Facebook to introduce technology to limit sharing of user ids

A recent Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that the 10 most popular Facebook applications compromised user identities even when they set strictest privacy settings.

It held popular applications such as the FarmVille, the Causes, the Mafia Wars, the Quiz Planet and Phrases, guilty of transmitting unique ids of users (WSJ: “identifiable information”) to third parties — mostly advertising and Internet tracking companies that profile Internet users,” often for targeted marketing.

Not only did this violate the United States laws but Facebook's privacy policy as well. Soon as the breach was brought to its notice, Facebook suspended several of the offending applications. It also sought to reassure its 500 million active users worldwide that none of the ids was used to glean personal information nor was any information misused.

The company said new technical systems would be introduced that would “dramatically limit” the sharing of user ids. In saying so, it, however, did not rule out further breaches.

“As part of our work to provide people with control over their information, we've learned that the design and operation of the Internet doesn't always provide the greatest control that is technically possible,” explained Kirthiga Reddy, Director, Online Operations and Head of Office Facebook India, in an email interview with this newspaper.

After all, policing an approximate 5,50,000 applications, which 70 per cent users access each month, is an uphill task. More than one million developers and entrepreneurs from over 180 countries work on Facebook's platforms.

Early May 2010, several social networking sites, including Facebook, were found to be (inadvertently) sharing user ids with advertisers each time they clicked on an ad. Facebook took remedial steps immediately after the infringement was brought to its notice.

Surprisingly, in both the cases, the compromised information was transmitted via ‘URL referrers.' Referrers communicate the address (URL) of the previous page whenever a user clicks a link. This helps third parties gather information on a particular user.

“This is an even more complicated technical challenge than the similar issue we successfully addressed last Spring, but one that we are committed to addressing,” Ms. Reddy stressed.

Facebook, according to her, has incorporated numerous defences to ensure a safer browsing experience for its users. Its arsenal includes complex automated systems that work behind the scenes to detect and flag Facebook accounts that show signs of anomalous activity.

These could include, for example, accounts that send out an abnormal number of messages in a short period of time, or those that propagate malicious links.

“Once we detect a phoney message, we delete all instances of that message across the site. We also block malicious links from being shared and work with third parties to get phishing and malware sites added to browser blacklists or taken down completely,” Ms. Reddy explained.

She, however, swore by the key rules of thumb: using up-to-date browsers, unique logins and passwords for every website, verifying the authenticity of the legitimate Facebook page from its URL and being wary of any message, post, or link that looks suspicious or requires an additional login. It would help users follow the ‘Facebook Security' page.

The company, which has grown “very quickly” in India with more than 15 million active users, is presently working on translating Marathi through its translation application. It is currently available in more than 70 languages.

Shell profit rises 6.5 pct on higher oil price

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Europe's largest oil company, Thursday reported third quarter net profit rose 6.5 percent from a year ago as an increase in the price of oil more than offset charges at its refining arm.

The company said net profit of $3.46 billion was up from $3.25 billion in the third quarter of 2009. Revenues rose to $90.7 billion from $75 billion.

"Our results have rebounded substantially from year–ago levels, with improved earnings and cash flow, underpinned by a 5 percent increase in oil and gas production," said Chief Executive Peter Voser in a statement. "This is a better performance from Shell, achieved despite continued difficult industry conditions in refining and natural gas markets.

Global oil prices were up more than 10 percent from the third quarter of 2009, though Shell did not provide information about its own selling prices.

Meanwhile, Shell's refining earnings fell to $325 million from $1.29 billion, due mostly to the inventory effect.

On a per–share basis, earnings rose to $0.56 per share from $0.53 per share in the third quarter of 2009. Shell kept its dividend flat at $0.42 cents per share.

The company continues to spend heavily on new investments, with capital spending up 77 percent to $9.55 billion — not quite matched by cash flow from operating activities of $9.0 billion.

