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Ethiopia and Tunisia reaping the fruit of a rejuvenated copper plant
by Brian Munyao Longwe 10 Apr '13

10 Apr '13

Ethiopia and Tunisia deliver high speed data over wireline while here in Kenya we have allowed France Telecom who have management of Telkom Kenya to basically neglect and "throw away" our copper plant - and yet it could be the basis for providing affordable high speed access to hundreds of thousands. The new government *must* review this counterproductive "strategic investment" from France. Preferably show them the door and let us rebuild our national carrier. Full story here http://ictafrica.info/ FullNews.php?id=8231<http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fictafrica.info%2FFullNews.php%…> Best regards, Brian

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County Executive Committes
by robert yawe 10 Apr '13

10 Apr '13

Hi, As we inaugurate our new president let us not drop the ball on keeping ICT relevant especially since all class one pupils joining next year will be walking in with a laptop in hand. Over the past few days I have taken a keen interest in the county executive committee recruitment exercises going on and to date only Uasin Gishu County has placed ICT as its number one issue as indicated by the listing of positions. In many others ICT is number 10 which means that for those counties that qualify for only 9 members ICT is dropped. 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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Catalog of the mass surveillance industry
by Gideon 09 Apr '13

09 Apr '13

You Only Click Twice: FinFisher’s Global Proliferation *March 13, 2013* Download PDF version<https://citizenlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/15-2013-youonlyclicktwice…> *Authors:* Morgan Marquis-Boire, Bill Marczak, Claudio Guarnieri, and John Scott-Railton. *This post describes the results of a comprehensive global Internet scan for the command and control servers of FinFisher’s surveillance software. It also details the discovery of a campaign using FinFisher in Ethiopia used to target individuals linked to an opposition group. Additionally, it provides examination of a FinSpy Mobile sample found in the wild, which appears to have been used in Vietnam.* Summary of Key Findings - We have found command and control servers for FinSpy backdoors, part of Gamma International’s FinFisher “remote monitoring solution,” in a total of 25 countries: Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Latvia, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, Qatar, Serbia, Singapore, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam. - A FinSpy campaign in Ethiopia uses pictures of Ginbot 7, an Ethiopian opposition group, as bait to infect users. This continues the theme of FinSpy deployments with strong indications of politically-motivated targeting. - There is strong evidence of a Vietnamese FinSpy Mobile Campaign. We found an Android FinSpy Mobile sample in the wild with a command & control server in Vietnam that also exfiltrates text messages to a local phone number. - These findings call into question claims by Gamma International that previously reported servers were *not* part of their product line, and that previously discovered copies of their software were either stolen or demo copies. https://citizenlab.org/2013/03/you-only-click-twice-finfishers-global-proli… http://surveillance.rsf.org/en/gamma-international/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FinFisher https://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00002114.html http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/finfisher.pdf (in arabic)

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US Airforce Increases cyber workforce to 7, 200 by adding 1, 200
by Brian Munyao Longwe 09 Apr '13

09 Apr '13

...and this is the cyber workforce in the *air force*, other millitary units have their own detachments, and so do specialized agencies including the Department of Justice, State and Federal Police, Immigration etc... In Kenya we have? Mmm, I think I can probably count on one hand :) The article where I got this makes an interesting read, the scary part is that the US has 6 cyber-tools that have now been classified as weapons. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57578567-83/u.s-air-force-designates-six-c… Best regards, Brian

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AFRINIC 101 Issue 1 - Policy Development Process
by Babusha Radhakissoon 09 Apr '13

