October 2011 - KICTANet

Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint
by Catherine Adeya 11 Oct '11

11 Oct '11

On the contrary Daktari. I am speaking from experience having taught, and then worked, with editing graduates. It is possible to work very very hard on something you are not sure about, or not comfortable with, and get the same result. I do agree that there are some jobs that if you work very hard and with the right attitude and achieve phenomenal results. However, Daktari it is not the same with editing. I have worked with a very studious young editor but he just did not have an eye for copy-editing as hard as he worked. I finally found the best position for him within the company where he wrote the initial articles (he did a great job by the way though mixed his tenses quite a bit& misused punctuation a lot). MJ had passion for what he did combined with hard work. This young man had the same but he just could not 'sing' (edit) like MJ even with a lot of practice. He tried so hard but he could not be the last eye in the editorial process. In the long run, everyone was happy. There is room for different levels of editors in the editorial process but we have to be careful in the hiring process to get those with the potential/capacity to fit in this process. Catherine On Tue, 11 Oct 2011 07:08 CEST bitange(a)jambo.co.ke wrote: >Catherine, >I think we are approaching this discussion the wrong way. If you have been employed to be an Editor, then be the best in the World. You simply have to take the job seriously. > >You need to watch Michael Jackson's "This is it" in order to understand what taking your job seriously mean. You will begin to understand why he was good. Similarly, we can have good editors. The Indians have succeeded in this yet we think we have better grasp of the language. > >There are good Editors out there but they are kept out of the job either because they do not know someone or have no money to bribe and get the job. Do we know how the hiring is done? For us to succeed we must first accept our inadequacies, our rotten habbits, our biases, our tribalist tendancies, our ... > >There is no sabstitute for hard work and transparency. If we embrace these simple rules, our publications will change over night. It is time we accept that governance issue for this country does not only affect the Government. We must get rid of it from our society. > >This is the root cause of our bad image in everything we do. > > >Ndemo. > > > > > > >Sent from my BlackBerry® > >-----Original Message----- >From: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider(a)yahoo.com> >Sender: kictanet-bounces+bitange=jambo.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.keDate: Mon, 10 Oct 2011 09:02:00 >To: <bitange(a)jambo.co.ke> >Reply-To: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider(a)yahoo.com> >Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> >Subject: Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint > >_______________________________________________ >kictanet mailing list >kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke >http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > >Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bitange%40jambo.co.ke > >The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development. > >KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.

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N&M The Star on Thursday
by robert yawe 11 Oct '11

11 Oct '11

Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

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Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint
by william janak 11 Oct '11

11 Oct '11

Gaitho, I also agree that some of those who grumble may not have the requisite qualifications. Some are also afraid to apply for jobs. But it is also true some are good but have not got jobs in the local media industry. Oloo Janak ________________________________ From: Macharia Gaitho <mgaitho(a)ke.nationmedia.com> To: william janak <williamjanak(a)yahoo.com> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2011 11:12 AM Subject: RE: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint Good people, I really get disturbed with all these blanket statements about good editors unable to get jobs “because they do not know someone or have no money to bribe” as good Dr Ndemo puts it. Some of us spend ages trying to get the best people available, but they are hard to get. This market is critically short of good sub-editors, and I’m quite sure no one with the required skills would miss a position at any of the main media houses. All too often it is the mediocre who forever complain that they cannot get jobs because they do not know the right person, are not from the right tribe, or do not have money to bribe This morning I watched a TV talk show featuring assistant minister for Youth Wavinya Ndeti. One of the callers was grumbling that he has a degree in IT, but the only jobs available through the ‘Kazi kwa Vijana’ programme was digging trenches. An IT graduate is looking at Kazi kwa Vijana? He does not know what his peers, young Kenyans, are doing developing programmes and applications and creating jobs? These must be the kind of fellows who forever grumble about discrimination and corruption in the job market, but show no initiative on how they can apply their training and skills to create their own jobs. Or maybe they are just so useless no one will employ them in the first place. From:kictanet-bounces+mgaitho=nation.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+mgaitho=nation.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of william janak Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2011 10:54 AM To: Macharia Gaitho Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint I want to agree with Dr. Ndemo. Taking work seriously is important. Again, certainly, there are many good, top notch editors, who have no chance of being hired locally because of all the considerations we know. I know a friend of mine in Rwanda who is in the process of poaching/engaging some of them and I will actively help some of our colleagues to lin up with him and other openings in the region if they are not appreciated at home. There are many people who take language casually. It requires sustained improvement to master the language-English or any other. Oloo Janak. From:"bitange(a)jambo.co.ke" <bitange(a)jambo.co.ke> To: williamjanak(a)yahoo.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2011 8:08 AM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint Catherine, I think we are approaching this discussion the wrong way. If you have been employed to be an Editor, then be the best in the World. You simply have to take the job seriously. You need to watch Michael Jackson's "This is it" in order to understand what taking your job seriously mean. You will begin to understand why he was good. Similarly, we can have good editors. The Indians have succeeded in this yet we think we have better grasp of the language. There are good Editors out there but they are kept out of the job either because they do not know someone or have no money to bribe and get the job. Do we know how the hiring is done? For us to succeed we must first accept our inadequacies, our rotten habbits, our biases, our tribalist tendancies, our ... There is no sabstitute for hard work and transparency. If we embrace these simple rules, our publications will change over night. It is time we accept that governance issue for this country does not only affect the Government. We must get rid of it from our society. This is the root cause of our bad image in everything we do. Ndemo. Sent from my BlackBerry® -----Original Message----- From: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider(a)yahoo.com> Sender: kictanet-bounces+bitange=jambo.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.keDate: Mon, 10 Oct 2011 09:02:00 To: <bitange(a)jambo.co.ke> Reply-To: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider(a)yahoo.com> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bitange%40jambo.co.ke The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development. KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications. _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/williamjanak%40yahoo.c… The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development. KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications. DISCLAIMER: The information contained in or accompanying this e-mail is intended for the use of the stated recipient only. It may contain confidential, proprietary or legally privileged information. No confidentiality or privilege is waived or lost by any mistransmission. If you receive this message in error, please immediately delete it and all copies of it from your system, destroy any hard copies of it and notify the sender. You must not, directly or indirectly, use, disclose, distribute, print, or copy any part of this message if you are not the intended recipient. Any views or opinions presented herein are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Nation Media Group. 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Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint
by Isaac Mutunga 11 Oct '11

