The UK-based political consulting firm is accused of using the data of 50 million Facebook members to influence the 2016 US presidential election.

Damian Collins, the chairman of the Commons inquiry into fake news, accused Facebook of “misleading” the committee.

London-based firm Cambridge Analytica denies any wrongdoing.

Mr Collins said earlier in the week that he wanted to hear from Mr Zuckerberg but has now put the request into writing.

In the letter, he says: “It is now time to hear from a senior Facebook executive with the sufficient authority to give an accurate account of this catastrophic failure of process.”

It comes after the UK’s Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said she would be applying to court for a warrant to search the offices of Cambridge Analytica.

The firm insists it followed the correct procedures in obtaining and using data, but it was suspended from Facebook last week.

Facebook shares fell by a further 3% on Tuesday, following a 6.7% drop on Monday which wiped almost $37bn from its market value.

The company will hold an open meeting with its employees later to discuss the matter, tech news website The Verge is reporting.

In the letter, Mr Collins criticised other Facebook executives who had already given evidence to his committee.

“The committee has repeatedly asked Facebook about how companies acquire and hold on to user data from their site, and in particular about whether data had been taken without their consent,” he wrote.

“Your officials’ answers have consistently understated this risk, and have been misleading to the committee.”

Now he wants to hear from a senior Facebook executive “with the sufficient authority”, adding: “Given your commitment at the start of the New Year to “fixing” Facebook, I hope that this representative will be you.”

Mr Collins has asked for a response to his request by 26 March.

UK Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham is investigating Cambridge Analytica over claims it used personal data to influence the US election.

Christopher Wylie, who worked with the company, claimed it amassed the data of millions of people through a personality quiz on Facebook called This is Your Digital Life that was created by an academic.

Facebook said Aleksandr Kogan, who created the personality app from which the data had been harvested, has agreed to be audited, but Mr Wylie – who made the claims about the way the data was gathered and used – has declined.

‘Honey traps’

Channel 4 News has also broadcast hidden camera footage in which Cambridge Analytica chief executive Alexander Nix appears to suggest tactics his company could use to discredit politicians online.

In the footage, asked what “deep digging” could be done, Mr Nix told an undercover reporter: “Oh, we do a lot more than that.”

He suggested one way to target an individual was to “offer them a deal that’s too good to be true and make sure that’s video recorded”.

He also said he could “send some girls around to the candidate’s house…” adding that Ukrainian girls “are very beautiful, I find that works very well”.

Mr Nix continued: “I’m just giving you examples of what can be done and what has been done.”

Channel 4 News said its reporter had posed as a fixer for a wealthy client hoping to get a political candidate elected in Sri Lanka.

However, Cambridge Analytica said the report had “grossly misrepresented” the conversations caught on camera.

“In playing along with this line of conversation, and partly to spare our ‘client’ from embarrassment, we entertained a series of ludicrous hypothetical scenarios,” the company said in a statement.

“Cambridge Analytica does not condone or engage in entrapment, bribes or so-called ‘honey traps’,” it said.

Mr Nix told the BBC’s Newsnight programme that he regarded the report as a “misrepresentation of the facts” and said he felt the firm had been “deliberately entrapped”.

On its website, Cambridge Analytica says it can provide data and insights to “drive your voters to the polls and win your campaign” and says it has played a “pivotal role” in winning US presidential races.

How to protect your data on Facebook

There are a few things to be aware of if you want to restrict who has access to your data.

• Keep an eye on apps, especially those which require you to log in using your Facebook account – they often have a very wide range of permissions and many are specifically designed to pick up your data
• Use an ad blocker to limit advertising
• Look at your Facebook security settings and make sure you are aware of what is enabled. Check the individual app settings to see whether you have given them permission to view your friends as well as yourself.
• You can download a copy of the data Facebook holds on you, although it is not comprehensive. There is a download button at the bottom of the General Account Settings tab. However bear in mind that your data may be less secure sitting on your laptop than it is on Facebook’s servers, if your device is hacked.

You can of course, simply leave Facebook, but the campaign group Privacy International warns that privacy concerns extend beyond the social network.

“The current focus is on protecting your data being exploited by third parties, but your data is being exploited all the time,” said a spokeswoman.

“Many apps on your phone will have permission to access location data, your entire phone book and so on. It is just the tip of the iceberg.”

–

Source: BBC

The post Zukerberg summoned to UK parliament appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Almost three years after the incident, no one has been prosecuted or held liable despite suspicion of arson.

The incident, which occurred in 2015, caused the country to lose about 80 million dollars worth of medicines and medical supplies.