09 Apr '13

Dear Colleagues, Please find below the first issue of AFRINIC 101, the first of a series of summaries of various AFRINIC services and operations. The 101 series will act as a guide, to enable all members of the community to understand our activities. The first edition has been published in view of the coming Public Policy Meeting, AFRINIC-18, to be held on 15 - 21 June 2013, in Lusaka, Zambia. Enjoy the read. Regards, Babusha Radhakissoon *If you cannot view this email properly please click here* <http://afrinic.net/multimedia/email/social_101/Social_101.html> Ever wondered what the Policy Development Process is all about? I remember when I first joined AFRINIC, the main thing I retained after my first week, was that AFRINIC’s main activity was the management and distribution of IP addresses and this was facilitated by policies, defined and adopted by the community, for the community. At the time that seemed like an over rehearsed, generic line that was thrown around and I too memorised the text. But, with time and interactions with the community, I learnt that as an integral part of the AFRINIC team, we all need to know about our core activity and be able to talk about it with anyone. Enter AFRINIC 101! This series of mini articles on AFRINIC processes will help guide each and every one of you through many of our operations, which you might not be fully conversant with. Since our main mandate is the management and distribution of Internet resources, what better way to start the series than by the Policy Development Process (PDP)? *A**FRINIC 101 on Policy Development Process (PDP)* * * This document will walk you through the steps via which proposals for number resource management policies are submitted, considered, debated and adopted by AFRINIC. Important to know, policies are developed by a member or the broader Internet community through a bottom-up process of consultation and consensus. You may want to implement a new policy or change and existing one; to do so the PDP must be respected. You can refer to the PDP blueprint here <http://www.afrinic.net/en/community/policy-development> for the detailed process. The forums for policy development are our bi-annual AFRINIC Public Policy meetings and discussions on the rpd(a)afrinic.net mailing list. Our meetings are open to all and anyone may participate in discussions and decision making. The PDP is a well elaborated sinequanone of steps leading to the implementation or rejection of any policy. *So what are Policy Proposals?** * Policy proposals are basically any new, innovative idea that would ultimately simplify or enhance Internet Number Resource management. They are officially submitted for discussion by members of the community. They propose either a new policy or changes to an existing policy. Upon adoption, these policies will apply directly to the way AFRINIC manages and distributes Internet number resources to all AFRINIC current and prospective members. *And why do we need them?* Policies are implemented to guide AFRINIC towards managing Internet Number Resources for the community in a transparent, fair and neutral way for the proper usage of these resources. Policies serve this purpose as all issued Internet number resource allocations and assignments must match and comply with their content. *So, what we must remember is that the PDP is above all:* **- Open - Transparent - Bottom-up *6. You still with me? Here are some proposals currently under discussion ** * With this proposal, SM’s idea is to attempt to update the existing IPv4 Address Allocation Policy (AFPUB-2005-v4-001) <http://www.afrinic.net/en/library/policies/126-afpub-2005-v4-001> by introducing and incorporating changes that will enhance IPv4 address allocations based on the experience acquired since 2006 when AFRINIC started registry operations. a. IPv4 Address Allocation and Assignment AFPUB-2013-V4-002-DRAFT-01 Author: S. Moonesamy, sm+afrinic(a)elandsys.com In a nutshell, this proposal aims at improving IPv4 allocations by putting into practice all the know-how accumulated. “There have been complaints on the rpd mailing lists about the time it takes to process an IPv4 allocation or the amount of information that needs to be provided. So the aim of this proposal would be to address such issues”, says S. Moonesamy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Andrew and Sunday bring us a proposal defining a