October 2012 - KICTANet

Interesting case on Intermediary liabilities
by Paul Kimumwe 01 Nov '12

01 Nov '12

This might be of interest to the ongoing discussions on intermediary liabilities. Google loses Australia 'gangland' defamation lawsuit http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20153309 -Paul ________________________________ From: kictanet [kictanet-bounces+paul=article19.org(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke] on behalf of Michael Bullut [main(a)kipsang.com] Sent: 30 October 2012 20:55 To: Paul Kimumwe Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Who Controls the Internet? @ Kivuva & McTimm - I appreciate the correction... :-) Sent on the run, Please excuse errors & ommissions! On Oct 22, 2012 8:48 PM, "McTim" <dogwallah(a)gmail.com<mailto:dogwallah@gmail.com>> wrote: On Sun, Oct 21, 2012 at 11:39 AM, Michael Bullut <main(a)kipsang.com<mailto:main@kipsang.com>> wrote: @McTim: I beg to differ on your first point. Ten out of thirteen of the Internet's root servers reside within the United States. yes, and several of these orgs are US gov bodies (NASA and the U.S. Army). As Kivuva mentioned, Anycast let's root-ops run servers in multiple locations, including 2 at KIXP. If there's a global issue & some countries differ with it on it's stand / viewpoint, what would the U.S. from blocking traffic to those countries' websites? Well, first of all, the US gov CANNOT change the rootzone file. They can give final approval to changes as per the existing agreement. What they actually do is check to see that processes have been followed, they DO NOT edit the rootzone file itself, nor can they. Second, what is in the rootzone DOES NOT determine traffic flows to individual websites. The rootzone is a list of TLDs and associated name server addresses for those TLDs. In other words, the US CANNOT block traffic to/from websites, you have been misled I am afraid. -- Cheers, McTim "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route indicates how we get there." Jon Postel

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Consultancy services required to assess the Rwanda Internet Exchange point
by Alice Munyua 31 Oct '12

31 Oct '12

Dear listers, The attached call for consultancy services to assess Rwanda's IXP might be of interest. Best Alie

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Chevening Scholarships now open: Apply
by Alice Munyua 31 Oct '12

31 Oct '12

http://ukinkenya.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/working-with-kenya/chevening-page Chevening Scholarships are the UK government’s global scholarships programme. These scholarships support study at UK universities – mostly one-year Masters’ degrees – for students with demonstrable potential to become future leaders, decision-makers and opinion formers. Best Alice

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Who Controls the Internet?
by waudo siganga 30 Oct '12

30 Oct '12

Interesting article in Today's UK Guardian Newspaper. Ahead of a [1]Google+ Hangout on the [2]battle for the internet, Jemima Kiss looks at how tech giants are fighting for supremacy Have you ever noticed that wherever you are in the world, every telephone keypad looks the same? Or wondered why satellites don't crash into each other? Or why you dial 64 to reach New Zealand, but 65 for Singapore? These are some of the mundane but essential logistical achievements of the [3]International Telecommunication Union, a specialist UN agency that dates back to 1865. Yet as it gears up for its first global conference in 14 years, the ITU has found itself under unprecedented attack. The first assailant is the powerful US technology lobby. Companies, including Google, are claiming that new ITU proposals would mean [4]internet companies paying hefty fees to local telecoms companies, reigniting historic tensions between US internet giants and incumbent telecoms firms across the world. But that's not the only battle that will be played out this December when the ITU's 193 member states gather in Dubai. Russia and China have been explicit in their goal of taking control of the internet away from the US, while developing countries feel the western technology hegemony is limiting their economic opportunities. With the world's internet population predicted to reach 3.4 billion by 2016, there is everything to play for. [5]http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/oct/17/who-rules-internet References 1. https://plus.google.com/events/ccctkbj9ldslvsm392t6mae48ac 2. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/series/battle-for-the-internet 3. http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.itu.int%2Fen%2FPages%2Fdefault… 4. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/internet 5. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/oct/17/who-rules-internet

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Interesting work on Ghana
by Warigia Bowman 30 Oct '12

30 Oct '12

Dear Kictanet list, Please assist my friend Scott. He is doing some great work on the ICT Policy sector in Kenya. Warigia -- Dr. Warigia Bowman Assistant Professor Clinton School of Public Service University of Arkansas wbowman(a)clintonschool.uasys.edu http://democratizingegypt.blogspot.com ------------------------------------------------- View my research on my SSRN Author page: http://ssrn.com/author=1479660 --------------------------------------------------

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Royal Academy of Engineering - "Severe lack of engineering capacity hinders development in Sub Saharan Africa"
by Chip Sharp (chsharp) 30 Oct '12

