March 2012 - KICTANet

Fwd: [soac-newgtldapsup-wg] FW: Applicant Support Program - Outreach Support Request
by Alice Munyua 02 Mar '12

02 Mar '12

This might be of interest to those keen on this round of new gTLDs. ICANN has put in place mechanisms to assist needy applicants. Best Alice -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [soac-newgtldapsup-wg] FW: Applicant Support Program - Outreach Support Request Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2012 03:02:24 -0800 From: Glen de Saint Géry <Glen(a)icann.org> To: SOAC-newgtldapsup-wg(a)icann.org <SOAC-newgtldapsup-wg(a)icann.org> Dear All, On behalf of Dennis Chang the program manager for the New gTLD Applicant Support Program (ASP)please share these attached materials about the Applicant Support Program Outreach efforts with your communities. The goals are: 1.Let the world know that the possibility of financial assistance is available for qualifyingnew gtld applicants. /See//fact sheet //about//the program attached/; 2.Recruit volunteersforthe Support Application Review Panel (SARP). See SARP Expressions of InterestRequest attached. I am also attaching the Applicant Support Overview presentation,which may be helpful. All of theseattached documents can be found on the ICANN Website for your future reference. See: http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/candidate-support Thank you in advance for your assistance in our outreach efforts. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you need any clarification on theASP program. Kind regards, Dennis Chang New gTLD Applicant Support Program Manager dennis.chang(a)icann.org <mailto:dennis.chang@icann.org> 213-293-7889 Skype: dennisschang

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Of Vision 2030, the role of the media and hungry well-dressed Kenyans
by Francis Hook 02 Mar '12

02 Mar '12

I was a bit disappointed to read this article http://www.the-star.co.ke/opinions/leader/64484-ban-on-mitumba-is-very-bad-… And especially this part: "If mitumba were banned, Kenyans would have to pay more for clothes that were not as good. A ban would reduce Kenyan living standards. Government should not try to prop up the textile sector by a ban on secondhand clothes. The sector is not competitive globally. It is like PanPaper at Webuye - however much government spends, it cannot recover, it is a corpse." "Clothes that were (sic) not as good"... "Pan Paper ....cannot recover" "A ban would reduce Kenyan living standards" ....hmmm....quite unexpected from what I thought would be one of Kenya's more impartial papers. I recall some discussions here a few weeks ago (triggered by that "Interesting Piece") and such type of "logic' was brutally called into question. So basically the government should give up - don't do CPR to Pan Paper. Allow Kenya to become a second hand economy - clothes, cars, tyres, refurbished computers, etc... - Francis Hook +254 733 504561

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Re: [kictanet] [AfrICANN-discuss] Verisign seizes .com domain registered via foreign Registrar on behalf of US Authorities.
by Brian Munyao Longwe 01 Mar '12