NB remains biggest company on NSE

The gap between Nigerian Breweries Plc, the biggest company quoted on the nation’s stock exchange (measured by market capitalisation) rose further on Friday, as it share price closed at N72.38 each, after chalking 238 kobo at the end of the day’s trading session. Friday’s gain, while bringing the price of NB, Nigeria’s oldest and biggest brewer of alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages (by turnover) closer to its year-high of N76 per share

Following Friday’s gain, the market value of NB surged to N547.378 billion or 9.21 per cent of the day’s total market capitalisation of N5.94 trillion, up from N526.354 billion at the end of August. At last weekend’s value, NB accounted for the bulk or 67.81 per cent of the value of the breweries sub-sector (N807.22 billion), and 2.27 times the worth of arch-rival, Guinness Nigeria (N240.56 billion). NB’s value also made it bigger than the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s sub-sectors such as insurance (with a cumulative value of N158.737 billion); petroleum products marketing (N349.335 billion); conglomerates (N293.758 billion); and building materials (N436.873 billion); among others.

At the end of last weekend, First Bank retained the number two position on the list of 10 biggest company of the Nigerian bourse with a value of N407.574 billion, down from N420.953 billion at the end of August; Zenith Bank closed with a market worth of N392.456 billion, slightly lower also than the N394.653 billion value at the end of last month, and from July’s N446.144 billion. Guaranty Trust Bank was next on the table with N361.183 billion, which was better than the August-end level of N359.084 billion, and down from N391.728 billion.

Analysts link the steady price growth to the company’s latest un-audited result for the half year ended June 30, 2010, when turnover managed to rise by to N88.44 billion, compared with N82.69 billion in the preceding period of 2009. 

A report by analysts at FSDH linked the sluggish climb to “the difficult operating environment with increasing cost of operation and higher input cost (which) led to the deterioration in the company’s profitability. However, in (first quarter) 2010, the company became a net-placer of funds in the money market resulting in net financing income of N33.46 million in (first quarter) 2010 from a net financing expense of N74.47 million in (half year)  2009.” 

Profit Before Tax fell by 5.5 per cent to N23.28 billion in 2010, from N24.63 billion in 2009, while after tax profit dropped to N15.88bn in Q2 2010 from N16.86bn in 2009.

Reviewing the operating environment, the report noted the strong demand, “for brewery products remain strong in spite of economic downturn and decline in consumer purchasing power,” with a 25 per cent growth in the industry in 2009, according to available data. The impact of this was eroded by the high production cost- rising energy, power and packaging costs. 

Commenting on the capitalisation of NB on the NSE, Yusuf Ageni, Public Relations Adviser of the company, noted the premium value placed on it by the investing public.

Fielding questions at the flag off of the third edition of NB’s Golden Pen Award for 2010, Ageni recalled: “We have been declaring interim and final dividend (annually over the past several years),” noting that investment in NB is the best way to store value on the NSE today for those saving for their retirement. At a time when many stocks have lost a huge chunk of their value since the onset of the market meltdown, the share price of NB has grown from N48 each on December 21, 2007, to N30.04 per share, a year later; and closing at N69.60 each, at the end of August, 2010. By September 3, according to data provided by FSDH Securities Limited, NB recorded a year-to-date return of 36.51 per cent, outperforming the NSE’s 16.40 per cent, as well as many on the top 20 table of most capitalised stocks. It however trailed behind other stocks like Sterling Bank’s 54.47 per cent; Benue Cement Company, 51.13 per cent; Ashaka Cement, 90.91 per cent; Julius Berger, 104.46 per cent; and Cadbury, 152.62 per cent; among others.

Ageni linked the sustained confidence in NB to its staying power since berthing in Nigeria in 1946, following which it has continued to wax stronger, besides the fresh capital injection by its parent company- Heineken BV of the Netherlands resulting new investments like the ultra-modern Ama Brewery in Enugu, which is one of the largest in the world; just as there has been reinvestments in the Ibadan, Kaduna and Aba, and Lagos plants.

“Although, the recession has impacted on the purchasing power of Nigerian consumers, we are surviving. NB is a stock you can invest in and be comfortable... and go to sleep with your two eyes closed,

Bomb plot prompts another look at Dubai crash

The discovery of a plot to send package bombs from Yemen to the United States has prompted investigators to take another look into the crash of a cargo plane in Dubai last month, NBC News reported Saturday.