30 Oct '12

The UK's Royal Academy of Engineering in collaboration with the Africa-UK Engineering for Development Partnership has issued a report entitled: "Engineers for Africa - Identifying engineering capacity needs in Sub-Saharan Africa" http://www.raeng.org.uk/news/releases/shownews.htm?NewsID=800 This might not be news to people on this list, but I thought it might be of interest. Chip

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Inaugural DEMO Africa 2012 sets a precedent in bringing startup and innovation ecosystem actors together
by Gideon 30 Oct '12

30 Oct '12

This is a good start , such innovations getting good attention will trigger more creativity. Gideon Rop DotConnectAfrica On Tue, Oct 30, 2012 at 12:00 PM, <kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke>wrote: > Send kictanet mailing list submissions to > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > You can reach the person managing the list at > kictanet-owner(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of kictanet digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Inaugural DEMO Africa 2012 sets a precedent in bringing > startup and innovation ecosystem actors together (Brian Munyao > Longwe) > 2. Baku IGF interest in remote participation? (Ory Okolloh) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2012 12:30:54 +0300 > From: Brian Munyao Longwe <blongwe(a)gmail.com> > To: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Subject: [kictanet] Inaugural DEMO Africa 2012 sets a precedent in > bringing startup and innovation ecosystem actors together > Message-ID: > < > CAHSdPfbLJ7owbY1f2XvptE4OzUK9tTUUadDzENSSFLgSnTRDxA(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252" > > 2012 DEMO Africa winners: mPawa, Flowgear, Qabila, Sasa Africa, Maliyo > Games inaugural DEMO Lions Dennis Mbuvi > October 27, 2012 0 Comments and 0 > Reactions< > http://www.cio.co.ke/news/main-stories/2012-demo-africa-winners-mpawa,-flow… > > > [image: DEMO Africa Lions] > The first ever DEMO Africa Lions with DEMO Africa organisers. The five > startups are headed to Silicon Valley.&nbsp;&nbsp; > > Five startups drawn from across Africa have made it to the inaugural group > of DEMO Africa Lions. This comes after two days of more than 42 pitches at > the event held at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC). DEMO > is an annual event now held in five continents where startups apply to > launch new products and solutions. The five startups will be heading to > Silicon Valley where they will receive mentorship and exposure to potential > investors. > > mPawa is based in Accra, Ghana and co-founded by Maxwell Kofi Efrem Donkor, > Anthony Agyekum-Mensah, Nancy Neizer and Shadrack Boadu. The startup seeks > to solve Africa?s jobless problem by focussing on the informal sector, > which is the biggest employer in Africa. mPawa lists informal jobs such as > carpenter?s on a portal where those who need such skills can find people to > carry out their tasks. Maxwell says mPawa has already matched 2,000 job > seekers in the previous 3 months, has raised $90,000 is looking to raise > $100,000. (http://mpawa.com/https://twitter.com/mpawa_africa ) > > Flowgear, from Gauteng, South Africa was among the few startups targeted > squarely at the Enterprise. Co-founded by Daniel Chilcott and JJ Milner, > the startup is looking to exploit a $2.79 billion opportunity (Gartner, > 2011) in the Cloud integration sector . Chilcott says the startup provides > cloud management tools for firms allowing them to interconnect the > different cloud solutions they have deployed, such Salesforce and > SharePoint. Flowgear provides a codeless dashboard which allows a fast > deployment. Drawings can also be imported from Visio and implemented in > Flowgear. The SnapLogic competitor says its has received $ 200,000 funding > to date. (http://flowgear.nethttps://twitter.com/flowgear ) > > Qabila is a multimedia content crowdsourcing platform based in Cairo, Egypt > and co-founded by Mahmoud Elshafie, Perihan AbouZeid, Mostafa Saeed, Amar > Abu Shady and Ahmad Fatehlab. Perihan says that Qabila came about as a > platform to provide better content than what was been shown on Egyptian TV. > The platform was founded almost around the Egyptian Arab spring and rose in > popularity with the spring with their content being featured in Al Jazeera. > Qabila currently has 20,000 contributors and current clients include the > World Bank, UNESCO and UNDP. The startup has funded itself to date and is > looking for an additional $250,000 in funding. > (http://qabila.tv https://twitter.com/QabilaTv ) > > Sasa Africa is an ecommerce platform connecting offline craftsperson to > online consumers. Through the use of a mobile phone, craftspeople upload > their products through SMS and MMS. Consumers then find the various crafts > on sasaafrica.com. After a product is bought and paid for, a crafts person > then receives a text message. They then have 48 hours to take the product > to a mobile money kiosk where they are also able to collect their payments. > The startup currently retails jewellery. > > Sasa Africa has so far been in testing and plans to launch in the coming > week. Based in Nairobi, Kenya and founded by Ella Peinovich, Catherine > Mahugu and Gwendolyn Floyd, the startup predicts to have 600 retailers by > end year and 3500 products. Sasa Africa has raised $125,000 through grants > and prizes and is looking at raising $500,000. SasaAfrica target is 84 > percent of women in Sub Saharan Africa which it says work in the informal > sector hoping to serve 100,000 artisans by 2015. (http://sasaafrica.com > http://twitter.com/SasaAfrica ) > > Maliyo Games was the only gaming entrant in DEMO Africa. Based in Lagos, > Nigeria, Oluseye Soyode-Johnson says that Africans are in need of locally > relevant multimedia content. This he says is evident from the multi-million > dollar film and song industry in Nigeria. He therefore believes that a > casual gaming platform providing African themed games on mobile and PC has > lots of potential. Amongst such games is the ?mosquito smasher? game where > players thump mosquitos across various levels, each with its own theme. A > social impact aspect in the game is a multi choice quiz on mosquitos and > malaria in between each level. Maliyo games says the casual gaming industry > is worth $20 billion. The startup is seeking $300,000 in funding. ( > http://www.maliyo.com/ https://twitter.com/maliyogames ) > > > > [image: logo] > *Brian Munyao Longwe* > | Mobile: 254715964281 > http://mashilingi.blogspot.com > <http://www.facebook.com/brianmunyao> > Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/brianmunyao> > <http://www.twitter.com/blongwe> Twitter <http://www.twitter.com/blongwe> > <http://ke.linkedin.com/pub/brian-munyao-longwe/0/32/254> > LinkedIn<http://ke.linkedin.com/pub/brian-munyao-longwe/0/32/254> > Contact me: [image: Skype] blongwe > Want a signature like mine? > < > http://r1.wisestamp.com/r/landing?promo=16&dest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wisestamp.… > > > Click > here.< > http://r1.wisestamp.com/r/landing?promo=16&dest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wisestamp.… > > >