process that will guide AFRINIC while evaluating IPv4 address requests from higher education institutions (HEIs). Their proposal wants to define concurrency usage limits that will count towards calculating the maximum prefix size to be issued to the HEI. The main motivation is getting rid of NAT and consequently renumbering out of any NAT’ted networks at the HEI. Oh and Ernest has it at his fingertips if you are lost. b. Academic IPv4 Allocation AFPUB-2013-GEN-001-DRAFT-01 Authors: Andrew Alston, aa(a)alstonnetworks.net Sunday Folayan, sfolayan(a)skannet.com.ng ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This proposal sets the procedures for transferring IPv4 address space from AFRINIC to out-of-region organisations (and vice versa). According to Chad Abizeid, after the proposal is ratified, African companies will be able to participate in an IPv4 address transfer market already available to ARIN and APNIC LIRs by allowing them to transfer their excess or unneeded IPv4 addresses to companies in other RIR regions. This type of policy actually exists at ARIN <https://www.arin.net/resources/request/transfers_8_4.html> and APNIC <http://www.apnic.net/policy/transfer-policy#rir-transfer>. c. Inter RIR IPv4 address Transfers AFPUB-2013-V4-001-DRAFT-01 Author: Chad Abizeid, chad(a)logicweb.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Our very own Jean Robert likes things tidy, and his proposal calls for AFRINIC to maintain accuracy of WHOIS data through periodical and routine clean-up of the WHOIS database. The data needing to be “cleaned-up” mainly concerns contact information that is no longer accurate or up-to-date. d. AFRINIC WHOIS Database Clean-up AFPUB-2012-GEN-001-DRAFT-02 Author: Jean Robert Hountomey, jrhountomey(a)gmail.com With the advent of cybercrime and related misdemeanours, Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) constantly want to identify the origin (and location) of cybercriminals, and their first stop (after identify an abusive IP address) is the WHOIS database so as to know which company was issued that IP address. When the information therein is not accurate and credible, LEAs will not find it easy to look up these offenders. Apart from combating cybercrime, many businesses and services depend on the WHOIS database for services targeted for different countries, like iTunes. This is called IP address geo-location, and it depends heavily on accuracy of WHOIS data. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In a nutshell, the team of authors, McTim, Mark and Mauritz are requesting that any organisation may obtain a /24 IPv4 prefix for anycast or GRX (exchange points for Internet and mobile networks respectively), from AFRINIC or from the organisation they get their IP addresses from. In case of the latter, and upon adoption of the proposal, such a /24 is considered by AFRINIC as "fully utilised" when auditing the LIR’s utilisation of previous allocations. e. Anycast Assignments in the AFRINIC region. AFPUB-2012-V4-001-DRAFT-01 Authors: Tim McGinnis, dogwallah(a)gmail.com Mark J Elkins, mje(a)posix.co.za Mauritz Lewies, mauritz(a)three6five.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This proposal, brought to you by McTim is very straightforward. Basically, he is suggesting that we should limit LIRs from obtaining reverse delegation (rDNS) unless the LIR has properly registered all assignments and sub-allocations from its allocations for its customers, end-sites and own network infrastructure. e. AFPUB-2012-DNS-001-DRAFT-02 AFPUB-2012-V4-001-DRAFT-01 Author: Tim McGinnis (McTim), mctimconsulting(a)gmail.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Before I pen off, I would strongly recommend that all of you go through the full policy proposals on the policy page <http://www.afrinic.net/en/community/policy-development> of our website. As ambassadors of AFRINIC, we ought to know what we are working on to better represent ourselves in the community. Stay tuned for more... -- Ms. Babusha Radhakissoon Tel: +230 403 51 00 Social Media/Online Engagement Officer Fax: +230 466 67 58 babusha(a)afrinic.net - www.afrinic.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join us at the Africa Internet Summit'13 for our Public Policy Meeting in Lusaka, Zambia on 9 – 21 June 2013 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Fastest way to get to Silicon Savannah
by Mark Mwangi 07 Apr '13