On Sept. 3, a UPS plane crashed shortly after take off from Dubai International Airport, killing two crew members. Some reports at the time said a fire had broken out in the Boing 747-400 just after it took off.

"People are obviously taking another hard look at why that plane went down, but no hard conclusions have been reached yet," NBC News quoted a U.S. official as saying.

Security officials said the bomb packages were addressed to a Jewish community center and synagogue in Chicago.Authorities in the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates will presumably investigate whether the crash was caused by an explosive device similar to the ones found on Friday at the FedEx facility at Dubai airport and on a UPS plane at a U.K. airport.

"I think it would be very prudent to connect the dots in this incident," Max Abrahms, a leading terrorism expert in the United States,

"It seems like common sense now and clearly there are similarities between the crash and this latest incident."

Killed in the crash were Capt. Doug Lampe, 48, of Louisville, Ky., and First Officer Matthew Bell, 38, of Sanford, Fla.

The cause of the crash has not been determined.The cargo plane was en route to the UPS hub in Cologne, Germany, when it went down in an unpopulated desert area.

UAE investigators have said the crew faced radio problems and smoke in the cockpit as they struggled to maintain altitude.

Atlanta-based UPS, the world's largest shipping company, dispatched an investigation team to the scene. Boeing Co., the plane's maker, and the National Transportation Safety Board also sent teams to help with the probe.

Weapons seized in Nigeria came from Iran-shipping company

LAGOS (Reuters) - Crates of weapons including rocket launchers and mortars seized in Nigeria this week were loaded in Iran by a local trader, the company which shipped the containers said on Saturday.

French-based shipping group CMA CGM said it had been the victim of a false cargo declaration and that the weapons and ammunitions were in sealed containers which had been declared as "packages of glass wool and pallets of stone."

Nigeria's secret service intercepted the 13 containers in the country's main port of Lagos -- one of Africa's busiest -- this week and said it found rocket launchers, grenades and other explosives and ammunition.

"The shipment in question was booked as a 'shipper's owned container' and supplied loaded and sealed by the shipper, an Iranian trader who does not appear on any 'forbidden persons' listing," CMA CGM said in a statement.

"The containers were loaded in Bandar Abbas and discharged in Lagos in July," it said, adding it was cooperating fully with local and international agencies investigating the shipment.

Israeli media reports, citing Israeli defence officials, have suggested the weapons may have been destined for Hamas Islamists in Gaza and that a new smuggling route was being tested. Israel's foreign ministry has declined to comment.

Israel says its arch-foe Iran bankrolls attempts to ship weapons to the Gaza Strip by sea or land routes. Iran says its support for Hamas is diplomatic only.

The Iranian embassy in Nigeria said it may issue a statement on the arms seizure in the coming days.

Senate set up constitution harmonisation committee

Following Wednesday's passage of the second amendment to the 1999 constitution by both chambers of the National Assembly, the Senate on Thursday set up a six man committee to harmonize the bill with the Rep's version.

The committee is headed by Victor Ndoma-Egba (PDP Cross River state) and will join a similar committee made up Rep members to harmonize the differences in the bill.

It is a crucial step in the law making process to ensure the enactment of a single copy of bill.

"What is passed in the House is different from what we passed," the Senate President, David Mark said. "This committee is to harmonize it." The Senate voted on ten clauses and passed the bill on Wednesday providing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) new time-lines and allowing the Supreme Court to handle Governorship election petition cases.

The House of Representatives, however, only passed the new time-lines for INEC and did not discuss the court of finality in governorship election petition cases.

Waiting on the states

Other members of the Conference Committee set up by the Senate yesterday include Senators Dahiru Umar, Ikechukwu Obiorah, Sola Akinyede, Abubakar Sodangi and Idris Umar.

The names of the members of the committee were announced by the Senate President, after the bill was read the third time during plenary session yesterday.

Whenever the two chambers are through with harmonizing the bill, clean copies would be sent to the 36 State Houses of Assembly for endorsement. Two-Third of the votes of 36 State Houses of Assembly is required for the alteration to become law.