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Baku IGF interest in remote participation?
by Ory Okolloh 29 Oct '12

29 Oct '12

Hi listers, Any interest in help set up a remote participation hub for the upcoming Baku IGF similar to the ones here<http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/remote-participation/list-of-remote-hubs-2012>? If so, ping me off list. Cheers, Ory

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Inaugural DEMO Africa 2012 sets a precedent in bringing startup and innovation ecosystem actors together
by Brian Munyao Longwe 29 Oct '12

29 Oct '12

2012 DEMO Africa winners: mPawa, Flowgear, Qabila, Sasa Africa, Maliyo Games inaugural DEMO Lions Dennis Mbuvi October 27, 2012 0 Comments and 0 Reactions<http://www.cio.co.ke/news/main-stories/2012-demo-africa-winners-mpawa,-flow…> [image: DEMO Africa Lions] The first ever DEMO Africa Lions with DEMO Africa organisers. The five startups are headed to Silicon Valley.&nbsp;&nbsp; Five startups drawn from across Africa have made it to the inaugural group of DEMO Africa Lions. This comes after two days of more than 42 pitches at the event held at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC). DEMO is an annual event now held in five continents where startups apply to launch new products and solutions. The five startups will be heading to Silicon Valley where they will receive mentorship and exposure to potential investors. mPawa is based in Accra, Ghana and co-founded by Maxwell Kofi Efrem Donkor, Anthony Agyekum-Mensah, Nancy Neizer and Shadrack Boadu. The startup seeks to solve Africa’s jobless problem by focussing on the informal sector, which is the biggest employer in Africa. mPawa lists informal jobs such as carpenter’s on a portal where those who need such skills can find people to carry out their tasks. Maxwell says mPawa has already matched 2,000 job seekers in the previous 3 months, has raised $90,000 is looking to raise $100,000. (http://mpawa.com/https://twitter.com/mpawa_africa ) Flowgear, from Gauteng, South Africa was among the few startups targeted squarely at the Enterprise. Co-founded by Daniel Chilcott and JJ Milner, the startup is looking to exploit a $2.79 billion opportunity (Gartner, 2011) in the Cloud integration sector . Chilcott says the startup provides cloud management tools for firms allowing them to interconnect the different cloud solutions they have deployed, such Salesforce and SharePoint. Flowgear provides a codeless dashboard which allows a fast deployment. Drawings can also be imported from Visio and implemented in Flowgear. The SnapLogic competitor says its has received $ 200,000 funding to date. (http://flowgear.nethttps://twitter.com/flowgear ) Qabila is a multimedia content crowdsourcing platform based in Cairo, Egypt and co-founded by Mahmoud Elshafie, Perihan AbouZeid, Mostafa Saeed, Amar Abu Shady and Ahmad Fatehlab. Perihan says that Qabila came about as a platform to provide better content than what was been shown on Egyptian TV. The platform was founded almost around the Egyptian Arab spring and rose in popularity with the spring with their content being featured in Al Jazeera. Qabila currently has 20,000 contributors and current clients include the World Bank, UNESCO and UNDP. The startup has funded itself to date and is looking for an additional $250,000 in funding. (http://qabila.tv https://twitter.com/QabilaTv ) Sasa Africa is an ecommerce platform connecting offline craftsperson to online consumers. Through the use of a mobile phone, craftspeople upload their products through SMS and MMS. Consumers then find the various crafts on sasaafrica.com. After a product is bought and paid for, a crafts person then receives a text message. They then have 48 hours to take the product to a mobile money kiosk where they are also able to collect their payments. The startup currently retails jewellery. Sasa Africa has so far been in testing and plans to launch in the coming week. Based in Nairobi, Kenya and founded by Ella Peinovich, Catherine Mahugu and Gwendolyn Floyd, the startup predicts to have 600 retailers by end year and 3500 products. Sasa Africa has raised $125,000 through grants and prizes and is looking at raising $500,000. SasaAfrica