April 2010 - KICTANet

Defining a Mobile Apps Lab for Africa
by King'ori Gitahi 18 Apr '10

18 Apr '10

Hi guys, Nokia,�WorldBank�and Finland have come together to spur the innovation ecosystem in Africa.� A key input of this wider programme�is the importance of Mobile Applications and how we can use that to scale businesses.�� If you are a developer, business analyst, educationist, academic, economist etc.� This is your opportunity to give your view on: Does Africa need a mobile applications laboratory? ·�� What services should it provide? ·�� Where should it be located? ·�� What existing initiatives exist in this field? ·�� Which applications are likely to prove successful in Africa? ·�� With which partners should the lab work? ·�� What would be the measure of success? We have a real opportunity to determine where the Mobile Industry will look like in Africa in another 20 years.� Shoot me an email for any queries. More info here:� http://www.infodev.org/en/Article.517.html Register here:�� http://mobileafrica.eventbrite.com Looking forward to meeting you all, King'ori Gitahi For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. Nelson Mandela -------------------------------------------------------------- Ovi Mail: Making email access easy http://mail.ovi.com

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Defining a Mobile Apps Lab For Africa
by King'ori Gitahi 18 Apr '10

18 Apr '10

Hi guys, Nokia,�WorldBank�and Finland have come together to spur the innovation ecosystem in Africa.� A key input of this wider programme�is the importance of Mobile Applications and how we can use that to scale businesses.�� If you are a developer, business analyst, educationist, academic, economist etc.� This is your opportunity to give your view on: Does Africa need a mobile applications laboratory? ·�� What services should it provide? ·�� Where should it be located? ·�� What existing initiatives exist in this field? ·�� Which applications are likely to prove successful in Africa? ·�� With which partners should the lab work? ·�� What would be the measure of success? We have a real opportunity to determine where the Mobile Industry will look like in Africa in another 20 years.� Shoot me an email for any queries. More info here:� http://www.infodev.org/en/Article.517.html Register here:�� http://mobileafrica.eventbrite.com Looking forward to meeting you all, King'ori Gitahi For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. Nelson Mandela� -------------------------------------------------------------- Ovi Mail: Making email access easy http://mail.ovi.com

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Mutua beats us to it
by robert yawe 16 Apr '10

16 Apr '10

Hi, The government spokes one has pulled another one from under the rest of us, he has decided to put up his own station to tell Kenyan's about all the good things they have done. Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

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Cyber-Spin: How the Internet gets framed as dangerous
by alice 16 Apr '10

16 Apr '10

Cyber-Spin: How the Internet gets framed as dangerous by Milton Mueller on Thu 08 Apr 2010 01:31 PM EDT http://blog.internetgovernance.org/blog/_archives/2010/4/8/4499824.html?utm… At the beginning of this year, a set of powerhouse organizations in cybersecurity (CSO Magazine, Deloitte, Carnegie Mellon's CERT program, and the U.S. Secret Service) released the results of a survey of 523 business and government executives, professionals and consultants in the ICT management field. The reaction generated by this survey provides an unusually clear illustration of how cyber-security discourse has become willfully detached from facts. There is an organized industrial and political imperative to drill into our heads the idea that the Internet is dangerous and its threats are spiraling out of control, and it doesn't matter what facts are uncovered - they are all interpreted to support this preconception. With that intro, here is the lead sentence from the January 25 2010 Carnegie-Mellon University news release about the 2010 CyberSecurity Watch Survey: "Cybercrime threats posed to targeted organizations are increasing faster than many organizations can combat them, according to the 2010 CyberSecurity Watch Survey..." Stop right there. A careful review of both the survey and the responses to it quickly reveals that that conclusion did NOT come from the survey itself, and was not supported by its data. In fact, the claim that cyberthreats are increasing faster than many organizations can combat them comes from a Deloitte "review of the results" of the survey. The Deloitte "review" is entitled (in big, bold letters) CYBERCRIME: A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER and it admits it is an "interpretation," which "goes beyond simple reporting of results." Apparently Deloitte, one of the sponsors of the survey, was not happy with the results: "Deloitte believes...that some of the findings point to significant incongruities between the views of many survey respondents and the current reality of cyber crime." In other words, don't listen to what the people actually facing and dealing with threats tell you, listen to the scary stuff. So what are the relevant facts in the survey? The survey "uncovered a drop in victims of cybercrimes (60% vs. 66% in 2007), however, the affected organizations have experienced significantly more attacks than in previous years." "Since 2007, when the last cybercrime survey was conducted, the average monetary value of losses resulting from cybercrimes declined by 10%." "More than half of the respondents (58%) believe they are more prepared to prevent, detect, respond to or recover from a cybercrime incident compared to the previous year." Isn't this interesting? How does Deloitte get from a drop in the number of victims and a 10% drop in losses (despite more attacks) and a general improvement in perceived preparedness, to the conclusion that crimes are increasing "faster than potential victims can cope with them?" It's easy when you've got something to sell. Where do cyber-security threats come from? Once again, there is a very interesting gap - perhaps we should say chasm - between the Deloitte report and the actual survey results. In Deloitte's spin, the main threat is external, and comes from "An increasing number of criminals and criminally minded enterprises [that] have hired, purchased, or otherwise acquired the ability to infiltrate systems with new penetration techniques while developing a criminal e-business network." But Deloitte doesn't stop there. Without adducing a shred of evidence it asserts that "There is a likely nexus between cyber crime and a variety of other threats including terrorism, industrial espionage, and foreign intelligence services." Shudder. Oh my God. Now what is the data in the survey report? The survey respondent reported that the vast majority of attacks - and the most costly ones - come from insiders. No less than 3/4 (75%) of all cybercrime comes from KNOWN sources. Moreover, "Insider incidents are more costly than external breaches, according to 67% of respondents." The Deloitte "review" of the survey results shows they are simply unable to accept an alternate, less exciting and scary view about the sources of risk. And so it issued a glossy, bold pamphlet/advertisement that actually garnered more media coverage than the actual survey. And the assertions of its tract were often conflated with those of the survey. To be fair to Deloitte, their tract does make some wise points. They argue, convincingly, that organizations should focus security on a "risk-based approach" that "starts with the assumption that an unauthorized user can gain access to the system, and then design responses based on the value of the data that could thus be compromised." Equally wise, the Deloitte report urges enterprises to "shift away from building a 'great wall' against all threats, toward identifying and addressing the most significant ones. This entails prioritizing risks on the basis of their likelihood, impact, and potential interactions with other risks, then allocating resources accordingly." But if Deloitte followed its own advice consistently, it would stop promoting hysteria about unknown, unquantified, and as yet undemonstrated risks "that can be imagined" (their words) from "terrorist organizations, foreign intelligence services, and traditional organized crime entities" and focus more directly on where the real risks are. There may be a valid argument that the survey respondents are complacent or ignorant about the real security risks - but Deloitte hasn't made it. And it is hard to argue with the fact that the survey respondents know more than Deloitte does about what incidents actually hit them and how much money those incidents actually cost them. To posit risks and threats that "could be imagined" sounds more like a sales job than analysis. ======================================= APC Forum is a meeting place for the APC community - people and institutions who are or have been involved in collaboration with APC, and share the APC vision - a world in which all people have easy, equal and affordable access to the creative potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve their lives and create more democratic and egalitarian societies. _______________________________________________ apc.forum mailing list apc.forum(a)lists.apc.org http://lists.apc.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/apc.forum

