By Francesca Hangeior

An Irish regulator helping police European Union data privacy said Friday it had fined Facebook-owner Meta 91 million euros ($102 million) for password-security breaches.

The Data Protection Commission criticised Meta for failing to put in place appropriate security measures to protect users’ password data and for taking too long to alert the regulator over the issue.

An inquiry was launched in April 2019 after Meta Ireland informed the regulator that it had “inadvertently stored certain passwords of social media users” in a readable format on its internal system, the DPC said in a statement.

“It is widely accepted that user passwords should not be stored in plaintext, considering the risks of abuse that arise from persons accessing such data,” said Graham Doyle, the regulator’s head of communications.

Doyle told journalists that the breach, which took place in January 2019, affected 36 million Facebook and Instagram users across the European Economic Area, which comprises the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

The regulator criticised Meta for not alerting the DPC of the problem until March 2019.

In a statement, Meta acknowledged that some Facebook users’ passwords were “temporarily stored in a readable format in our internal data systems.

“We took immediate action to fix this error, and there is no evidence that these passwords were abused or accessed improperly.

“We proactively flagged this issue to our lead regulator, the Irish Data Protection Commission, and have engaged constructively with them throughout this inquiry”, a Meta spokesperson added.

By Francesca Hangeior

The Presidency has explained why government agencies cannot engage in the ongoing price dispute between Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and Dangote Refinery, citing the fact that both enterprises are private.

In a statement on Friday, by the Special Assistant to the Honourable Minister for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, on media, Nnaamaka Okafor, the Presidency corroborated the minister’s stand on the pricing feud between the NNPCL and Dangote Petroleum Refinery.

Recall that Lokpobiri had stated shortly after a brief meeting he had earlier this month with the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, that the price of petrol in the country could differ in various locations, but by the time there is the availability of products across the country, the price will be stabilised.

The minister further stated that the sector is deregulated and therefore the government is not responsible for fixing prices.

The minister had said, “What is important is that the government is not fixing prices. This sector is deregulated. And we believe that with the availability of products, the price will find its level. And this is important for Nigerians to know.

“There is enough product in the country to be able to meet the demands of Nigerians, there should be no panic buying. And we also believe that Nigerians need to know that the government is not fixing prices.

That is what I want to convey to Nigerians.”

However, Okafor in the statement on Friday, noted that while corroborating this during a press briefing, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr.
Bayo Onanuga, also emphasised what Lokpobiri had said earlier that both entities operate independently in a deregulated market.

He said under the Petroleum Industry Act, NNPCL functions autonomously despite government ownership.
“The PMS (Premium Motor Spirit) field, the PMS regime, has been deregulated. Dangote is a private company. NNPCL should not forget it’s a limited liability company. Whatever controversy both of them are having is their own problem.

“They are operating, even if you go by the terms of petroleum industry act NNPCL is on its own, even though it’s owned by the federal government, the state government and local councils and everything, but it’s operating as a limited liability company.

“You can see what the private market has said that I think they find the NNPC or Dangote price too much for them. They will resolve to import fuel because they clear the market at the end of the day. It’s the consumer who benefits if a price war starts, if NNPC fuel is too much, the public market can go to the market and bring in their fuel and sell at the price that they think is very reasonable and profitable for them.

“So my answer is that, as far as this is concerned, the government is not dabbling into this controversy. Dangote as a private company is working on his own. NNPC is a limited liability company, and it has the right to fix the price of its own and so on,” the statement quoted Onanuga to have said.

Onanuga added that instead of intervening, the government plans to promote alternative energy solutions like Compressed Natural Gas, and CNG, offering a cheaper option for consumers and subsidizing conversion costs for vehicles.

He noted that the price difference is significant, with CNG costing about N230 per litre equivalent compared to PMS at about N850 per litre.

By Francesca Hangeior

About 60 women have come forward to allege they were sexually abused by former Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed, lawyers representing them said on Friday.

A BBC documentary last week aired claims by women that Fayed, who died last year aged 94, raped and sexually abused them during his ownership of the luxury department store.

The accusations make the Egyptian billionaire the latest high-profile figure to join a list of rich and powerful men, such as Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, disgraced by sexual abuse allegations.

“The response has simply been enormous. We can confirm that we now represent 60 survivors as part of our claim, with more to come,” the lawyers said in a statement.

The legal team said that since going public following the television expose, they had been contacted by people from all over the world.

“Our claim is becoming increasingly global in scope… We expected that anywhere Mohamed Al-Fayed went, the abuse would follow.

“Sadly this has proven to be true. We are now in possession of credible evidence of abuse at other Al-Fayed properties and businesses, including Fulham Football Club,” the statement read.

In 2013, he was accused of raping a woman, a claim investigated in 2015.
In both instances, the CPS, which decides on prosecutions in England and Wales, said there was no “realistic prospect of conviction” and did not bring charges against the Harrods chairman.

The lawyers said they would continue to respond to inquiries from potential victims or witnesses and called for an “independent and transparent process to evaluate and adjudicate these claims”.

The women they represented, they said, had “lost all faith in Harrods and their processes.”
Harrods’ Managing Director, Michael Ward, said this week his former boss presided over a “toxic culture of secrecy, intimidation, fear of repercussion and sexual misconduct.”

But he said he had not been “aware of his criminality and abuse” and expressed his “personal horror at the revelations.”

Fayed’s accusers say the assaults took place in his apartments in London and his properties in Paris, including the Ritz hotel.

Allegations include a repeated pattern of women who underwent a selection process for positions close to Fayed.
Once selected, they were subjected to an “invasive” gynaecological examination, the results of which were shared with Fayed.

The women said that when they tried to complain about their abuse, were threatened by senior security staff, demoted and subject to false allegations until they had “no choice” but to leave Harrods.

Fayed sold Harrods to the investment arm of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund for a reported £1.5 billion ($2.2 billion).