thursday’s judgement of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on whether the Senate has the legal authority to suspend a member for certain misconduct or not.

“We have equally filed an appeal against the judgement of the court and a motion for stay of execution of the judgement at the Court of Appeal.

“The Senate has been advised that since the motion for stay of execution of the Thursday (May 10, 2018) judgement shall be heard and possibly determined on Wednesday, May 16, 2018, we shall therefore respect the subsisting High Court judgement and await the appellate court’s decision on the pending motion”.

However, Omo-Agege’s inability to resume as promised may not be unconnected with the pending determination of the application by the upper chamber for stay of execution of the judgement delivered in favour of the lawmaker.
Also, the forthcoming findings of the expanded senate and House of representatives investigation committee set up to unravel the circumstances that led to the invasion of the National Assembly and the snatching of the senate mace may not be favourable to Omo-Agege.

CAN General Secretary, Musa Asake is dead

The General Secretary, Christian Association of Nigeria, Dr. Musa Asake, is dead.

PRESS  confirmed that Asake died on Friday morning (today) in Abuja after an illness.

The death of Asake came about two weeks after he led a nationwide protest called by CAN against the killing of Christians by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

His death was confirmed by his brother and former member of the House of Representatives, Jonathan Asake.

Jonathan told Press , “Yes, he died this morning. We are right now in the mortuary. I was with him yesterday (Thursday) in his house.”

Manchester United do not celebrate coming second - Mourinho

Manchester United "don't celebrate second position", says manager Jose Mourinho after his side sealed the Premier League runners-up spot with a 0-0 draw at West Ham.

United, denied victory by the inspired form of West Ham goalkeeper Adrian, moved four points clear of third-placed Tottenham with one game left.

It means Mourinho's side will finish four positions better off than last year, which was the Portuguese's first season at the club.

And although Mourinho said he felt "OK" about finishing second, he added: "I am not jumping around - that's not my nature or my history. Manchester United are the same.

"The top four is obviously important but it's better to finish second than fourth and it's better to be second for months and months and months than losing that position and that control.

"We don't celebrate second position but we are happy because for a few months, we realised it was impossible to win the league and, of course, the target is the second position.

Despite West Ham's attempts to generate an atmosphere at the London Stadium for this fixture - by adding huge concourse motifs of their former captains and record breakers - there were a large number of empty seats.

And the game was reflective of an end-of-season affair, with the only moment of note in the later stages being a confrontation between both sets of players following Paul Pogba's foul on Mark Noble.

"It was hardly worth talking about [the incident at the end]. The referee handled it well," said Moyes after the West Ham captain appeared to grab the French midfielder by the neck in a scuffle.

Nigerian diplomat found dead in Sudan home

A Nigerian diplomat was on Thursday found dead at his home in Khartoum, capital of Sudan

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, two security sources were quoted to have confirmed the death who said investigation was ongoing.