E-Business
Google Riles Microsoft with Bug Revelation
The rivalry between Microsoft and Google has spread to the realm of software bugs, according to Seattle Times. For the second time in a few weeks, Google security researchers posted details about a Windows security flaw before Microsoft fixed the bug. Microsoft didn’t publicly reply to Google after the first case.
But after Google detailed another security vulnerability last Sunday, two days before Microsoft’s release of its regular slate of software fixes, a Microsoft official accused the Mountain View, Calif., company of trying to embarrass Microsoft rather than protect customers.
Google’s “Project Zero,” its security unit dedicated to finding and exposing bugs, last Sunday revealed a Windows 8.1 security flaw that can allow low-level users of a network to gain administrator privileges and access sensitive functions.
Google says it follows a formula with its security efforts.
Once researchers discover a flaw, they alert the company whose software is involved, and give them 90 days to fix the error before Google makes the bug public (along with code that could allow people to exploit it).
In this case, Google alerted Microsoft to the problem on Oct. 13. Microsoft, Google says, replied that it was on track to fix the problem by February. Google said its 90-day deadline wasn’t negotiable.
Part of why Microsoft bristled at this release: The company told Google it was now planning to fix the flaw as part of its regular “patch Tuesday” slate of software updates, said Chris Betz, senior director of Microsoft’s Security Response Center, in a blog post. Google didn’t budge.
“Although following through keeps to Google’s announced timeline for disclosure, the decision feels less like principles and more like a ‘gotcha,’ with customers the ones who may suffer as a result,” Betz said. “What’s right for Google is not always right for customers. We urge Google to make protection of customers our collective primary goal.”
Google’s supporters argue that setting firm deadlines helps spur action by companies like Microsoft, particularly when flaws are live and potentially already exploited by folks with bad intentions. There’s a lengthy debate about the policy on Google’s December post revealing the earlier Windows flaw.
Google, which didn’t respond to requests for comment, is not without its own recent security issues.
A researcher looking into a bug in an older version of the company’s popular Android operating system was told that the company would not be patching the flaw. Unless manufacturers or security experts act themselves to tweak the open-source software, that leaves about 1 billion Android phones vulnerable.
Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) is in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and needs urgent reforms to revive it, according to Isaac Kekemeke, board chairman of the service.
Kekemeke, who spoke at a workshop organised for NIPOST staff in Abuja yesterday, added that it is now time to go the whole hog to reform and make NIPOST fulfill its destiny to compare and compete favourably with multinational postal agencies.
“The approach may not be palatable at all times but we need to take the tough but necessary decisions to exit the intensive care unit. We are either out of ICU in good health or head for the morgue. NIPOST either functions effectively now as a commercialised state operator or gets privatised, so that myself, the PMG, and a good number of you risk the loss of our jobs,” the chairman said.
No doubt, he added, “Change is not always easy as many loathe change because of the uncertainty it brings but it is in my place to urge you all to embrace the change we advocate.”
The Internet Society’s six-month Fellowship Peering program continues to help make internet access affordable, dependable, and resilient. The program, according to the global charitable organisation, is targeted for fifteen professionals in the peering and interconnection sector.
“It offers a unique opportunity to build the skills, knowledge, and networks necessary to improve local Internet infrastructure and policy,” according to the site’s description.
The fellowship participants will participate in a comprehensive curriculum that includes virtual training sessions, collaborative forums, and technical and advocacy-based instruction on routing, Internet Exchange Points, and policy.
The fellowship culminates in attendance at a global peering event, which provides direct experience and networking opportunities with important voices in the Internet community.
The fellowship enhances participants’ impact in their particular nations by developing engagement with seasoned professionals and boosting regional and global collaboration. The program invites fellows to return to their communities prepared to expand interconnectivity, improve policy conditions, and make a meaningful contribution to the development of the Internet ecosystem.
Applicants must have at least three years of Internet experience and be based in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, or Asia-Pacific.
Eligibility also required proper travel documentation and availability to attend important events such as African Peering and Interconnection Forum, Latin American and Caribbean Network Operators Forum, or Peering Asia, as well as a commitment of roughly four hours per week over six months.
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called for the withdrawal of the amendment of the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 because it seeks to regulate the activities of bloggers operating within the territorial boundaries of Nigeria.
The organisation in its letter urged Mr Godswill Akpabio, Senate President, and Mr Tajudeen Abbas, Speaker of the House of Representatives, to “immediately withdraw the repressive bill.”
The titled A Bill for an Act to Amend the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023, to Mandate the Establishment of Physical Offices within the Territorial Boundaries of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by Social Media Platforms and for Related Matters among others intends to regulate bloggers, including by requiring all bloggers to register local offices and join recognised national association for bloggers.
Currently, the bill has passed its first and second reading in the Senate.
In the letter signed its deputy director, Mr Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP asked Mr Akpabio and Mr Abbas “to ensure that any amendment to the Nigeria Data Protection Act promotes and protects the rights of bloggers and other journalists and does not undermine the fundamental human rights of Nigerians.”
It demanded an end to “the imposition of unnecessary restrictions on the rights of Nigerians online and Internet-based content.”
In the letter dated April 12, 2025, the group said, “This bill is a blatant attempt to bring back and fast-track the obnoxious and widely rejected social media bill by the back-door.”
“If passed, the bill would also be used to ban major social media platforms—including Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, TikTok, and independent bloggers if they ‘continuously fail to establish/register and maintain physical offices in Nigeria for a period of 30 days.
“Lawmakers should not become arbiters of truth in the public and political domain. Regulating the activities of bloggers and forcing them to associate would have a significant chilling effect on freedom of expression and lead to censorship or restraint.
“Should the National Assembly and its leadership fail to withdraw the bill to regulate the activities of bloggers, and should any such bill be assented to by President Bola Tinubu, SERAP would consider appropriate legal action to challenge the legality of any such law and ensure it is never implemented in the public interest,” the organisation warned.
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