11 Oct '11

The decline of the quality of print journalism has been on a downward decline for the last couple of years. But the current free fall in terms of grammar and quality of stories is worrying. In my opinion there are several causes but the major one is the management. When the IT sector experienced the dot.com bubble bust in late 90s and early 2000, it did not compromise on the quality but instead it raised the standards and the results are the fruits we are reaping. The same applies to print media, poor quality journalism will kill it. The social media has eroded the advertising base of the news papers leading to downsizing and reorganization of the print industry. This means there are very few journalist and even fewer copy editors. Interns are given important beats without adequate supervision resulting to invasion of privacy, libel and plagiarism. Not all interns are do this but it is better to be cautious when giving them assignments. The issue of cronysim and tribalism is rampant in media recruitment and promotion. Due to this practice some senior editors who are supposed to be gate keepers are merely gate watchers because they do not have the skills to filter out the chaff before the copy is printed. Other times the pull of the advertsers' shilling is stronger than ethical consideration and PR materials are passed on as business news. The remedy for this may be what KICTAnet is doing-providing a fora to discuss the performance of the print media.But there is need to name and shame specific dailies like Makali's Bulletin does giving fortnightly assessment of media performance. May be the Media council could consider setting up an office of ombudsman to help the media in Kenya to engage with the audience constructively. It can be set within the media complaints committee and may be each media house can nominate a member. Chaacha Mwita's book, ,Citizen Power: A Different Kind of Politics, A Different Kind of Journalism, in my opinion aptly captures the point when the rain started beating on the bare back of the print media

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Is Google.co.ke down?
by robert yawe 11 Oct '11

11 Oct '11

Hi, I am having problems searching using the google.co.ke address but all is working fine with the .com site just need to know if anyone else out there is having the same problem before I call my provider? 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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Is Google good for Africa?
by Matunda Nyanchama 11 Oct '11