[contextly_sidebar id=”bNaQLxAb7yKMmgZU5ZtedbaS4jVbgIZW”]Speaking at a Meet the Press series on Thursday, the Minister for Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, said government will take the needed action after the completion of the forensic audit.

“The CMS [Central Medical Stores] fire and investigation report has been submitted to the Auditor General upon his request. I think we were talking too much about Central Medical Stores – where is the report and why are we not responding.?  So the Auditor General called for a copy of the report, and as we speak, he is finalizing due processes to conduct a forensic audit of the report, and when that is completed, he will advise and make recommendations and that is what government, I believe, will have no option than to implement.”

The Minister said the forensic audit was captured as part of recommendations made by the committee that investigated the fire in 2015.

“In the report that I saw, it was put in it that, there should be a forensic audit, and therefore without forensic audit, I don’t think much could be done. But he is taking his time to do open competitive bidding to select a consultant who will do that work, and that is causing us some little bit of delays, but I believe that very soon, that will come to conclusion.”

New Central Medical Store not insured

Meanwhile, in a rather bizarre revelation, the Chief Director at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Afisah Zakariah, has said the refurbished Medical Store has not been insured against any unfortunate incident.

“The place we are renting is not insured and insurance companies are feeling reluctant to insure it. However, the ministry is making efforts to acquire our own [place]. We will soon get our own central medical stores which definitely, we shall insure because we learnt bitter lessons from the event of the Central Medical Stores. We’ve written to all our agencies so that all regional medical stores could be insured and this has been done,” she added.

Background

The Central Medical Store was razed in 2015, and preliminary investigations blamed it on arson.

In 2016, 12 officials of the Ghana Health Service who were accused of playing various roles in the arson were also interdicted, but the status of the case is not yet known.

Before the fire, there were reports that then Health Minister Dr. Kwaku Agyeman-Mensah, had initiated investigations into allegations of corrupt practices at the store.

UK Parliament worried over Central Medical Store fire

A former UK High Commissioner to Ghana, Jon Benjamin, in June 2017, disclosed that the UK Parliament was concerned about the Central Medical Stores fire.

According to him, the UK pumped about 4 million pounds worth of medicines into Ghana, which were destroyed in the fire, hence the UK Parliament’s seeming interest in the case.

“In the Central Medical stores, there were 4 million pounds worth of medicines bought by the UK through our DFID programme that were there and were destroyed and we had to account for that money and questions were asked in the UK Parliament. So we had to say what had happened and what was being done about it. So I think that was a legitimate reason for us to raise our concerns,” added Jon Benjamin.

–

By: Godwin A. Allotey & Naa K. Siaw-Marfo/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Forensic audit after Central Medical Stores fire ongoing- Minister appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The “sustained” hack began on Friday night, prompting officials to disable remote access to the emails of MPs, peers and their staff as a safeguard.

The parliamentary authorities said hackers had mounted a “determined attack” on all user accounts “in an attempt to identify weak passwords”.

Government sources say it appeared the attack has been contained but it will “remain vigilant”.
A parliamentary spokeswoman said they were investigating the attack and liaising with the National Cyber Security Centre.

She said: “We have discovered unauthorised attempts to access accounts of parliamentary networks users…

“Parliament has robust measures in place to protect all of our accounts and systems, and we are taking the necessary steps to protect and secure our network.
“As a precaution we have temporarily restricted remote access to the network.”

‘Not a surprise’
IT services on the parliamentary estate are working normally and a message sent to MPs urges them to be “extra vigilant”.

But a number of MPs have confirmed to the BBC they are not able to access their parliamentary email accounts outside of the Westminster estate.

It comes just over a month after 48 of England’s NHS trusts were hit by a cyber-attack.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said: “We have seen reports in the last few days of even Cabinet ministers’ passwords being for sale online.

“We know that our public services are attacked so it is not at all surprising that there should be an attempt to hack into parliamentary emails.

“And it’s a warning to everybody, whether they are in Parliament or elsewhere, that they need to do everything possible to maintain their own cyber security.”

The latest attack was publicly revealed by Liberal Democrat peer Lord Rennard on Twitter as he asked his followers to send any “urgent messages” to him by text.
Henry Smith, Tory MP for Crawley, later tweeted: “Sorry no parliamentary email access today – we’re under cyber attack from Kim Jong Un, (Vladimir) Putin or a kid in his mom’s basement or something…”

The government’s National Security Strategy said in 2015 that the threat from cyber-attacks from both organised crime and foreign intelligence agencies was one of the “most significant risks to UK interests”.

The National Cyber Security Centre, which is part of intelligence agency GCHQ, started its operations in October last year.

The National Crime Agency said it was working with the NCSC but the centre was “leading the operational response”.