target is 84 percent of women in Sub Saharan Africa which it says work in the informal sector hoping to serve 100,000 artisans by 2015. (http://sasaafrica.com http://twitter.com/SasaAfrica ) Maliyo Games was the only gaming entrant in DEMO Africa. Based in Lagos, Nigeria, Oluseye Soyode-Johnson says that Africans are in need of locally relevant multimedia content. This he says is evident from the multi-million dollar film and song industry in Nigeria. He therefore believes that a casual gaming platform providing African themed games on mobile and PC has lots of potential. Amongst such games is the “mosquito smasher” game where players thump mosquitos across various levels, each with its own theme. A social impact aspect in the game is a multi choice quiz on mosquitos and malaria in between each level. Maliyo games says the casual gaming industry is worth $20 billion. The startup is seeking $300,000 in funding. ( http://www.maliyo.com/ https://twitter.com/maliyogames ) [image: logo] *Brian Munyao Longwe* | Mobile: 254715964281 http://mashilingi.blogspot.com <http://www.facebook.com/brianmunyao> Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/brianmunyao> <http://www.twitter.com/blongwe> Twitter <http://www.twitter.com/blongwe> <http://ke.linkedin.com/pub/brian-munyao-longwe/0/32/254> LinkedIn<http://ke.linkedin.com/pub/brian-munyao-longwe/0/32/254> Contact me: [image: Skype] blongwe Want a signature like mine? <http://r1.wisestamp.com/r/landing?promo=16&dest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wisestamp.…> Click here.<http://r1.wisestamp.com/r/landing?promo=16&dest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wisestamp.…>

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Holding Companies and Their Directors to Account: An Open Data Solution
by Muchiri Nyaggah 29 Oct '12

29 Oct '12

Hi Listers. Some on this list may find this to be of interest. You can register for the event here http://opencorporates.eventbrite.com/ It is organized by the Nairobi Chapter of HacksHackers. * Holding Companies and Their Directors to Account: An Open Data Solution * * Date: Tuesday, 30th October 2012 Venue: 88mph Time: 1800hrs - 2000hrs Highly interconnected global companies have exploded in complexity and power, and increasingly affect our lives for good and bad. Yet in tandem with this growth, corporate governance has weakened. The opacity and complexity of this corporate world is a key enabler of corruption, tax avoidance and organised crime. Until now painstaking manual investigation has been required to track even the most basic facts about a company, such as whether it exists, and who owns it. Chris Taggart of OpenCorporates.com <http://opencorporates.com/>believes it’s time to change that. Chris is building an open access database with basic information on every corporate entity in the world which can then be remixed and combined with other data, such as government contracts. Chris Taggart will offer a hands-on session on some ways to use powerful data-driven tools and open access databases to mine company information from across the world. Chris will show how highly interconnected global companies have exploded in complexity and power, while corporate governance has weakened. The opacity and complexity of this corporate world is a key enabler of corruption, tax avoidance and organised crime. Chris will demonstrate how you can use even basic company information to remix and combine your data with other information, such as government contracts or regulatory filings, to gain new insights. We invite all those with an interest in issues of corruption and transparency to a hands-on practical session to learn about Chris’s techniques and how you can put them to work for you. PART 1: Why Open Up Corporate Data? Corporate transparency challenges globally and in Africa (Chris Taggart) PART 2: How to Open Up Corporate Data Demo - What you can do with OpenCorporates database (Chris Taggart) Q&A/Hands-on advice Interested? Please register online for the event ( http://opencorporates.eventbrite.com/) ** * -- Kind regards, Muchiri Nyaggah | PRINCIPAL PARTNER @muchiri Cell: +254 722 506400 Skype: mrmuchiri

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