11 Oct '11

This article appeared on the dotafrica linkedin list; I cannot locate it on the Africa Report website, though. Is Google good for Africa? DCA inNEWS With an eye on its future profits, Google is investing millions to enable an army of tech-savvy young Africans to build the web from the bottom up and put their continent on the global information map. _ The Africa Report is a monthly magazinebased in Paris France,which is the English version of the highly respected "Groupe Jeune Afrique", which has been the leading economic, political and cultural media throughout Africa and worldwide. The Africa Report thus provides more than 400,000 African and international readers with expert analysis of Africa's fast-changing political and economic landscapes.It has established itself as the international publication of reference dedicated to African affairs. It is the guide used by decision makers to anticipate economic and political changes in Africa and relied upon for the expertise of an independent editorial team in its surveys, sector reports and country focus published in each issue. Its recognized high-quality coverage of the African business environment is combined with the widest pan-African and international circulation. Is google good for Africa? WRITTEN BY GEMMA WARE IN DAKAR: http://www.theafricareport.com/201106285165490/five-stories/is-google-good-… As the influence of companies like Google grows, the continent's techies are aware of the urgency to stake their own territorial claim. An African-led initiative is pushing for a .africa suffix aimed at breaking down the dominance of foreign hosting sites. Around 90% of African websites are registered as .com, says DotConnectAfrica's Sophia Bekele. When it costs $19 to register a .com site versus around $50 for a .co.ke in Kenya, the choice is obvious, but it is not helping to populate the African web. With an eye on its future profits, Google is investing millions to enable an army of tech-savvy young Africans to build the web from the bottom up and put their continent on the global information map. "The problem with Africa is that there isn't enough information," Carlo D'Asaro Biondo, one of Google's vice presidents for the region, told the crowd. In front of him, laptop screens flickered in the dimly lit lecture hall as rows of young Senegalese techies tapped away at their keyboards. On stage, large breeze blocks in bright primary colours lay piled up in pre-planned abandon. One event in the US tech giant's G-Africa series, the G-Senegal meeting in late February brought together more than 600 web developers and HTML-literate IT students at Université Cheikh Anta Diop. They are all part of Google's plan to create an African army to help it build the web from the bottom up. Google has Africa firmly in its sights. As new fibreoptic cables bring down the cost of bandwidth, and manufacturers race to bring out affordable smartphones - the most basic of which still costs about $100 - the internet is going mobile in Africa. Already 40% of Google searches on the continent come from internet users on mobile phones. Google expects user numbers in Africa to grow from 14 million in 2010 to 800 million by 2015. Mobile information has been the midwife to the uprisings across the Arab world. Videos, photos and comments posted on Facebook, Twitter and Google-owned YouTube fanned the flames of revolt. Seen from the Googleplex back in California, Africa remains a big, perplexing blank, an obstacle in the way of Google's brazen goal to organise the world's information. But it has seen the future - one that will hold 43 million middle-class Africans by 2030, according to the World Bank. By investing now into Africa's internet ecosystem, Google hopes to hardwire it with tools that will make people click through to its websites. While there is an average of one web domain for every 94 people in the world, there is only one for every 10,000 Africans. An empty web with less local and relevant content means fewer reasons to go online and a dearth of revenue for Google, which principally earns money by selling targeted advertising on its search engine. It is also embedding itself in the internet's evolving geopolitics. As authoritarians tighten their media-monitoring screws, buying military-calibre cyber surveillance software, Google will be monitoring them. Since 2010, Google has been publishing statistics on the requests it receives from governments to remove information from its websites. During Egypt's February revolution, the tracker clearly showed when the country's internet was cut. As part of its response, Google put to use a start-up called SayNow that it had acquired just a few weeks before to create a 'speak-to-tweet' service. It allowed Egyptians to leave voicemail messages that were posted on Twitter as audio files. The company has won fans - and sceptics - for its 'don't be evil' motto. It got burnt in China and its reputation suffered after it agreed to censor search results. It will not be doing that again in a hurry. But by shining a light on censorship, Google has helped democracy activists expose politicians who meddle with the freedom of information. In late May, an Egyptian court charged the ousted President Hosni Mubarak and two of his ministers $90m for cutting telecoms services. During the revolution, Egyptian activists were fearful of what US multinationals might do with their private information. "Anyone who holds this amount of information needs to be very careful with it," says Nadine Wahab, an Egyptian activist behind the "We are all Khaled Said" Facebook group. But when Google's property is attacked, it will make noise. In June, the company pointed the finger at the Chinese government after disrupting attacks on Gmail users, including US government officials and Chinese political activists. Google's play on the continent is seductive and transformative. It has launched dozens of projects in Africa. Its search engine is now available in 31 African languages, including Ewe, Sesotho, Wolof and Amharic. A $1.25m project will digitise Nelson Mandela's documentary archives. Another pilot in Nigeria - the Get African Business Online project - is helping small businesses to build websites. Google runs mapping projects to help chart unmapped areas (see box page 22). It is also forging relationships with Africa's more tech-savvy administrations. A web facility tailor-made for Kenya's treasury is helping constituents monitor the implementation of infrastructure, education and health projects launched under the government's Economic Stimulus Programme. Google's assault on Africa is coming at a time when the company is facing growing hostilities elsewhere. In late March, its plan to monetise 15m digitally scanned books for the Google Book Project was barred by a New York court. Meanwhile, the European Commission is probing whether Google is abusing its dominant position in online search by prioritising its own services. MISSION: CREATE CONTENT Google's push to create local content is not unique to Africa and it forms a central part of its expansion strategy into emerging markets with low internet penetration. So far, the coast has been relatively clear. While its biggest rival, Microsoft, has an established presence in Africa, Facebook and Twitter have not yet defined strategies for the continent. Yahoo email addresses are still commonplace across both anglophone and francophone Africa, but Google has pretty much won the battle for African search. Back in Silicon Valley, it used to be hard to get attention for African projects. Now, it is a different story. "If you do something that's involved in Africa, it's a very feel-good thing around Google," says Steven Levy, author of a new book on Google called In the Plex. Google, which is famed for employee perks such as free gourmet food and onsite medical care, allows its engineers to use 20% of their time on other projects. "What Google is doing in Africa is very sexy," says the firm's Senegal representative, Tidjane Deme. Off the back of a successful final quarter of 2010 - which brought in profits of $2.5bn - Google is in the midst of an Africa recruitment drive, with more than 30 posts open across the continent. Its staff in Africa has grown from 10 in 2006 to 65 today. In December, it secured a huge coup by poaching Kenyan Ory Okolloh - founder of web platform Ushahidi and a prominent blogger and activist - as its first policy