–

Source: BBC

The post UK Parliament hit by ‘sustained’ cyber-attack appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, UK pumped about 4 million pounds worth of medicines into Ghana which were destroyed in the fire hence the UK Parliament’s seeming interest in the case.

“In the Central Medical stores, there were 4 million pounds worth of medicines bought by the UK through our DFID programme that were there and were destroyed and we had to account for that money and questions were asked in the UK Parliament. So we had to say what had happened and what was being done about it. So I think that was a legitimate reason for us to raise our concerns,” added Jon Benjamin.

[contextly_sidebar id=”nyNkASfMpauVEm7jq5YSKybfuxz7yOyY”]About $80 million worth of medicines were burnt into ashes in 2015 when fire razed the Central Medical Stores at Tema in the Greater Accra Region resulting in the destruction of medical supplies and equipment.

A committee established to investigate the case blamed it on arson, naming one Samuel Dogbe, a labourer at the Medical Stores as being behind the fire.

In 2016, 12 officials of the Ghana Health Service who were also accused of playing various roles in the arson were also interdicted.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, the outspoken Jon Benjamin subtly called for the prosecution of persons indicted in the arson.

He noted that the interdiction of the officials was in the right direction but called for “sanctions for people found lawfully guilty of being the perpetrators.”

Donors threaten to cut funds to Ghana

Jon Benjamin’s remark comes on the back of comments by the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu that some donor partners have threatened to cut funds to Ghana if government fails to bring the suspected arsonists in the Central Medical Stores case to book.

The Minister said the donors are “threatening to withdraw some of the donations they give to us until some issues have been resolved.”

The US Ambassador to Ghana, Robert Jackson, had also questioned the lack of action or prosecution on the matter of the arson.

He insisted that the arson could not be swept under the carpet because the warehouse had about $7 million worth of items donated by American taxpayers.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post UK Parliament worried over Central Medical Stores fire – Jon Benjamin appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Peers backed down over the issues of EU residency rights and a meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal after their objections were overturned by MPs.

The bill is expected to receive Royal Assent and become law on Tuesday.

The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg said this would leave Theresa May free to push the button on withdrawal talks.

The result came as Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced that she intended to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence at a time when Brexit negotiations are expected to be reaching a conclusion.

Ms Sturgeon said she wanted a vote to be held between the autumn of 2018 and the spring of the following year.

The prime minister could theoretically invoke Article 50, which formally starts the Brexit process, as early as Tuesday.

However, Downing Street sources have said this will not happen this week and the PM is expected to wait until the end of the month to officially notify the EU of the UK’s intention to leave, thus beginning what is expected to be a two-year process.

“Parliament has today backed the government in its determination to get on with the job of leaving the EU,” Brexit Secretary David Davis said. “We are now on the threshold of the most important negotiation for our country in a generation.”

Image copyrightPA

The EU Withdrawal Bill was passed unamended after peers voted by 274 votes to 118 not to challenge the Commons again over the issue of whether Parliament should have a veto on the terms of exit.

The House of Lords had already agreed not to reinsert guarantees over the status of EU residents in the UK back into the bill after they were rejected by MPs, with the government winning the vote by a margin of 274 votes to 135.

Later analysis of the division list for the first Lords vote on EU citizens’ rights to remain in the UK showed that 25 Labour peers sided with the Lib Dems, including former cabinet minister Lord Mandelson.

Earlier, the government had comfortably won votes on the issues in the Commons, with only a handful of Tory MPs rebelling.

The votes came after Brexit minister Lord Bridges of Headley warned that now was not the time to “return to the fray” by inserting “terms and conditions” in the legislation.

Labour’s spokeswoman Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town attacked the Lib Dems for not being responsible and “falsely raising” people’s hopes on the rights of EU citizens living in the UK.

Liberal Democrat Lord Oates said the government had failed to make concessions over the position of EU nationals living in the UK and called on peers to insist on changes.

Brexit campaigners welcomed the “clear mandate” given to the UK government ahead of the start of official negotiations.

“Now, it’s time to go into these negotiations with some ambition and support the government, so it can secure the very best deal – one that is good for the whole UK, and good for the EU too,” said Tory MP and former minister Dominic Raab.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the rejection of the Lords amendments was “deeply disappointing” but insisted the opposition would continue to press for the rights of EU nationals to be prioritised and for the maximum parliamentary oversight of the process.

He tweeted: “Labour at every stage will challenge govt plans for a bargain basement Brexit with our alternative that puts jobs & living standards first.”

–

Source: BBC

The post Brexit bill: UK Parliament clears way for talks with EU appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.