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First steps towards a mobile applications lab for Africa
by King'ori Gitahi 16 Apr '10

16 Apr '10

Hi guys, Nokia,�WorldBank�and Finland have come together to spur the innovation ecosystem in Africa.� A key input of this wider programme�is the importance of Mobile Applications and how we can use that to scale businesses.�� If you are a developer, business analyst, educationist, academic, economist etc.� This is your opportunity to give your view on: Does Africa need a mobile applications laboratory? ·�� What services should it provide? ·�� Where should it be located? ·�� What existing initiatives exist in this field? ·�� Which applications are likely to prove successful in Africa? ·�� With which partners should the lab work? ·�� What would be the measure of success? http://www.infodev.org/en/Article.517.html We have a real opportunity to determine where the Mobile Industry will look like in Africa in another 20 years.� Please hit this link to go to an information page with details on how to register and what this initaiative is about. Looking forward to meeting you all, King'ori Gitahi � For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. Nelson Mandela� -------------------------------------------------------------- Ovi Mail: Simple and user-friendly interface http://mail.ovi.com

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K24 goes online
by Wainaina Mungai 16 Apr '10

16 Apr '10

K24 is now LIVE online on http://www.k24.co.ke . Click on "K24 Live". Another first from K24... Enjoy, Wainaina

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Govt Commits $12m for Sameer Park office space, training, marketing
by Rebecca Wanjiku 16 Apr '10

16 Apr '10

Read more http://bit.ly/aTEVh2 Tel. 254 720 318 925 wanjiku.co.ke

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Internet service to academic institutions
by Victor Gathara 16 Apr '10

16 Apr '10

I have a query from friends looking to help schools get online. Is there anyone out there doing subsidised internet service to academic institutions. Let me know. Kind regards Victor Gathara| UK Department for International Development| Regional IS Manager , East Africa| * email: v-gathara(a)dfid.gov.uk * Telephone: +254 20 2873421 * Fax: +254 20 2873102 * Ftn: 8300 3349 * Mobile: +254 733 414846 url: www.dfid.gov.uk <http://www.dfid.gov.uk/> DFID, the Department for International Development: leading the UK Government's fight against world poverty. Find out more at http://www.dfid.gov.uk.

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Re: [kictanet] Internet service to academic institutions
by evelyn.rono＠kdn.co.ke 16 Apr '10

16 Apr '10

Yes Victor, we can discuss this further offline, under our e-school initiative. Evelyn Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Zain Kenya -----Original Message----- From: "Emmanuel Khisa" <Emmanuel.khisa(a)kadet.co.ke> Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2010 08:02:05 To: <evelyn.rono(a)kdn.co.ke> Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions'<kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Internet service to academic institutions _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: evelyn.rono(a)kdn.co.ke Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/evelyn.rono%40kdn.co.ke

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[Fwd: RE: ICANN Fellowship Webinar: 28 April]
by alice 15 Apr '10

15 Apr '10

On *28 April 2010*, ICANN staff will describe the *Fellowship Program* in an *interactive webinar*, to be held at *18:00-19:00 GMT/UTC.* *We would like to engage you in outreach on ICANN’s behalf, to distribute the announcement of the Webinar on the Fellowship Program to your constituency, your community and individuals. Please encourage **those who may not be aware of the program, have shown interest but are still not sure about the program’s intent or benefits, **or need a refresher course to register on the eLearning page of the ICANN website and call into this webinar later this month. With outreach and engagement, we will bring new participants into the ICANN community, and with new participants, eventually new ideas and leadership to continue carrying the mission and vision of a truly global internet into the future.* *Fellowship Program Overview — *Register <http://icann.na3.acrobat.com/e71529160/event/registration.html> * *** * * * *

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