manager for Africa. The usually ebullient Okolloh has remained tight-lipped since she started, and declined to give an interview to The Africa Report. WE COULD BE HEROES African googlers have begun to get themselves noticed. At first, Google was unsure how to react to the swell of admiration for its marketing executive Wael Ghonim, held aloft as a hero of the Egyptian revolution after his detention at the hands of the security services. "They were conscious, as a global corporation, of the implications of this," says Levy. But they realised soon enough the value of his profile-raising. On 12 February, five days after his release, Google's official Twitter account said: "We're incredibly proud of you @Ghonim & of course will welcome you back when you're ready." Others are going on to great things. Kenyan Nyimbi Odero, Google's former lead for West Africa, told The Africa Report he saved the Nigerian Electoral Commission around $100m in procurement costs with in-house voter registration software he and his team developed for 2011's elections. Spreading its tentacles further and deeper into the world's internet is a fundamental part of Google's business plan. In the year to end December 2010, 41%, or $11.9bn, of its $29.3bn in revenue came from outside the US and the UK, up from 37% in 2008. Despite its push for global information-sharing and transparency, Google will not reveal how much it is investing in Africa, although it admits that it is not yet making a profit. "Our business model works only when you have enough advertisements and a lot of users online, and that's the environment we are trying to create in Africa," explains Nelson Mattos, Google's vice president of product management and engineering for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). "Right now the goal is not to be profitable. We are not focusing on sales except for South Africa, where you already have an environment of enough users online, enough traffic online and enough advertisers who want to take advantage of that. In the rest of Africa, it's about bringing people online and making sure that they take advantage of internet services first." With a platform like Baraza - an online question-and-answer site that Google launched in October 2010 after success with similar pilots in China and the Middle East - users are persuaded to create content on a Google platform. "It has become extremely successful and we are starting to see a lot of the content that got created through the Q & A to surface in the Google search," says Mattos. Another beta project, Google Trader, launched in Uganda and Ghana, acts as a web and mobile marketplace for everything from rice-milling equipment to used Hondas. Such crowd-sourcing is central to Google's global strategy. It stems from founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin's belief in an open-source internet model, where tools are made freely available to developers. It is the driving principle behind its Android smartphone platform, which now has over 150,000 apps, but - like its African investments - has yet to bring in billions in revenue. Since mid-2009, Google has been busy moulding a new generation of bright, tech-savvy Africans who are incentivised to evangelise. Part of a growing young elite with the money to buy laptops, internet data bundles and smartphones, these geeks will rule Africa's online universe. But while Dakar's Google Technology User Group (GTUG) - a 50-strong network of young developers that receives a stipend each month from Google to host meetings - may know how to work the tools, they have little financial support to create new applications. Ibrahima Dieng, one of GTUG's leaders, says: "People come and try things out, but they don't publish." Many are students, without the credit cards needed to buy space online. LEARNING TO ADAPT Senegalese web engineer Hovi Kokuvi Amen Hovi says he is earning €11 a day from AdSense adverts hosted on two news-based websites he operates. He has been lucky - he can get at the money via a French bank account. Funds earned through AdSense used to be sent with a Citibank cheque in US dollars, a system not well adapted to serve developers in largely unbanked economies. In May, Google agreed to make payments via Western Union in Senegal. Google has not yet made the biggest commitment it could to Africa - to build a data centre, the beeping heart of its web operations. However, it has set up several dozen caches with African mobile operators and internet service providers. So, when somebody wants to watch a YouTube video or access Google Maps, the request does not travel all the way to a European data centre, but is accessible via a local store. Back in 2008, Google provided an undisclosed part of a $410m investment in O3b, a series of low-orbit satellites that would bring fibre-speed broadband to the developing world from 2013. Google also recently opened a point of presence (POP) in Nigeria to serve West Africa, effectively an entry point to its global network of data centres. There is already an active POP in South Africa, and Google plans to build one in Kenya to keep local traffic within Africa. Just how Google plans to recoup such investments remains unclear. Some of its products could become lucrative if they reach critical mass. One is Gmail SMS, which allows Gmail users in certain countries to send 50 free text messages from their emails. When users receive an SMS to their inbox, they get another five free messages. "They're sowing now so they can reap the advertising funds down the line," says Banky Ojutalayo, a former senior manager for value-added services at Glo Mobile Ghana. He suggests that once the service had built up a large enough user base, Google would consider selling short adverts at the end of each message - a potential goldmine. African mobile operators' eagerness to team up with Google shows the power of its global brand. But sometimes the company falls foul of the higher standards it sets for itself. It was criticised last year for exercising loopholes to pay an overseas tax rate of just 2.4% in the US, cutting its tax bill by $3.1bn. Google insists that it "complies with tax law in every country in which it operates," including seven countries in Africa. As the influence of companies like Google grows, the continent's techies are aware of the urgency to stake their own territorial claim. An African-led initiative is pushing for a .africa suffix aimed at breaking down the dominance of foreign hosting sites. Around 90% of African websites are registered as .com, says DotConnectAfrica's Sophia Bekele. When it costs $19 to register a .com site versus around $50 for a .co.ke in Kenya, the choice is obvious, but it is not helping to populate the African web. Nigerian developer Saheed Adepoju, who launched his own version of Apple's iPad tablet called Inye last year, says some of his peers are worried Google is trying to take over their market. Adepoju tells them that they should not worry. "We know the local system better than they do. It's not going to be hard to compete with them." Whatever its profit projections, Google's African advance is a long play. It sees that the continent is getting richer and more connected. Africa's sparsely populated internet is a money-making opportunity for Google and the army of African developers it is training to help fill in the gaps. Africa's future is an online and a mobile one, and Google has raised its flag first. Original Article http://www.theafricareport.com/201106285165490/five-stories/is-google-good-… ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matunda Nyanchama, PhD, CISSP; mnyanchama(a)aganoconsulting.com Agano Consulting Inc.; www.aganoconsulting.com; Twitter: nmatunda; Skype: okiambe ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Be prepared to face ICT Security failures & know how to respond when they happen! Call: +1-888-587-1150 or info(a)aganoconsulting.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk I have a workstation…" - Anonymous ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This e-mail, including attachments, may be privileged and may contain confidential or proprietary information intended only for the addressee(s). Any other distribution, copying, use, or disclosure is unauthorized and strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and permanently delete the message, including any attachments, without making a copy. Thank you.