01 Mar '12

This is very troubling. And an unwelcome precedent... On Thu, Mar 1, 2012 at 9:57 PM, Anne-Rachel Inné <annerachel(a)gmail.com>wrote: > Verisign seizes .com domain registered via foreign Registrar on behalf of > US Authorities. > > http://blog2.easydns.org/2012/02/29/verisign-seizes-com-domain-registered-v… > > Written by Mark Jeftovic <http://blog2.easydns.org/author/markjr/> on February > 29, 2012 — 29 Comments<http://blog2.easydns.org/2012/02/29/verisign-seizes-com-domain-registered-v…> > Share > > > Yesterday Forbes broke the news that Canadian Calvin Ayre and partners > who operate the Bodog online gambling empire have been indicted in the U.S.<http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2012/02/28/feds-indict-former-onlin…>, > and in a blog post Calvin Ayre confirmed that their bodog.com domain had > been seized by homeland security<http://calvinayre.com/2012/02/28/legal/calvin-ayre-indicted-by-feds-calvin-…>. > As reported in Forbes (hat tip to The Domains<http://www.thedomains.com/2012/02/28/feds-not-only-seize-the-domain-name-bo…>for the cite), > > According to the six-page indictment filed by Rosenstein, Ayre worked with > Philip, Ferguson and Maloney to supervise an illegal gambling business from > June 2005 to January 2012 in violation of Maryland law. The indictment > focuses on the movement of funds from accounts outside the U.S., in > Switzerland, England, Malta, and Canada, and the hiring of media resellers > and advertisers to promote Internet gambling. > > “Sports betting is illegal in Maryland, and federal law prohibits > bookmakers from flouting that law simply because they are located outside > the country,” Rosenstein said in a statement. “Many of the harms that > underlie gambling prohibitions are exacerbated when the enterprises operate > over the Internet without regulation.” > > That is a truly scary quote but we'll emphasize that: "The indictment > focuses on the movement of funds *outside the U.S.*" and that you can't > just "flout US law" by *not being in the US*. What also needs to be > understood is that the domain bodog.com was registered to via a non-US > Registrar, namely Vancouver's domainclip <http://www.domainclip.com/>. > So Here's Where It Get's Scary… > > [image: No Bodog.com for you!]<http://blog.easydns.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Screen-Shot-2012-02-28-a…>We > all know that with some US-based Registrars (*cough* Godaddy *cough*), all > it takes is a badge out of a box of crackerjacks and you have the authority > to fax in a takedown request which has a good shot at being honoured<http://blog.easydns.org/2012/02/17/the-price-of-freedom-and-the-cost-of-a-d…>. > We also know that some non-US registrars, it takes a lot more "due > process-iness" to get a domain taken down.<http://blog.easydns.org/2012/02/21/the-official-easydns-domain-takedown-pol…> > > But now, none of that matters, because in this case the State of Maryland > simply issued a warrant to .com operator Verisign<http://cdn3.bit2host.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/BodogWebsiteSeizureWarr…>, > (who is headquartered in California) who then duly updated the rootzone for > .com with two new NS records for bodog.com which now redirect the domain > to the takedown page. > > This is exactly the scenario we were worried about when Verisign > originally tabled their very troubling takedown proposal<http://blog.easydns.org/2011/10/11/verisign-domain-takedown-proposal-very-w…>. > Said proposal was quickly retracted, but here we have the same situation > playing out anyway. Granted, this was an actual court order, to Verisign – > not a "request" from a governmental or "quasi-governmental" agency as > originally proposed. > > But at the end of the day what has happened is that US law (in fact, > Maryland state law) as been imposed on a .com domain operating outside the > USA, which is the subtext we were very worried about when we commented on > SOPA<http://blog.easydns.org/2011/12/22/how-sopa-will-destroy-the-internet/>. > Even though SOPA is currently in limbo, the reality that US law can now be > asserted over all domains registered under .com, .net, org, .biz and maybe > .info (Afilias is headquartered in Ireland by operates out of the US). > > This is no longer a doom-and-gloom theory by some guy in a tin foil hat. > It just happened. > > The ramifications of this are no less than chilling and every single > organization branded or operating under .com, .net, .org, .biz etc needs to > ask themselves about their vulnerability to the whims of US federal and > state lawmakers (not exactly known their cluefulness nor even-handedness, > especially with regard to matters of the internet). > The larger picture: root monopolies and the need to replace ICANN > > The .com root will never be opened to a truly competitive bidding process. > Verisign has pretty well ensconced themselves into the .com and .net roots > indefinitely with built-in price hikes baked into the cake<http://blog.easydns.org/2007/04/16/verisign-raises-fees-on-com-and-net-easy…>. > I recall a conversation I once had with Tucows CEO Elliot Noss, back when > they still owned Liberty RMS (which ran the .info registry and later sold > to Afilias) – he lamented that if the .com registry bidding process were * > truly* competitive, you would see a registry operator in there doing it > for about $2 per domain. At the time the wholesale cost of a .com domain > was $6 and is now $7.85 after their latest *annual increase* which is > hard-coded into their contract. > > I mention this because a truly competitive bidding process for the > registry operator job would bring out both cost competition and stewardship > competition: players who would table proposals on just how they would > respect the rights of all their stakeholders, not to mention operators who > may operate outside the United States. > > *Where the fsck is ICANN in all of this?* > > **They are nowhere. They are collecting their fees, pushing their agenda > of as many possible new-top-level domains and despite the fact that SOPA, > ACTA, PIPA et aim directly at the interests of their core stakeholders, for > whom they are supposed to be advocates and stewards. ICANN is conspicuous > in their absence from the debate, save for a smug and trite abdication of > involvement (i.e. "ICANN Doesn't Take Down Websites<http://blog.icann.org/2010/12/icann-doesn%E2%80%99t-take-down-websites/>") > – translation: "This isn't our problem". > > And therein lies the issue. *ICANN needs to make this their problem, > because it very much is.* If ICANN isn't going to stand up, and > vigorously campaign for *global* stakeholder representation in these > matters, than they are not only abdicating any responsibility in the > ongoing and escalating crackdown on internet freedom, they are *also*abdicating their right to govern and oversee it. > > They need to be visible, they need to be loud and they need to come down > on the right side of these issues or they need to be replaced. > > *Of course, the replacement of ICANN will never happen.* At least not by > a non-US entity, which means we are once again headed to the unthinkable > place that only crackpots and conspiracy theorists think possible: a > fractured internet with competing roots. On the bright side, life will go > on, and companies like mine will probably become exceedingly wealthy > charging every internet user in the world fees to gain and project > visibility across all the myriad internet roots that will someday exist > because governments will refuse to approach it co-operatively. The only > thing that will remain to be seen is whether we'll be deemed "criminals" > for doing so. > Further Reading: > > - First They Came For The Filesharing Domains<http://blog.easydns.org/2010/11/27/first-they-came-for-the-file-sharing-dom…> > - Verisign Takedown Proposal Very Worrisome<http://blog.easydns.org/2011/10/11/verisign-domain-takedown-proposal-very-w…> > - How SOPA Will Destroy The Internet<http://blog.easydns.org/2011/12/22/how-sopa-will-destroy-the-internet/> > - The Price of Freedom and The Cost of a Domain Name<http://blog.easydns.org/2012/02/17/the-price-of-freedom-and-the-cost-of-a-d…> > - The Official easyDNS Takedown Policy<http://blog.easydns.org/2012/02/21/the-official-easydns-domain-takedown-pol…> > > > _______________________________________________ > AfrICANN mailing list > AfrICANN(a)afrinic.net > https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann > > -- Brian Munyao Longwe e-mail: blongwe(a)gmail.com cell: +254715964281 blog : http://zinjlog.blogspot.com meta-blog: http://mashilingi.blogspot.com "Give us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for, because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything."