07 Apr '13

Dear Listers, The notion that grand ideas need grand schemes and subsequently grand mega projects may be what confuses us and the resultant complications grind the idea to a stop. We are all shouting ourselves hoarse about how digital the new establishment is and the associated mega projects such as Konza that have been both shot at and polished in equal stride. I think the solution to achieving first world tech hub status is very basic indeed and can be done now without the need of building a gleaming new city. I remember meeting Chrystal Watley Kigoni when she was embarking on putting an internet connected computer in remote villages. I remember her being asked why she would take inernet to people who weren't even literate and what she hoped to achieve with it. Her answer was that not having the connection was not helping them either. Prof. Mitra has demonstrated what access to resources with no training can enable children to teach themselves. http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html In light of this maybe the fastest way to attain our tech-literate goals is to get everyone an internet connection and see what happens. In my opinion the easiest way to do this is to get KPLC to do it. Make it a requirement to drop dark or live fiber to each and every premises that they supply power to. If the power distribution gets devolved in future then compel the new players to do the same. In short get every single building that is connected to the national power grid be connected to a parallel national fiber grid. Leaving matters of internet connectivity to market forces have gotten us to where we are now. Multiple fibers at the coast, insignificant drop in prices or increased access to the public. Arguments about cost will always arise but what is the cost of not doing it? Do we want to be a nation that only knows of internet through the lens of mobile network dongles and bundles? Using radio spectrum to deliver high quality internet is not sustainable and we know it. Besides downloading and uploading terabytes of data will clog up the spectrum. The telcos will have the most to gain. They do not need to worry about cable cuts and just pay KPLC a fee to use their capacity. Consumers choose their preferred provider and the internet companies finally settle down to core business. This would also create one of the biggest national networks and should be an interesting case study. Ofcourse privacy and democracy advocates could argue that this also affords a totalitarian government an easy plug to pull to shutdown everyones internet but we can find ways around this in the law or in its design. -- Regards, Mark Mwangi markmwangi.me.ke

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Re: [kictanet] Expensive Airtel?
by Caroline Michuki 07 Apr '13

07 Apr '13

Sent from Samsung Mobile "Song, Stephen" <stephen.song(a)gmail.com> wrote: An interesting aside from the Canadian telecommunications sector. In 2009, Industry Canada (the ministry responsible for telecommunications) spent tens of thousands of dollars developing a mobile plan comparison tool to assist frustrated consumers in choosing the right plan/service/operator. It was well-designed and had received praise from the focus groups it was tested on. Despite this the project was killed weeks before it was due to launch. Why? Lobbying and threats of lawsuits from mobile operators. http://www.thestar.com/business/2009/08/31/ottawa_killed_cellphone_cost_cal… Complex pricing tariffs only serve the operators not the customers. The mobile operators clearly feared people actually being able to properly compare tarifs. IMO, the problem is not whether or not to have a plan comparison tool. The problem is that the mobile operators are allowed to use such perniciously complex plans. Some supermarkets post the price/100g of products on their shelves to stop companies from altering sizes slightly to create the appearance but not the reality of a discount. Perhaps operators should be obliged to post the average cost of a plan according to a standard OECD price basket. Free telecom disrupted the entire telecom industry in France in part by coming up with a 1 price approach to their service. http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/03/how-the-telecom-company-free-disrupted-the… If the CCK ought to do anything at all, perhaps it should be in the realm of enforcing simplicity and comparability of plans rather than trying to develop complex tools to analyse complex plans. -Steve Song On 5 April 2013 12:39, Mark Mwangi <mwangy(a)gmail.com> wrote: I do not think it is the CCK's Job to tell you the cheapest/most affordable/the most understanding telco. We may be over stretching the bodies responsibilities while not giving it more funding. If you find them too expensive there are other options. I for instance keep most of my traffic on Orange and only keep Safaricom for the M-pesa. There are choices. On Fri, Apr 5, 2013 at 5:11 PM, Odhiambo Washington <odhiambo(a)gmail.com> wrote: The regulator: 1. Issues Licenses 2. Determines Interconnection fees 3. Lords over the Telcos stopping them from "tabia mbaya" - like unfair competition There is nowhere where the consumer surfaces in the mind of the regulator, if you ask me. On 5 April 2013 16:28, Edith Adera <eadera(a)idrc.ca> wrote: Great idea! However, my question would then be what’s the role of the Regulator – CCK? This information, processed in this manner should be in the public domain and comparable across operators as one of CCK’s roles is to check not only on quality of service, but also price of service. Edith From: Odhiambo Washington [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: April 5, 2013 2:52 PM To: Edith Adera Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Expensive Airtel? Hi Edith, Do it like a Standard 1 kid would: 1. Load 50bob airtime 2. Set phone to show phone duration 3. Make a call lasting N minutes 4. Check airtime balance after the call. Do the same on your Safaricom/Yu/Orange Tarrif. Show the comparison. Ditto for data. Buy bundle. Download the same file on 3 different networks. Check bundle balance. Tabulate and show us how they compare:-) On 5 April 2013 13:29, Edith Adera <eadera(a)idrc.ca> wrote: Listers, It has taken me months wondering if it’s real or imaginary that Airtel has become very expensive! Whether it’s for calls or Internet (spectacularly expensive especially for this service). It dawned on me as I was writing this message that indeed I’ve not seen their aggressive adverts on favourable tarrifs etc for a while now (nor from other providers as it was a while back). Has the telecom market ceased to be competitive given our peculiar Kenyan behaviour (“sticky” consumers who do not respond to number portability, poor quality of service, high price of service etc etc). Am I alone? Wondering Edith _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/odhiambo%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. -- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254733744121/+254722743223 "I can't hear you -- I'm using the scrambler." -- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254733744121/+254722743223 "I can't hear you -- I'm using the scrambler." _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/mwangy%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. -- Regards, Mark Mwangi markmwangi.me.ke _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/stephen.song%40gmail.… 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. -- Steve Song +1 902 529 0046 http://manypossibilities.net http://villagetelco.org