LASU unions hold rally against embattled VC

LAGOS—Academic and non-academic staff of Lagos State University, LASU, held a protest rally yesterday, seeking the implementation of the FGN/ASUU Agreement 2009 and the sack of the embattled Vice-Chancellor, Professor Lateef Hussein, whom the Lagos State House of Assembly had passed a vote of no confidence on and urged Governor Babatunde Fashola to remove him from office.

As early as 10a.m., workers, lecturers of all the tertiary institutions in Lagos State had gathered at the Eyo Square in the centre of the campus anchored by Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSNU, LASU chapter chairman, Ms. Funmi Sessi to begin a solidarity march which took the striking workers to the Badagry Expressway slightly affecting traffic flow.
Among the protesting unions were Academic Staff  Union of Universities, ASUU; SSANU; National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT; Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union, COEASU; Michael Otedola College of Primary Education, MOCOPED; Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP; Non-Academic Staff  Union, etc.

Addressing the mammoth rally, SSANU-LASU Chairman, Funmi Sessi, praised the courage of the workers in fight for their rights, insisting that they will not give up their rights, even with traitors on the prowl.

FIFA fully lifts ban on Nigeria

GENEVA — FIFA said Friday it had fully lifted an international ban on Nigeria after court action against Nigerian football official was withdrawn.

The executive committee of world football's governing body "decided to lift the suspension on the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) after receiving confirmation that the court actions against elected members of the NFF had ceased and that they could now work without hindrance," FIFA said in a statement.

FIFA had initially imposed the ban for what it called "government interference" in the running of Nigerian football in the wake of the national side's early exit from the World Cup.

But it suspended the ban provisionally this month until October 26 after some steps were taken, notably allowing the country to play a 2012 Nations Cup qualifier in Guinea.

Acting NFF secretary-general Musa Amadu said Tuesday that the withdrawal this week of the last obstacle, a court case by the National Association of Nigeria Footballers (NANF), allowed the federation's board to function again.

Nigeria: Unilag Move to Make World's Top 100

In a determined effort to break into the elite top 100 universities in the world, the University of Lagos has recently held a retreat on strategic planning at Eko Tourist Beach Resort.

Conducted between Friday, October 8 and Saturday, October 10, 2010, in which vital areas of the University sectors were adequately discussed and documented, the retreat was chaired by the Deputy Vice-chancellor, Management Services, Professor Bello.

Other principal officers, eminent professors and Directors in the university who constituted the strategic planning committee were in attendance.

According to Mr. Seth Adebisi Dare, Deputy Registrar (Information), the Vice-chancellor, Professor Babatunde Sofoluwe, who spoke at the opening of the retreat, commended members of the committee for their dedication to duty.

Also speaking, Professor Bello, Chairman of the committee charged the members to work hard to ensure that the plan was at least 80% ready for the University Governing council's considerations.

Seven sub-committees were set up to work on the seven sectors of the plan which had to do with - Academic Matters, Human Resources, Health, Safety and Security Sector, Environment sector, physical infrastructure, Student Affairs, and Finance sector.

Dare disclosed that all the sub-committees made presentation of their work and others made useful contributions. One major item in the plan is the issue of ICT and that for the plan to be effective, all areas of the university sectors must be ICT driven. The plan is also designed to enable the institution be in a position to attract fund, grants from outside world.

Meanwhile, the University of Lagos is to host UNIDO/Toshiba Corporation pilot facility for training and capacity-building of stakeholders in POPs destruction and pilot remediation of contaminated sites. The facility will aid research training across the departments of Chemistry and Geosciences in the Faculty of Science and the Department of Chemical Engineering in the Faculty fo Engineering.

The demonstration and training plant is part of a project established by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in collaboration with Geostream Corporation in Kitakyushi, Japan under the auspices of Toshiba Corporation and Konoike Construction, Japan.

The University of Lagos is the first university in Nigeria and indeed, Africa to participate in the aspect of treaty and convention implementation of the project.

A high level team of UNIDO/TOSHIBA including experts from Federal Ministry of Environment, Power Holding Corporation of Nigeria, Toshiba Corporation, Konoike Construction, Japan, led by Dr. Mohammed Eisa, visited the University and met with the vice-chancellor, Professor Babatunde Sofoluwe. A proposal for the installation and running of a state-of-art 50kg/hr Geostream Small-scale Thermal Desorption pilot plant was presented to the vice-chancellor.