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Kenya Power Plans Sh20 Billion Cable Shift
by Dennis Kioko 01 Mar '12

01 Mar '12

Kenya Power expects to save Sh3billion a year by relocating its overhead power distribution cables to an underground system in the major urban areas of Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa in a Sh20billion project. The project will involve undergrounding of 645Kilometres of 11Kilovolt lines and 1,570Km of low power voltage lines. Vandalism prone transformers will now be placed in pad-mounted substations along roads reserves. MD Joseph Njoroge said the project will pilot in Nairobi's Upper Hill Area before moving to Industrial Area and then to Mombasa. Njoroge said the utility company is considering a proposal by the Chinese National Machinery Equipment Import and Export Corporation to carry out the project on an engineering, procurement and construct basis. "It's not yet finalized but we are working on a proposal to undertake the work in Upper Hill as a pilot," the MD who spoke at a stakeholders meeting in Nairobi said. Once complete, the project is expected to stabilize power supply and cur Kenya Power's operational costs. "It will have huge savings we have actually done what we would call a feasibility and the ROI is in the region of 18 per cent so we should be able to recoup back out investment in six years," Njoroge said. "We are talking of a saving of about Sh3billion every year." Nairobi will have 375Km of 11Kv cabling and 930Km of low voltage cabling with 740 pad-mounted substations. Mombasa will see 200Km of 11Kv and 400Km of low voltage cabling and establish of 330 pad-mounted stations. "As an example, we commissioned a new 2.5Km State House Road underground feeder from Cathedral Road last May," Njoroge said. "The Norfolk Hotel feeder from Parklands will be undergrounded by May this year." Kenya Power had invited various authorities such as the Ministry of Energy, the Kenya Urban Roads Authority, the Kenya Rural Roads Authority, Nairobi City Council, Nairobi Water and Sewerage Board and telecommunications companies. The utility is seeking a joint project development approach since different entities are also involved in laying underground infrastructure resulting in frequent service interruptions when cables are cut or water pipes punctured. Representatives from the KURA and KRRA asked Kenya Power to share its design plans so that they can compare them with their road designs to avoid conflict. Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201203011290.html -- with Regards: blog.denniskioko.com <http://www.denniskioko.com/>

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Fwd: [ISOC] ISOC Fellowship to the IETF (IETF 84 and 85)
by Alice Munyua 01 Mar '12