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Kill technicians at our own peril
by robert yawe 11 Oct '11

11 Oct '11

Hi, I had mentioned in a previous post that during the visit by members of NASCOM to Nairobi last month an issue was raised on why Kenyans seem to glorify degrees to the point of a all a nothing attitude. It was made clear that his could have a major impact on our ability to attract outsourcing business as graduates look at jobs in areas like call centres as stop gap measures and stepping stones to something better which then results on very high turnover and thus reduced expertise. An article in the media recently, http://allafrica.com/stories/201107260844.html, brings out the effects of upgrading tertiary colleges to universities and the effect on the building sector. We might assume that this does not affect the technology industry which would be a mistake on our part. Some of us who are involved in structured cabling are already experiencing problems in getting good technicians who can lay and terminate UTP and STP cable with zero failures, our teams of diploma holders are being snatched by organisations such as the UN. The crisis of collapsing buildings is coming our way in form of substandard cabling. 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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Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint
by Phares Kariuki 11 Oct '11

11 Oct '11

:-). Thanks On Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 4:19 PM, Macharia Gaitho <mgaitho(a)ke.nationmedia.com > wrote: > ‘braking’, not ‘breaking’ distance.**** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > *From:* kictanet-bounces+mgaitho=nation.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke[mailto: > kictanet-bounces+mgaitho=nation.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke] *On Behalf Of > *Phares Kariuki > *Sent:* Monday, October 10, 2011 4:09 PM > > *To:* Macharia Gaitho > *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions > *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint**** > > ** ** > > We are not taught the fundamentals. I have been trying to avoid pointing > out a basic grammatical error many are making on this list, but I'll do so > anyway. In English and most other Latin based languages proper nouns are > capitalized. Many on this list have their names in outgoing emails without > capitalizing. Why am I pointing this out? We all went through one education > system. For you to gained admission into a public university, you needed to > have achieved at least a mean grade of B. If we are making the same mistakes > the journalists are making, how can we take the high road? If we > purposefully chose to ignore the rules of grammar as we were done with our > 'high school' education, then it means that there is a fundamental problem > with our education system (we never had to apply our knowledge of English, > so we are really studying for the sake of the grade and not the knowledge). > **** > > ** ** > > It's the same with Swahili, Physics (e.g. we all know that Kenyan drivers > are constantly speeding, even with vehicles that were not built for speed. > In high school, we are taught that *breaking distance* is proportional to > the *square* of the speed, which means that it increases out > of proportion to the increase in speed), but we disregard this. We all sang > the national anthem at least twice per week, for all twelve years of our > primary and tertiary education, yet we stutter if we are asked to recite > it. **** > > ** ** > > The crisis of our education system is that people don't value the skill as > much as they value recognition for the skill. It does not matter whether or > not you can actually code, what matters is that you have a certificate that > says you can. It's apparent in the technology space today. People have to > earn their stripes, papers no longer really matter. The 'Mwakenya' is the > standard in University exam rooms. And the situation is only getting worse. > We need to find ways of integrating what people learn with day to day life. > If we don't, we will keep having this tragedy of people getting knowledge > for the sake of the certificate and not bothering to find out why they are > learning that. **** > > ** ** > > A further illustration, I once spoke to a university student who mentioned > that he was doing Oracle Certification 'because he heard that it has money'. > My problem with his thinking was that he had no clue what products Oracle > was dealing in, he was going to do any certification available, which means, > he might have ended up certifying in a field he did not like (Oracle has > Enterprise Hardware/Software/Cloud Services) and land on a job he does not > want, but one that pays well. **** > > ** ** > > On Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 2:43 PM, luke mulunda <lmulunda(a)yahoo.com> wrote:* > *** > > Marsh,**** > > My brain must have been infested with cobwebs. **** > > ** ** > > Anyhow, that's what we are talking about: where are the guys (like you) to > follow through and clean up the mess before it gets to the press? And it's > not just the daily newspapers, Weeklies, and even monthy publications. I > have been reading a book authored and published locally and you can see the > concern. **** > > **** > > style="text-decoration:underline;">WWW.SMARTBIZAFRICA.COM > Africa's No.1 Online Business Magazine > ...For Investors, Entrepreneurs, Managers, Marketers, CEOs, IT Experts, HR > & Finance Managers and Students.... Plus Stocks and Business News and Career > Guidance<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href=" > http://www.smartbizafrica.com/"></a>**** > > ** ** > ------------------------------ > > *From:* Macharia Gaitho <mgaitho(a)ke.nationmedia.com> > *To:* luke mulunda <lmulunda(a)yahoo.com>**** > > > *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke>**** > > *Sent:* Monday, October 10, 2011 1:19 PM > *Subject:* RE: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint**** > > Luke,**** > > the Ugandan leader was ‘Amin’, not ‘Amini’.**** > > **** > > I would suppose the unnamed ‘he’ was killed at dawn, not ‘down’. **** > > **** > > Kindest regards**** > > **** > > **** > > **** > > *From:* kictanet-bounces+mgaitho=nation.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke[mailto: > kictanet-bounces+mgaitho=nation.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke] *On Behalf Of > *luke mulunda > *Sent:* Monday, October 10, 2011 10 <2011%2010>:37 AM > *To:* Macharia Gaitho**** > > > *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions**** > > *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint**** > > **** > > Hi all,**** > > I would personally blame it on cost-cutting. We have journalism and English > experts in newsrooms, but they have too much on their hands to spot the most > obvious and embarrassing mistakes in our publications. **** > > **** > > Mistakes can be costly. Remember during Amini's time in Uganda, the > dictator had criticised a female MP, and so the paper splashed the following > morning "Amini rapes MP" when he meant "RAPS". I hear, he was killed at down > as he brushed his teeth in his house.**** > > **** > > **** > > LUKE M**** > > **** > > **** > > style="text-decoration:underline;">WWW.SMARTBIZAFRICA.COM > Africa's No.1 Online Business Magazine > ...For Investors, Entrepreneurs, Managers, Marketers, CEOs, IT Experts, HR > & Finance Managers and Students.... Plus Stocks and Business News and Career > Guidance<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href=" > http://www.smartbizafrica.com/"></a>**** > > **** > ------------------------------ > > *From:* Catherine Adeya <elizaslider(a)yahoo.com> > *To:* luke <lmulunda(a)yahoo.com> > *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > *Sent:* Monday, October 10, 2011 10 <2011%2010>:18 AM > *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint**** > > James,**** > > The PS has a point and I am not disputing yours either but I would simply > respond to your email below that generalizations is what has got us where we > are. Specificity can help more.....**** > > **** > > Nyaki**** > > **** > ------------------------------ > > *From:* james ratemo <jratemo(a)gmail.com> > *To:* elizaslider(a)yahoo.com > *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > *Sent:* Tuesday, October 4, 2011 11 <2011%2011>:16 PM > *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint**** > > Bwana PS what are you insinuating? We open our newsrooms fro the so called > English majors? Some of them are in the newsrooms already...maybe they are > sleeping on the job...my opinion**** > > On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 11:11 PM, <bitange(a)jambo.co.ke> wrote:**** > > All of today's newspapers had several grammatical errors. At this time and > age of ICT, is it not too embarrasing to have such errors? We have > thousands of English majors without jobs. It is time for media to be > thorough in what they do by utilizing our many graduates without jobs. As a > Kenyan I get embarrased to see such errors. > > Ndemo. > > > > > Sent from my BlackBerry® > > -----Original Message----- > From: Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga(a)hotmail.com> > Sender: kictanet-bounces+bitange=jambo.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > Date: Sun, 2 Oct 2011 13:32:57 > To: <bitange(a)jambo.co.ke> > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Subject: [kictanet] GSMA: Calls will remain high between African countries > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bitange%40jambo.co.ke > > The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for > people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and > regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT > sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development. > > KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors > online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, > share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do > not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications. > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jratemo%40gmail.com > > The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for > people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and > regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT > sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development. > > KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors > online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, > share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do > not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.**** > > > > > -- > James Ratemo > Online Sub-editor/ICT reporter > Nation Media Group, > P.O Box 49010-00100, > Nairobi > Cell Phone: 0724960649 OR 0731960649 > Email: jratemo(a)ke.nationmedia.com <Emaili-jratemo(a)standardmedia.co.ke> or > ratemoj(a)hotmail.com <jamrats2001(a)yahoo.com> > Website:www.jratemo.wordpress.com <http://www.ictcradle.com/>. > Twitter accounts: http://twitter.com/kenyacurrent or > http://twitter.com/jamesratemo > Skype account:ratemoj > My facebook account: http://www.facebook.com/Rats.the.menace > > Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? No one.**** > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/elizaslider%40yahoo.com > > The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for > people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and > regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT > sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development. > > KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors > online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, > share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do > not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.**** > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/lmulunda%40yahoo.com > > The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for > people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and > regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT > sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development. > > KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors > online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, > share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do > not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.**** > > DISCLAIMER: The information contained in or accompanying this e-mail is > intended for the use of the stated recipient only. It may contain > confidential, proprietary or legally privileged information. No > confidentiality or privilege is waived or lost by any mistransmission. If > you receive this message in error, please immediately delete it and all > copies of it from your system, destroy any hard copies of it and notify the > sender. You must not, directly or indirectly, use, disclose, distribute, > print, or copy any part of this message if you are not the intended > recipient. **** > > Any views or opinions presented herein are solely those of the author and > do not necessarily represent those of the *Nation Media Group*<http://www.nation.co.ke> > *.***** > > To get all breaking news alerts send the word BREAK to 6667 or visit > http://mobile.nation.co.ke to read news on your mobile phone.**** > > ** ** > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/pkariuki%40gmail.com > > The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for > people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and > regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT > sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development. > > KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors > online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, > share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do > not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.**** > > > > **** > > ** ** > > -- > With Regards, > > Phares Kariuki > > | T: +254 720 406 093 | E: pkariuki(a)gmail.com | Twitter: kaboro | Skype: > kariukiphares | B: http://www.kaboro.com/ |**** > > DISCLAIMER: The information contained in or accompanying this e-mail is > intended for the use of the stated recipient only. It may contain > confidential, proprietary or legally privileged information. No > confidentiality or privilege is waived or lost by any mistransmission. If > you receive this message in error, please immediately delete it and all > copies of it from your system, destroy any hard copies of it and notify the > sender. You must not, directly or indirectly, use, disclose, distribute, > print, or copy any part of this message if you are not the intended > recipient. > > Any views or opinions presented herein are solely those of the author and > do not necessarily represent those of the *Nation Media Group*<http://www.nation.co.ke> > *.* > > To get all breaking news alerts send the word BREAK to 6667 or visit > http://mobile.nation.co.ke to read news on your mobile phone. > -- With Regards, Phares Kariuki | T: +254 720 406 093 | E: pkariuki(a)gmail.com | Twitter: kaboro | Skype: kariukiphares | B: http://www.kaboro.com/ |

