- KICTANet - KICTANet

JUST OUTLAWED FACEBOOK'S WHOLE AD BUSINESS
by Mutindi Muema 12 Feb '19

12 Feb '19

Dear listers, I have come across this article in Wired... I would like to hear your thoughts on the same and the viability of such a regulatory approach. The article reads in part : On Thursday, Germany’s Federal Cartel Office, the country’s antitrust regulator, ruled <https://www.bundeskartellamt.de/SharedDocs/Meldung/EN/Pressemitteilungen/20…> that Facebook was exploiting consumers by requiring them to agree to this kind of data collection in order to have an account, and has prohibited the practice going forward. “Facebook will no longer be allowed to force its users to agree to the practically unrestricted collection and assigning of non-Facebook data to their Facebook user accounts,” FCO president Andreas Mundt said in a statement announcing the decision. “We disagree with their conclusions and intend to appeal so that people in Germany continue to benefit fully from all our services,” Facebook wrote in a blog post responding <https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2019/02/bundeskartellamt-order/> to the ruling. The company has one month to appeal. If it fails, Facebook would have to change how it processes data internally for German users, and could only combine the data into a single profile for a Facebook account with that user's explicit consent.... “The FCO’s theory is that Facebook’s dominance is what allows it to impose on users contractual terms that require them to allow Facebook to track them all over,” Khan says. “When there is a lack of competition, users accepting terms of service are often not truly consenting. The consent is a fiction.” As a dominant company Facebook is subject to special obligations under competition law. In the operation of its business model the company must take into account that Facebook users practically cannot switch to other social networks,” said Mundt. “The only choice the user has is either to accept the comprehensive combination of data or to refrain from using the social network. In such a difficult situation the user’s choice cannot be referred to as voluntary consent.” But Facebook says that tracking people makes the services safer and better, and that the FCO misses how much the company has done <https://www.wired.com/story/new-facebook-privacy-settings/> in order to comply with the General Data Protection regulation passed by the European Union in 2018. The FCO’s ruling, however, directly addresses the GDPR, writing that under its principles Facebook has “no effective justification for collecting data from other company-owned services and Facebook Business Tools or for assigning these data to the Facebook user accounts.” (Facebook Business Tools here can be anything from the Like and Share buttons that appear all over the internet, and which allow Facebook to track you on sites it doesn’t own, to analytic tools Facebook provides businesses.) In other words, in addition to being anticompetitive in its view, the FCO believes Facebook hasn’t proven that data collection and bundling is in the best interest of every consumer and that its sites couldn’t function without it..... Facebook is appealing. The full article is accessible at : https://www.wired.com/story/germany-facebook-antitrust-ruling/?CNDID=493573… Kind regards, Mutindi.

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ICT Practitoner's Legislative Proposal 2018
by Ali Hussein 11 Feb '19

11 Feb '19

Listers Please find attached. Regards *Ali Hussein* *Principal* *AHK & Associates* Tel: +254 713 601113 Twitter: @AliHKassim Skype: abu-jomo LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim> 13th Floor , Delta Towers, Oracle Wing, Chiromo Road, Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya. Any information of a personal nature expressed in this email are purely mine and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the organizations that I work with.

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[Mental Health] Facebook to hire 100 content reviewers
by Collins C 11 Feb '19

11 Feb '19

There are also the psychological effects of reviewing traumatic content that is flagged by users (imagine the worst). They should consider having a counselling services for content reviewers. There is a documentary called The Cleaners of how some even end up committing suicide due to the nature of their jobs. Collins

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[hate speech etc] Facebook to hire 100 content reviewers
by Patrick A. M. Maina 10 Feb '19

10 Feb '19

Listers, ICYMI.. Facebook will reportedly hire 100 content reviewers.. finally something concrete in recognition of reality; though certainly not be an optimal number imo because it's still a 1:2Million moderator-to-user ratio, and the ideal target is ~1:1000 users meaning if they truly care about the societal impact, they need to hire at least 200,000 moderators to cover all of Africa to guarantee a clean and safe experience! FB will have to eventually establish culture mapped moderation teams across (or for) different countries in Africa because each unit will only be as effective as its ability to detect cultural nuances, local slang and coded hate / mobilisation messages. FB will also need to be upfront with potential hires that moderation is one of the dirtiest and most psychologically stressful jobs in ICT so hopefully FB will provide full mental health support and insurance for them, including post contract counselling cover over several years. They also need to boost the headcount very quickly so they can rotate them and minimise repeated exposure to visual trauma i.e. to mitigate the risk of PTSD. Their next moves in the coming weeks/months will signal whether their primary motivator is greed (hence this is just a PR stunt) or socially responsible profits. My thoughts... https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/2019/02/facebook-to-open-sub-saharan-a… Brgds,Patrick A. M. Maina[Independent Public Policy Analyst - Indigenous Innovations]