Nigeria parliament approves possible April elections

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's parliament voted in favour of a constitutional amendment which will allow nationwide polls to be held in April, bringing the country a step closer to finalising its election timetable.

Presidential, parliamentary and state governorship elections in Africa's most populous nation had been scheduled for January, but the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) requested more time for a badly needed overhaul of voter lists.

Both houses of parliament approved constitutional changes late on Wednesday allowing elections between 30 and 150 days ahead of the May 29 date for swearing in the new administration, accommodating INEC's proposal that the elections take place in April.

The constitutional amendment must be ratified by two thirds of Nigeria's 36 states before being given final approval by parliament, a process expected to take at least a week.

Sceptics say even the three-month delay will not be long enough to allow INEC to overhaul an electoral roll riddled with false names and omitting legitimate voters.

But it gives additional time for opponents to President Goodluck Jonathan, who faces a tough battle at the ruling party primaries, to muster strength and campaign against him.

Naira may depreciate as CBN halts forex reserves spending

The naira may be truly subjected to the influences of the market as Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), plans to stop spending from the foreign reserves to support the nation's currency from weakening. This measure is coming on the heels of last week's report that the nation's foreign exchange reserves have reduced by 15 percent to $34.57 billion as at October 5 this year, from the $40.75 billion it stood at the same time a year earlier.

But experts, who spoke with BusinessDay on telephone, believed the current value of the reserves does not give cause for alarm. Bismarck Rewane, managing director, Financial Derivatives Limited, said the only worry was the trend at which the foreign reserves were falling. Though the level of foreign reserves is still okay and at the least can still support more than 12 months of importation, Rewane stated that in his latest monthly economic review he expected the pressure on the foreign reserves to continue this October.

Kola Olusegun, a businessman, noted that his concern was that even as the foreign reserves had depleted by 15 percent in the last one year, there was hardly anything to point to as to what the money was spend on. According to Olusegun, there should normally be no cause for concern if the foreign reserves oscillate, so long its dividend were seen and that crude oil prices remained considerably high.

All the same, experts disclose that if that happens: the naira will be left to the forces of demand and supply to determine the value of the naira, a situation that may leave the local currency vulnerable to manipulations. The naira slid to a 13-month low in September amid strong local demand for the US dollar by gasoline and rice importers, although the central bank's support helped to stabilise it, and ended the week just below N151 to the dollar, roughly with its average level over the past year.

But, he revealed, the current exchange rate is not a level that needs to be maintained "at all costs. "My own view is that exchange rates have multiple equilibria, and equilibrium exchange rates will depend on what we see as the long-term sustainability of the reserve positions."

Nevertheless, in the short to medium term, "we do believe we can maintain this range," Sanusi stated, however, saying replenishing the reserve level would depend on a significant degree on the level of spending by the government. "The preservation of reserves is also dependent on a number of complementary government policies," he noted, citing efforts under way to reform the petroleum industry among other factors.

Nigeria says illegal arms ship sailed from India

LAGOS, Oct 28 (Reuters) - An illegal shipment of rocket launchers and heavy mortars intercepted in Nigeria first arrived in the country in July on a ship which sailed from India, the Nigerian customs service said on Thursday.

Nigeria's secret service intercepted 13 containers in the port of Lagos this week, some of which were found to contain rocket launchers, grenades, explosives and ammunition.

The seizure raised concern about national security in Africa's most populous nation, which is preparing for elections expected to be held next April and which was shaken by car bombings in the capital Abuja almost four weeks ago.

Customs Director Dikko Abdullahi said the containers were discharged from the vessel MV CMA-CGM Everest, which docked in Lagos on July 10 and sailed out again five days later.

The ship's manifest listed the contents as building materials and its last port of call before Lagos was Jawaharlal Nehru port, south of Mumbai, the customs service said.

It did not say that the vessel's journey had begun in India or that the containers were loaded there.

"Our system is configured to block suspicious importations of this nature," Abdullahi said in a statement.

"The importer and exporter had no address on the system and we have reason to believe that the importer's name given in the import documents is fictitious," he said.