5 5

Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint (Phares Kariuki)
by Matunda Nyanchama 10 Oct '11

10 Oct '11

Afew more reasons: - the pressure to get articles/news/etc out in a speedy manner; be the first to "break the news". What with the 24-hour news cycle? - the lax attitude and declining of standards plus "tolerance" of the same by "consumers. As book publishers, we have consistently seen the latter attitude from our Kenyan-based editors compared to those in Canada, Jamaica, Middle East, etc. I once complained about shoddy work we were being asked to pay for and asked that the work be redone. The impatient editor retorted: what's with a few mistakes which can fixed on the following release! End of dealing with the person! Regards ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matunda Nyanchama, PhD, CISSP; mnyanchama(a)aganoconsulting.com Agano Consulting Inc.; www.aganoconsulting.com; Twitter: nmatunda; Skype: okiambe ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Be prepared to face ICT Security failures & know how to respond when they happen! Call: +1-888-587-1150 or info(a)aganoconsulting.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk I have a workstation…" - Anonymous ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This e-mail, including attachments, may be privileged and may contain confidential or proprietary information intended only for the addressee(s). Any other distribution, copying, use, or disclosure is unauthorized and strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and permanently delete the message, including any attachments, without making a copy. Thank you.

1 0

Taming and reining in Cyberspace
by Alice Munyua 10 Oct '11

10 Oct '11

Interesting article on legislating the internet...... Best Alice http://nationaljournal.com/magazine/taming-and-reining-in-cyberspace-201109… Taming and Reining in Cyberspace Now 20 years old, the Web is losing its Wild West freedom. Government power in cyberspace is big and growing. by Josh Smith <http://nationaljournal.com/reporters/bio/110> Updated: September 23, 2011 | 10:58 a.m. September 15, 2011 | 5:00 p.m. <http://cdn-media.nationaljournal.com/?controllerName=image&action=get&id=11…> DLILLC/Corbis On Aug. 6, 1991, the World Wide Web went global. British physicist Tim Berners-Lee posted the first hyperlink to an online discussion group and began the Internet's transformation from an elite tool to a public platform. Since then, the Web has spawned dreams of a cyber-realm where government censors are powerless, people are free, and national boundaries are meaningless. "Governments of the Industrial World," wrote Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow in 1996, "you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather." Twenty years after the Web's debut, governments around the world are trying to put the genie back in the bottle. The Internet has indeed revolutionized politics and government, but it has hardly transcended laws and regulations. From blocking online poker to tracking the cyberfootprints of suspected terrorists, governments are exer-cising more power over---and through---the Internet than ever before. "In the early days of the Web, a decade or so ago, it was taken for granted that freedom of expression online would inexorably evolve and progress," noted a recent report from the OpenNet Initiative, a coalition promoting Internet freedom. "It was assumed that governments that did not uphold the fundamental human right to speak and write freely would be powerless.... By now, though, those dreams have been dashed." China's government demonstrated years ago that it could restrict access to the Web and stifle online political criticism. But Western governments are becoming more intrusive too, often motivated by popular goals: fighting child pornography; tracking criminals and terrorists; preventing cyberattacks and fighting cyberwars; and helping political opposition groups in countries such as Libya and Iran evade government repression. "Now that the Internet is an integral part of most people's lives, it would be contradictory to exclude governments," President Nicolas Sarkozy of France told a global conference of technology leaders this spring. "Nobody should forget that these governments are the only legitimate representatives of the will of the people in our democracies. To forget this is to risk democratic chaos and hence anarchy." "Governments are the only legitimate representatives of the people.... To forget this is to risk democratic chaos." ---President Nicolas Sarkozy of France Earlier this year, France gave police the authority to shut down suspected child-pornography websites without a warrant, a move that civil libertarians fear could legitimize more-expansive censorship. But France is hardly alone. The governments of Tunisia and Turkey, among others, have proposed Internet filters to block pornography that could also end up restricting access to legitimate websites. The leaders of Iran, already one of the world's harshest online censors, are transitioning to a state-controlled "national Internet" that allows no access to the World Wide Web. Washington has been ramping up its policing as well. The proposed Protect IP Act moving through Congress would give law-enforcement agencies more tools to go after pirated content online. Critics say that the bill could limit free speech by allowing officials to block websites without giving their owners a chance to defend themselves against charges of illegal activity. Another bill would require Internet service providers to keep their customers' browsing histories for a full year. It aims at helping police track down child pornographers, but opponents say that the government could mine the information for almost any purpose. The dilemmas came home to America in a big way in August when San Francisco transit officials shutdown cell-phone service in some subway stations to head off planned protests in their train stations. The move drew rebukes from civil libertarians and sparked a fight with the hacker group Anonymous. Angry over the shutdown, Anonymous hacked into a transit-authority website, exposing the personal data of people unrelated to the agency and even posting nude pictures of a transit official. Both sides' actions make it hard to say who was in the right, highlighting the tension between government protection and government intrusion. The widening governmental grasp worries civil libertarians and longtime champions of Internet freedom. "The world's governments are increasing their regulatory attention to the Internet to address a range of concerns," said Leslie Harris, president of the Center for Democracy and Technology, an advocacy group working to keep an "open, innovative, and free" Internet. "In the process, some are forgetting---or are consciously seeking to repeal or limit---the policy choices that allowed the Internet to develop into such a powerful platform for economic activity, democratic participation, and human development." The first half of 2011 saw unprecedented action from the highest levels of government and international organizations. In May, the White House composed its first-ever International Strategy for Cyberspace, designed to coordinate Internet efforts among federal agencies. Also in May, the Group of Eight leading industrial nations convened a gathering of tech leaders in Paris and released a communiqué calling for tighter regulation of the Internet. On June 29, the international Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development issued a set of principles that called, in part, for ISPs and other intermediaries to monitor more online content. And in July, the Defense Department released its first plan for cyberspace, declaring the Internet a domain for war. The goal of the Obama administration's International Strategy for Cyberspace seems benign and even bland: to keep the Internet "open, interoperable, secure, and reliable." The document links policies ranging from cybersecurity to Internet freedom and identifies "norms of responsible behavior" for governments around the world. "The world must collectively recognize the challenges posed by malevolent actors' entry into cyberspace, and update and strengthen our national and international policies accordingly," the strategy document concludes. "The future of an open, interoperable, secure, and reliable cyberspace depends on nations recognizing and safeguarding that which should endure while confronting those who would destabilize or undermine our increasingly networked