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Fwd: Promotion for registration of .africa at 200 KES
by Barrack Otieno 06 Feb '19

06 Feb '19

Listers, There is an offer for .Africa Domains for Kes 200. This is your chance to take your business beyond the borders. Kindly note that the renewal fee will be different. Regards ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Afriregister Kenya <admin(a)afriregister.co.ke> Date: Mon, Feb 4, 2019 at 4:07 PM Subject: Promotion for registration of .africa at 200 KES To: <otieno.barrack(a)gmail.com> <https://afriregister.co.ke> Dear Client, I hope this email finds you well. We would like to inform you that from February 1st to March 31, 2019, there is a promotion for .africa registration. The price is 200 KES / year for each registration. Please note that the promotion is only for registrations and not renewals and that it is a registration for one year. Link: https://afriregister.co.ke/ Thank You Best regards Afriregister Kenya -- Barrack O. Otieno +254721325277 +254733206359 Skype: barrack.otieno PGP ID: 0x2611D86A

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Re: [kictanet] [Skunkworks] Fwd: Promotion for registration of .africa at 200 KES
by Barrack Otieno 06 Feb '19

06 Feb '19

@ Allan, the renewal fee depends on the Registrar. Please check Marks email ( just over US$22) Mark is a Registrar. Because Kenyan Registars are not responding i will become one. @ Ali Hussein you forgot to add Terms and Conditions apply ama namna gani ndugu? @Wash with the amount of Nyama Choma that is consumed over the weekend Kenyans are no longer living under a dollar, maybe 50 dollars. I understand Inflation has gone gone down. Tunatoka analog tunaenda digital. Regards On Wed, Feb 6, 2019 at 2:32 PM Allan Oware <lumtegis(a)gmail.com> wrote: > So, how much is the renewal fee ? > > On Tue, Feb 5, 2019 at 1:45 PM Barrack Otieno via skunkworks < > skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke> wrote: > >> Listers, >> >> There is an offer for .Africa Domains for Kes 200. This is your chance to >> take your business beyond the borders. Kindly note that the renewal fee >> will be different. >> >> Regards >> >> ---------- Forwarded message --------- >> From: Afriregister Kenya <admin(a)afriregister.co.ke> >> Date: Mon, Feb 4, 2019 at 4:07 PM >> Subject: Promotion for registration of .africa at 200 KES >> To: <otieno.barrack(a)gmail.com> >> >> >> <https://afriregister.co.ke> >> >> Dear Client, >> >> I hope this email finds you well. >> We would like to inform you that from February 1st to March 31, 2019, >> there is a promotion for .africa registration. The price is 200 KES / year >> for each registration. Please note that the promotion is only for >> registrations and not renewals and that it is a registration for one year. >> >> Link: https://afriregister.co.ke/ >> >> Thank You >> Best regards >> Afriregister Kenya >> >> >> -- >> Barrack O. Otieno >> +254721325277 >> +254733206359 >> Skype: barrack.otieno >> PGP ID: 0x2611D86A >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> skunkworks mailing list >> skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke >> ------------ >> List info, subscribe/unsubscribe >> http://lists.my.co.ke/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks >> ------------ >> >> Skunkworks Rules >> http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 >> ------------ >> Other services @ http://my.co.ke >> > > > -- > Allan Oware > > -- Barrack O. Otieno +254721325277 +254733206359 Skype: barrack.otieno PGP ID: 0x2611D86A

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[legitimized quackery harms the economy] Kenya should suspend the issuing of academic PhDs in ICT and Engineering
by Patrick A. M. Maina 06 Feb '19