It is not unusual for shipments to take several months to pass through customs in Lagos, one of West Africa's busiest ports.

The arms seizure follows car bombings on Oct. 1 which killed at least 10 people near an independence day parade in the capital Abuja. The security services have not publicly linked the two events.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the main militant group in the oil-producing south, claimed the Oct. 1 attacks and has threatened further strikes, but the State Security Service says the main suspects have been caught.

There is also insecurity in the remote northeast, where a radical Islamist sect has firebombed police stations and shot local officials in recent weeks, though security experts say the attacks are opportunistic and disorganised.

The weapons shown to journalists in Lagos on Wednesday included 107mm mortars, not known to have been used by Nigerian militant groups.

Turning waste to wealth

The story of Nick Friedman and Omar Soliman reminds one of first, of the cart pushing trash collectors who are regular callers at homes in Lagos, especially in places like Festac and other estates in the metropolis. Second, it reminds one too of Lagos State Government’s trash collectors who do their business in a more sophisticated way - with trucks moving from street to street and from close to close.

I am not sure if these two categories of waste disposers know they are into a money spinning business. When I see tonnes of wastes piled up in Festac and several other parts of cosmopolitan Lagos, I begin to wonder the millions of naira that is buried in such wastes so to speak. Think of recycling opportunities, think biogas, etc, you will know what I mean. Do our waste collectors think this far? I doubt if they do.

Success Magazine has the story of Nick Friedman and Omar Soliman, two college pals who are taking out the trash in style are different. As college kids, they spent their break earning money by hauling  away unwanted  junk from attics and garages  in Soliman’s mother’s cargo van. This would have ended after Soliman graduated from the University of Miami and Friedman from Pomona College in California but it didn’t.

In his senior year, Soliman had written a business plan  for a junk hauling business operated   by employees with clean-cut  collegiate image – College Hunks  Hauling junk – which won  a UM entrepreneurship competition. He saw it as idea worth pursing and so turned Friedman, his friend since high school in Washington D.C., who was also eager for a new challenge. They realised they were taking a big risk by leaving their corporate jobs. But they also knew they had a good idea worth testing.

Friedman and Soliman were confident they were a good match, they were confident they could work together. Afterall they were long time friends who had worked together for a long time. Friedman, now president, has a background in finance and CEO Soliman is in marketing and management. Start-ups who complain their problem is how to get start-up fund have a lot to learn from these junk haulers. Good sources for such funds are family and friends. Friedman and Soliman explored this as well as the bank to buy their first truck. In the early days, they had appointments as early 5 a.m., worked weekends and employed their friends’ younger siblings for many jobs.

Talking about appointments, this is one initiative that our local junk haulers have not thought of. Appointments for trash collections can be made with residents or resident associations. This can even go up to industrial (perhaps some are doing this now). But it is possible not all firms are covered now. One can recall that the issue of spin-off industries came up in one of ones several facility visits to Nigerian Bottling Company, Dangote Industries, etc. One that we found outstanding was factory cleaning and waste disposal.

Progress

Since they quit their jobs in 2005 to start College Hunks, the company has grown from a single operation with two guys and a truck to include 12 franchises – with more on the way. Sales doubled from $550,000(N64 billion) in the first year to $1.1 million (N128.2 million) the second year.

In this era  of  job losses that  have come with the global credit crunch and high level dearth of new jobs, waste management is an area that fresh graduates should look at  and endorse. After all, more than any other time in history, we are in the era of self employment. Dawn Rivers Baker in his weekly column in Microbusiness NewsBriefs throws his weight behind self employment. In his piece titled Self is the new employment wrote, “Where I diverge from Keynes is in the focus on jobs. From my 21st century viewpoint, the issue is not ‘jobs.’ It’s ‘work.’ Why? Because, in many cases, ‘work’ has the potential to get you better-paid than a ‘job.’

You can have multiple clients instead of a single employer and, for some reason, clients seem to consider you more valuable than employers do. All of which means that eventually ‘work’ will replace ‘jobs’ as the best way for the average citizen to meet their material needs. In fact, their ability to do that might be considered one way to measure the success of the economy. Which, in its turn, means that Congress needs to wake up to self-employment. It is this century’s labour market.