Apple has taken another confrontational step to protect user-privacy. The Silicon Valley tech giant is teaming up with Cloudfare to develop a new internet protocol that will prevent internet service providers (ISPs) from seeing websites visited by internet surfers.

This is coming after the smartphone maker changed its privacy policy to limit advertisers’ access to users’ private information. The policy change called iOS 14, has brewed fresh discord between social media companies, particularly Facebook, whose CEO Mark Zuckerberg, has called Apple out for the decision, and Apple.

The iOS 14 will prevent apps from tracking users using their unique device identifier without their explicit permission, which means it will be difficult for advertisers like Facebook to harvest personal data for targeted ads.

“We expect these changes will disproportionately affect Audience Network given its heavy dependence on app advertising. Like all ad networks on iOS 14, advertiser ability to accurately target and measure their campaigns on Audience Network will be impacted, and as a result publishers should expect their ability to effectively monetize on Audience Network to decrease,” Facebook said after Apple announced the new policy.

While Facebook, Google and others rue the development, Apple is taking further steps to curtail the amount of users’ personal information available to them.

On Tuesday, Apple’s senior VP of software Craig Federighi said during the European Data Protection and Privacy Conference, that Google and Facebook risk being removed from the iOS store if they don’t comply with the new Cupertino’s privacy rules.

The iOS 14 means that companies no longer have the freedom to track people’s movement online, and it was implemented by Apple through the introduction of the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature.

It irks many companies who have said they wish it’s “never implemented at all.” Facebook said it’s going to halve advertising earnings since it limits its tracking capabilities and will drastically reduce the amount of ads it serves.

Federighi indicated in his comment that the complaints will not affect Apple’s decision to show more respect to people’s private data. Apple had delayed the release of the new privacy feature in its mobile operating system following Facebook’s complaints.

But in a blog post on December 4, Apple said the new privacy policy information will hence apply in its App Store to “help users understand an app’s privacy practices and also learn about some of the data types the app may collect, and whether that data is linked to them or used to track them.”

Federighi said the new policy enforcement will begin in early 2021.

“We’ll begin requiring all apps that want to do that to obtain their users’ explicit permission and developers who fail to meet that standard can have their apps taken down from the App Store,” he said.

Apple seems to be carrying the moral burden of respecting and protecting private information alone while other tech companies prey on it. Federighi indirectly pointed at Facebook and Google as the beneficiaries of the immoral private data invasion, and are doing everything to stop moves geared towards changing the status quo.

“When invasive tracking is your business model, you tend not to welcome transparency and customer choice,” he said, adding that “some companies are going to do everything they can to stop app-tracking transparency,” and their complaints about Apple’s new private policy are false. “We need the world to see those arguments for what they are: a brazen attempt to maintain the privacy-invasive status quo.”

Federighi said the kicking against the Cupertino policy will eventually die down; making reference to when Apple brought out its browser version ITP, and the advertising industry claimed it would “sabotage the economic model of the internet” but eventually adapted. He said the newly introduced ATT will end up that way; “companies will adapt while users benefit.”

Apple has under its control, a staggering number of internet users that will impact the revenue of the advertising industry. It has expected a fight-back from the advertisers and is standing its ground on the ATT.

Federighi said the world’s most valuable company will need to “work in true partnership… and collaboration” to change technology, particularly on the issue of user-privacy. This means Apple’s partnership with Cloudfare to develop a new internet protocol is geared toward creating a new internet environment, where user-privacy is free from invasion.

But it is still a long walk. For the proposal to be adopted, it must be endorsed by the Internet Engineering Task Force, the non-profit organization which oversees the approval of new protocols.

The Federal Government of Nigeria announced today that it has succeeded in slashing the cost of internet data by 50%, a development which has seen the cost of 1GB data reduced from N1,000 to less than N500.

The announcement was made by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ibrahim Pantami, who said the development was in line with the directive he gave to the regulatory agency (NCC) to put measures in place to reduce the average cost of data in the country.

“The average cost of 1GB of data has reduced from the January 2020 cost of N1,000 to N487.18 in November, 2020.

“This was based on a report by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) submitted to the Honourable Minister following the implementation of the directives,” Dr Pantami’s Technical Assistant, Mr Femi Adeluyi said in a statement issued on Thursday in Abuja.

He explained that “the Honourable Minister had inaugurated a Committee that developed the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (2020-2025) on the 16th of December, 2019. The Plan was unveiled and launched by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, on the 19th of March, 2020.

“One of the goals of the Plan is to reduce the average cost of 1GB of data to a maximum of N390 by 2025.

“With the January 2020 baseline of N1,000 per GB, the maximum projected steady decrease for the end of each year was as follows: 2020 (N925), 2021 (N850), 2022 (N775), 2023 (N700), 2024 (N545) and 2025 (N390).

“In line with Dr Pantami’s commitment to under promise and over deliver, the measures have caused the current cost of data to reduce significantly beyond the December 2020 projection of N925.

“Based on the Report by NCC, the average cost of data as at November 2020 was N487.18, which amounts to 47.33% lower than the projected value.

“The Report also indicates that the cost of data in November 2020 was less than 50% of the cost of data in January 2020.

“The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, through the NCC, will continue to ensure that consumers enjoy a price regime that supports fairness and is friendly to consumers.

“Policies are in place to ensure that operators adopt competitive pricing that eschews unjustifiable margins. The general public may also wish to note that complaints about rapid data depletion are also being investigated.

“For more enquiries, the Honourable Minister has directed NCC to respond to all issues raised by our citizens and customers.

“All hands will remain on deck to achieve the goals of the Broadband Plan as the Ministry supervises its implementation in line with our National Digital Economy Policy for a Digital Nigeria.”

The cost of broadband has been a big issue in the African internet space, especially in Nigeria that commands the largest telecom market in the continent. Consequently, Dr. Pantami had rolled out a digital roadmap, which was endorsed earlier in the year by Buhari, to address the challenge.

However, while the directive has resulted in celebration among internet users, experts believe it questions the government’s commitment to a free and competitive market, where market forces, rather than regulators, should determine the cost of commodities.

In July, South African satellite Television, DStv Multichoice was ordered  by the Nigerian House of Representatives to slash the cost  of subscription or develop pay per watch model as Nigerians lament that the cost was becoming unaffordable.

A month earlier, DStv had increased the subscription charges, citing forex situation and business-unfriendliness of the environment that keep adding to the rising cost of doing business in Nigeria.

However, the chairman of the House Ad-hoc Committee on broadcasting, Unyime Idem said the increased charges are unacceptable in the face of COVID-19 pandemic and ordered DSTV to halt every plan they have for increment until further notice.

The faceoff pushed DStv to drop its chase for football TV rights and concentrate on streaming.

While it is evident that Africa has the most expensive data cost, infrastructural decay and poor business policies by the government have been fingered as the reasons; and there have been little or no efforts by various African governments to address the deficiencies.

Experts are worried that constant government’s interference with pricing will not only hinder the market’s competitiveness, but will also spook potential investors who are contemplating the Nigerian market.