world." Even with the best of intentions, however, the United States and other democracies face a paradox: In their efforts to preserve an Internet that is both open and secure, governments often undermine access by overregulating. "States no longer fear pariah status by openly declaring their intent to regulate and control cyberspace," concluded the OpenNet Initiative's report. "The convenient rubric of terrorism, child pornography, and cybersecurity has contributed to a growing expectation that states should enforce order in cyberspace." FOREIGN POLICY BY OTHER MEANS Antigovernment protesters filled Cairo's Tahrir Square in mostly peaceful demonstrations for days last winter, and by Feb. 2, the area was a teeming mass of humanity. Then, on that particular Wednesday, things changed. Thousands of supporters of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stormed into the square, swinging clubs and whips. The clash created a bizarre spectacle as protesters organized through social media and cell phones faced thugs riding on camels and horses in a street brawl broadcast around the world on cable television and the Internet. Pundits cast the almost medieval images from Tahrir Square as proof of the power of social media against an authoritarian regimes. "There's no question that the ability of young activists in Egypt or Tunisia to organize themselves was dependent on not sitting in a coffee shop or hotel somewhere, but using the Internet and having access to each other online," said Michael Posner, assistant secretary of State for democracy, human rights, and labor, in an interview with /National Journal./ "So the potential is great, but precisely because it is great and it's so empowering, there's also greater risk." That fact is not lost on governments. The United States is spending millions of dollars to develop anticensorship apps, build shadow communications systems, and train activists overseas how to beat Big Brother. "Some are ... consciously seeking to repeal" the freedom that allowed the Internet to develop. ---Leslie Harris, Center for Democracy and Technology Not surprisingly, autocratic regimes have fought back with their own measures. The State Department's 2010 Human Rights Report cited the dramatic growth of communications technology as one of the most significant trends in human rights. But researchers also found that "more than 40 governments are now using a combination of regulatory restrictions, technical controls on access to the Internet, and technologies designed to repress speech and infringe on the personal privacy of those who use these rapidly evolving technologies." The growing threat of Internet censorship, ranging from China's sophisticated firewalls to outright attacks on activists tracked down through their online trails, is prompting calls for more-concerted freedom initiatives. "The open Internet as it exists today did not come about by accident," warned the Center for Democracy and Technology in a recent report. "Today's Internet is possible because of very specific choices made in technology, policy, and law that encourage innovation and preserve the openness of the platform." In many ways, the United States is active on both sides of the argument. On one hand, the Defense Department and the CIA are pouring billions of dollars into cyberwarfare and cyberespionage; the Homeland Security Department is beefing up cybertracking to head off potential terrorist attacks; and members of Congress are aiming to increase regulation of online privacy, intellectual property, and cybercrime. All of these efforts work to expand government's power. On the other hand, the State Department is actively helping dissident groups in countries such as Libya to evade their government's Internet barriers. Those efforts have the potential to expand democracy. "This is a new foreign-policy imperative," Christopher Painter, who became the State Department's first cyberpolicy coordinator, said in an interview with /National Journal./ "The decisions we make over the next year or two will define how the Internet looks for years." After years of approaching Internet issues as a cluster of separate technical problems, Painter said, governments and private-sector groups are recognizing that cybersecurity, privacy, copyright protections, and free speech are all connected. "All these topics are mutually dependent," Painter said. "You can't make policy without understanding that." JUST DON'T HELP TOO MUCH In December 2010, an officer with the sheriff's regional electronics and computer investigations in Hamilton County, Ind., contacted 52-year-old Michael Bohannon online. Bohannon shared 41 files of suspected child pornography with the officer, and investigators ultimately uncovered more than 13,000 images and 6,000 videos of child pornography on the Cincinnati man's home computer. Even more disturbing, police realized that Bohannon had been convicted five years earlier of possessing child pornography and had served 40 months in prison. It's a story repeated almost every day in crime blotters around the world, along with reports of international child-porn rings, and it's why the public supports law enforcement's authority to track suspected predators with whatever tools are available. Who wouldn't want to do everything possible to stop the sexual exploitation of children? That's exactly what Reps. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., argued at a House hearing in July. The pair was championing their Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act, which would require ISPs to collect and retain user data for at least a year. Opponents, including Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., warned that the bill could open a Pandora's box of government intrusion---from warrantless snooping on innocent people to mining all kinds of personal information. "This is not about child porn. It never has been and never will be," Issa said during committee debate. "This is a convenient way for law enforcement to get what they couldn't get in the Patriot Act." Not surprisingly, many big corporate players on the Web are uneasy about government intervention in cyberspace. Google's Chairman, Eric Schmidt, fretted at the "e-G-8" meeting in Paris this May that governments might be getting ahead of themselves. "Technology will move faster than governments, so don't legislate before you understand the consequences," Schmidt warned the audience of political and technology industry leaders. While few Internet users in Western countries face outright censorship, government officials are stepping up efforts to prevent cybercrime, protect privacy, and crack down on copyright infringement. Germany and Canada, among others countries, have also used hate-speech laws to go after Internet service providers that knowingly host illegal content. The Internet has great potential to empower democratic movements, "but ... there's also greater risk." ---Michael Posner As early as 2000, a French court ordered Yahoo to block French users from an online auction site offering Nazi memorabilia. This June, ISPs in Australia took matters into their own hands and restricted access to a list of 500 websites, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which advocates Internet freedom. "While some filtering at a private level can be a good thing, such as keeping kids from accessing undesirable content online, government-level filtering does more harm than good," said Jillian York, the foundation's director for international freedom of expression. "What happens when the filters go after politically sensitive content? Will anyone object then?" Over the past year, cyberspace experienced a surge in government interference, restrictions on the flow of information, and disputes over how Internet traffic is exchanged, noted Larry Strickling, assistant secretary of Commerce for communications and information, speaking at a Georgetown University Law Center event in July. "All of these events only strengthen my view that now is truly a time for all to get involved who are concerned about maintaining a vibrant and growing Internet and who want to preserve established global Internet institutions," he said. In the United States, power struggles over the Internet are under way on many fronts. Various proposals making their way through Congress would enact sweeping changes to laws governing cybersecurity, online privacy, and protection of intellectual property. Each fight, regardless of the specifics, has the potential to change the balance of control between the government, the communications industry, and private individuals. The Global Online Freedom Act, reintroduced in April after languishing since 2006, would require technology companies to receive permission from U.S. officials before complying with restrictive foreign governments. Critics of the legislation---notably, businesses that do business with such governments---charge that it is autocratic of the United States to try to control what other governments want them to do. Reps. