FG investigating Truecaller over privacy breach

The National Information Technology Agency (NITDA) says it is investigating Truecaller for a potential breach of the privacy of Nigerians.

In a statement released on Monday, Kashifu Abdullahi Inuwa, NITDA’s director-general, said the agency’s initial findings have shown that Truecaller’s privacy policy is not in compliance with global laws on data protection and the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation.

Truecaller is a caller identity and spam blocking application.

The agency said provisions of Truecaller’s policy could be exploited “to put many Nigerians in unsavoury conditions”.

Listing some portions of the privacy policy, NITDA said Truecaller collects more information than it needs for its primary service and shares personal information collected with third parties without stating the possible third party and for what purpose.

“In view of this, we urge all Nigerians to take advantage of Article 4 of the Truecaller Privacy Policy which provides – “If any persons do not wish to have their names and phone numbers made available through the Enhanced Search or Name Search functionalities, they can exclude themselves from further queries by notifying Truecaller via its website at www.truecaller.com or as set forth in the contact details…”

The agency said members of the public could also choose to delist themselves from the Truecaller service completely.