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Expensive Airtel?
by Edith Adera 06 Apr '13

06 Apr '13

Listers, It has taken me months wondering if it's real or imaginary that Airtel has become very expensive! Whether it's for calls or Internet (spectacularly expensive especially for this service). It dawned on me as I was writing this message that indeed I've not seen their aggressive adverts on favourable tarrifs etc for a while now (nor from other providers as it was a while back). Has the telecom market ceased to be competitive given our peculiar Kenyan behaviour ("sticky" consumers who do not respond to number portability, poor quality of service, high price of service etc etc). Am I alone? Wondering Edith

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Why Orange-Telkom are struggling
by robert yawe 05 Apr '13

05 Apr '13

Hi, Early this morning I contacted Orange-telkom to inquire about domains that they have been hosting for over 5 years and here is the response; "Since nowadays we do not register/host .com domains. You should arrange to move the sites to some other servers" This clearly explains why Orange-Telkom will keep struggling to remain relevant. 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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Land Deals and Accountability in Africa
by Edith Adera 05 Apr '13

05 Apr '13

Listers, This may be of wider interest: News [Description: http://www.idrc.ca/EN/PublishingImages/LandSeries-Accountability-in-Africas…] Report sheds light on demands for accountability, transparency for large-scale land deals in Africa 05/04/2013 In Africa, large-scale land deals can bring benefits such as jobs, market access, and infrastructure, but they can also dispossess people of land and other resources and spark conflict over economic benefits. Part of the problem is that land deals are rarely transparent, with limited accountability on the part of the public authorities that decide them. People who feel wronged by such large-scale land deals in Africa are taking a variety of steps to seek justice, according to new research published by IDRC and the International Institute for Environment and Development <http://www.iied.org/> (IIED). The report, Accountability in Africa's land rush: what role for legal empowerment, is authored by Emily Polack, Lorenzo Cotula, and Muriel Côté of IIED. It examines the accountability of public authorities that preside over such deals. Asking whether legal empowerment offers citizens scope to expect fairer outcomes, the report shows that too few legal options are in fact available to local groups. This report builds on, and contributes to, a decade’s worth of research that IDRC has supported on access to land rights globally, especially for women<http://www.idrc.ca/EN/Programs/Social_and_Economic_Policy/Governance_Securi…>. Read the report<http://www.idrc.ca/EN/Documents/LandSeries-IDRC-English-web.pdf>. http://www.idrc.ca/EN/Misc/Pages/NewsDetails.aspx?NewsID=532 http://www.idrc.ca/FR/Misc/Pages/NewsDetails.aspx?NewsID=493

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