01 Mar '12

This might be of interest Best Alice -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [ISOC] ISOC Fellowship to the IETF (IETF 84 and 85) Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:16:30 -0800 From: Steve Conte <conte(a)isoc.org> To: isoc-members-announce(a)elists.isoc.org (apologies for splattercasting) Dear Colleagues, The Internet Society has announced that it is inviting applications for its latest Internet Society Fellowships to the IETF. The Fellowship programme allows engineers from emerging and developing economies to attend an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) meeting. As you know, the IETF is the Internet's premier standards-making body, responsible for the development of protocols used in IP-based networks. IETF participants represent an international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers involved in the technical operation of the Internet and the continuing evolution of Internet architecture. Fellowships will be awarded through a competitive application process. The Internet Society is currently accepting fellowship applications for the next two IETF meetings: * IETF 84, July 29 - August 3, 2012, Vancouver, BC, Canada * IETF 85, November 4-9, 2012, Atlanta, GA, USA http://www.internetsociety.org/what-we-do/education-and-leadership-programm… Fellowship applications for both IETF meetings are due by 23 March 2012. I encourage you to pass on information about this program to individuals involved in your network that have a keen interest in the Internet standardisation activities of the IETF. The Internet Society Fellowships to the IETF are sponsored by Afilias, Google, Microsoft, and Intel. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact Steve Conte<conte(a)isoc.org>. Kind Regards, Steve Conte ----- Steve Conte Internet Leadership Programmes The Internet Society conte(a)isoc.org _______________________________________________ To manage your ISOC subscriptions or unsubscribe, please log into the ISOC Member Portal: https://portal.isoc.org/ Then choose Interests& Subscriptions from the My Account menu.

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Fwd: Open Innovation Africa Summit²
by Alice Munyua 01 Mar '12

01 Mar '12

This may be of interest Best Alice Nokia, /info/Dev and Capgemini are pleased to announce the Open Innovation Africa Summit2 for +200 key influencers and change agents around the continent. *Time:* May 29th - 31st, 2012. *Location:* Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya. You can look forward to an engaging and highly participative program under this year’s overall theme ‘Leadership for Innovation’ with four deep-dive streams. More information will be sent to you in the next coming weeks; until then, please save the date, May 29th - 31st, 2012, in your calendar! Looking forward to meeting you in Kenya! *Jussi Hinkkanen* VP Corporate Relations & Responsibility Nokia Middle East and Africa *Valerie D’Costa* Program Manager /info/Dev ‑ The World Bank Group “The OIAS is organized in association with the /Creating Sustainable Businesses in the Knowledge Economy / program, which is a partnership between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, /info/Dev and Nokia”

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Re: [kictanet] [KICTAnet] TEAMS | EASSY Fiber Cables Cut? SEACOM | LION?
by lordmwesh 01 Mar '12

01 Mar '12

Kenya has been a country with entrenched vested interests. We have companies that generate independent power through diesel generators and sell it to the national grid at a handsome profit. People who own these companies are well known through the Kenyan political pecking order. If its their time to eat, how dare you tell Kengen/GDC to increase renewable energy power generation, while this crocodiles benefit from our inadequacy to produce enough? Its actually more expensive buying KPLC power when they insert those diesel costs than generating your own electricity using power generators. By the way, between 2008 and 2011, power bills increased by more than 100%. How does the country BENEFIT from the power deficit? Do the maths. “At a GDP size of $29.5 billion in 1999, the estimated loss during the [drought of 1999 to 2002] was $442 million, which if it had been invested in the renewable energy would have built almost three times the installed emergency power capacity,” Where is the salvation? On 1 March 2012 09:52, Emmanuel Khisa <oloo.khisa(a)googlemail.com> wrote: > What I have never understood is this craziness I call the "Smallness > Mentality". If we have potential for 7,000 Mw in geothermal energy, why > would KenGen be talking of doing 540 Mw between now and 2018...Really??? So > what happens between now and then? GDC whose sole job year in year out is > to produce geothermal power are talking of adding 230Mw (Again only) > between now and end of 2014. Are we serious? And let's not even talk of > cost hear...because that is what marshall plans are for...We should be > doing at the very least 500Mw annually if we are to keep with growth...Mugo > Kibati, Sir, does Vision 2030 find this tenable...and we have all these > investors coming to town? > > Before we go Nuclear, can we sort out the low hanging fruits....! > > > > > On Thu, Mar 1, 2012 at 8:59 AM, lordmwesh <lordmwesh(a)gmail.com> wrote: > >> Robert, Chinese cement is cheaper locally, than locally manufactured >> cement. >> Absurd but true. >> >> We cannot run away from the fact that we need cheaper electric energy, >> and not every business enterprise want to run its own business, and also >> produce its own electricity. >> >> The only salvation is to go the South African way in power policy. >> >> -- >> ______________________ >> Mwendwa Kivuva >> For >> Business Development >> Transworld Computer Channels >> Cel: 0722402248 >> twitter.com/lordmwesh >> transworldAfrica.com | Fluent in computing >> kenya.or.ke | The Kenya we know >> > -- ______________________ Mwendwa Kivuva For Business Development Transworld Computer Channels Cel: 0722402248 twitter.com/lordmwesh transworldAfrica.com | Fluent in computing kenya.or.ke | The Kenya we know

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