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Joe Barton, R-Texas, have proposed a measure that would require websites and online services to abide by strict privacy rules for children under 12. Among other things, the bill would prohibit Web companies from tracking a child's online browsing. But some civil-liberties activists say the bill would actually reduce privacy because Internet companies would need to collect even personal information to determine if a user is a child. Government efforts to protect against hacking present some of the greatest challenges to Internet freedom, analysts say. Legislation proposed by the top members of the Senate Homeland Security Committee <http://topics.nationaljournal.com/Senate+Homeland+Security+Committee/> would give the federal government the authority to enforce cybersecurity and would push the private sector to establish "best practices" against hackers. When civil-rights groups complained that the measure would give the executive branch too much power in the event of a major cyberattack, the bill's sponsors added language that explicitly bars the president from using any kind of "kill switch" to shut down the Internet. Some policymakers, including former Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, have proposed measures to beef up security by making it easier to track and identify people online. But cyberlibertarians oppose any such steps. "A 'reengineered,' more secure Internet is likely a very different Internet than the open and innovative network we know today," warned George Mason University researchers Jerry Brito and Tate Watkins in a recent paper. "It might be an Internet on which information flows are much more easily controlled by government and in which anonymity is impossible, posing a threat to free speech. A capability to track and attribute malicious activities could just as easily be employed to track and control any other type of activity." BIG BUSINESS VERSUS BIG BROTHER Perhaps the most heavily lobbied open-Internet battle in the United States centers on network-neutrality regulations designed to reduce anticompetitive behavior over broadband networks. The rules, which the Federal Communications Commission approved in December, prohibit Internet service providers from blocking or slowing access to certain websites. For supporters, usually on the liberal side of the political fence, net-neutrality regulations are vital to ensuring that corporations don't restrict Internet access. Without restrictions, they say, ISPs could charge Yahoo for the opportunity to have its search site load faster than Google's, or could block start-ups from entering the market. Conservative critics decry the rules as tantamount to a government takeover of the Internet. Even before the regulations took effect, they were challenged in court, and the House voted to overturn them. The brawl highlights a vexing subtext of the online-freedom debate: Who is best suited to protect the free use of the Internet? The Net's traditional champions leaned libertarian, worrying primarily about government control. But giant corporations essentially dominate the Internet today, and many of them have access to vast amounts of personal data. Facebook alone boasts more than 750 million active users (if Facebook was a country, it would be the third-most populous in the world), and Google recently became the first website to attract 1 billion visits a month. Like Washington, the cyberindustry seems to straddle both sides of the argument over Internet freedom. "People tell me, 'On the one hand, it's great you played such a big role in the Arab Spring, but it's also kind of scary because you enable all this sharing and collect information on people,' " Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, told the e-G-8 assembly. "It's hard to have one without the other.... You can't isolate some things you like about the Internet and control other things that you don't." Many in the business community and in civil-society organizations are hoping that self-regulation will stave off government mandates. The Global Network Initiative, a coalition of human-rights groups and industry giants such as Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo, was established in 2008 to develop guidelines for operating within authoritarian countries. The idea, not always embraced during the heat of competition, is that Western companies shouldn't provide the tools for political repression. Meanwhile, though, the communications and tech sectors face mounting calls in democratic countries for government intervention to fight cyberattacks, data breaches, invasive marketing, child pornography, and hate speech. Art Brodsky of Public Knowledge, a nonprofit advocacy group for citizen rights in cyberspace, said that some degree of government control is inevitable. "As long as there are people sitting at the keyboards, governments will have a role to play," he said. "People still live in the real world, and in the real world, governments are still in charge." IS INTERNET ACCESS A HUMAN RIGHT? Rafal Rohozinski is riding the Internet freedom wave. As a top executive of Psiphon, a Web proxy service based in Canada that allows people around the world to circumvent Internet firewalls and avoid censorship, Rohozinski was among the first to receive some of the $15 million in grants from the State Department to support Internet freedom in 2008. Now, the company is one of several that contract with the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an independent government agency, to help international users access U.S. government news content. Since then, the department has handed out $35 million in similar grants for anticensorship technology, software, and activist training. But that's just the beginning. Inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings, Congress included an extra $20 million in its most recent continuing budget resolution for the State Department's Internet freedom programs, as well as $10 million for the Broadcasting Board of Governors' circumvention contractors. The parallel growth of government control and government spending to block censorship is no coincidence. "We are experiencing a tectonic shift," Rohozinski says. "As more and more people come online, it becomes more political. It used to be just for geeks. Now we're moving way beyond that." At the heart of that change, he says, is the growing number of young people online and the explosion of Internet use outside the United States. "The epicenter of cyberspace is shifting," he said. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton highlighted the growing stakes in a landmark speech on Internet freedom earlier this year. "The Internet has become the public space of the 21st century---the world's town square, classroom, marketplace, coffeehouse, and nightclub," she said. "We need to have a serious conversation about the principles that will guide us. What rules exist and should not exist, and why? What behaviors should be encouraged or discouraged, and how?" The problem, Clinton's senior adviser Alec Ross has said, is that no international norms govern access to the Internet. In June, United Nations special rapporteur Frank La Rue concluded that access is a human right and should be protected as such. "Given that the Internet has become an indispensable tool for realizing a range of human rights, combating inequality, and accelerating development and human progress," La Rue wrote in a report in May to the U.N.'s Human Rights Council, "ensuring universal access to the Internet should be a priority for all states." These declarations from the United States and the United Nations have heartened civil-rights advocates and the information-technology industry alike, in part because they concede that the technology itself doesn't guarantee immunity from repression. As Google's Eric Schmidt remarked at a Santa Barbara, Calif., conference in May, "If you're willing to shoot enough people and to kill enough people, you can beat the Internet."

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