06 Feb '19

The most dangerous form of quackery is institutionalized quackery. This happens when the following practices become pervasive: 1. Grades for sale / barter; 2. A culture of academic cheating / plagiarism / cronyism; 3. Academic Sophistry (using twisted sentences, jargon and fallacies to obfuscate useless garbage in fake dissertations); 4. Disconnect between choice of research topics (or academic focus) v/s the real-world needs of the country; 5. A pervasive belief that a certificate (not real-world practice) is the indisputable authority on level of competence and/or ability; 6. Due to 5, a pervasive belief in academia, and society, that the main goal of education is to "get the papers"; 7. The likelihood that thesis supervisors themselves are products of a broken system - thus (un)wittingly spreading institutionalized quackery;8. Lack of commitment to solving real-world problems which are perceived as lacking "academic flavor";9. Mindless pedantry. Visit KIPI and check the number of approved patents - then compare against the number of claimed inventions in our universities. Our universities don't seem capable of challenging ridiculous claims of novelty (despite the implications on institutional credibility) and this has led to a total mockery of words like "invention" and/or "innovation". One may argue that perhaps the universities don't want to patent their inventions in favor of academic progress - but that would be a major indictment on their real-world judgment/reasoning - given their well publicized cash strapped condition and heavy dependency on taxpayer subsidies. There are many types of conditional releases that allow for realization of IP revenues without stifling academic research. If our universities have a real IP resource, why are they not monetizing it???? This is intellectual madness. Contrast with Stanford, for example, which earns > Ksh, 4.5 Billion annually from licensing royalties (>800 patents). Their Alumini have helped created high value global companies - which have transformed the world and achieved staggering valuations (e.g. Google, Linkedin, eBay, Cisco, Dolby, HP, Instagram, NVIDIA, Sun, Yahoo! etc - with a cumulative value in excess of Ksh. 1,000 Trillion (yes, Ksh. 1 Sextillon) - enough value to run our country tax free on >Ksh 6 Trillion budget for ~150 years!). Intellectual Property can generate more value (while being far easier to commercialize) than oil / gas / minerals. Why is our government not obsessed with commercializing indigenous IP? The people in charge of Kenya's tertiary education don't seem to have an idea of the scale of economic potential that they are sitting on (and how to unlock it). Observe the ongoing US v/s China technology dominance "war" for example - these countries understand the link between indigenous innovation and economic progress and it is no surprise that they are world's top two economies. Instead of Academic PhDs Kenya should issue Honorary PhDs for real-world achievements in advancing the nation - and the prestige of such doctorates should be higher than that of academic PhDs. This will help shift mindsets from abstract academic activity to real world solutions. Meanwhile, the government should suspend academic PhDs to allow for reallocation of scarce resources more productive areas e.g. developing market structures for rapid commercialization of indigenous innovations. For the PhDs have already been issued, there needs to be a mechanism for revocation when:1. the holder repeatedly fails to demonstrate reasoning skills in public discussions (especially around their field of expertise) that justify a doctorate status2. the holder's track record of achievement in the real world is no different than (or far surpassed by) an undergrad or college dropout (not personal achievement - but value addition to the country or society) 3. the holder lacks self awareness and does not seem to know the bounds of his/her competence (heavily relies on "academic rank" to support unsound claims or reject rebuttals) If we don't urgently contextualize our tertiary education system to focus on local real world challenges (i.e. how to grow a tiny, low income African nation that is plagued by poverty, corruption and incompetence - despite having a "highly educated" population) we will continue to be plagued by the same repeating problems for yet another generation and this article (among others) will be proof, for our children and their descendants, that we neglected our duty willingly - in full knowledge of the consequences. I am open to (and happily invite) sensible rebuttals on this topic. Brgds,Patrick A. M. Maina(Independent Public Policy Analyst - Indigenous Innovations)

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Cyber crimes | Legal Fees
by S.M. Muraya 05 Feb '19

05 Feb '19

Listers, How come there is money for legal fees but not for technology implementation and maintenance? What happens if/when the DPP charges county officials for Cyber crimes? Aiding terrorists by neglecting surveillance technology? 2015 audit >> https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2016/11/22/nairobi-spent-sh1-billion-in-leg… The Nairobi government gobbled up Sh1.1 billion in legal fees, the 2014-15 Auditor General’s report says. 2017 audit >> https://www.nation.co.ke/counties/nairobi/Nairobi-on-the-spot-over-Sh318m-l… City Hall has once again been put on the spot over the Sh318.4 million in questionable payments to 12 law firms representing Nairobi. The legal department is said to have made the payment without adequate documentary evidence. During the 2016/17 financial year, the department’s legal costs totalled Sh645.3 million despite an approved budgetary allocation of just Sh105 million. The cost was Sh540.26 million higher, 515 percent above the allocation for that year. https://www.nation.co.ke/counties/nairobi/Why-half-of-Nairobi-CCTV-cameras-… In September 2012, the then Ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan Development awarded the contract to M/s Nanjing LES Information Technology Limited, a Chinese firm. The project was conceptualised as a security project which would involve installation of security cameras, vehicle number plate recognition cameras, rehabilitation of signalised junctions and construction of one main control centre at Nairobi area police headquarters at Milimani and the redundant control centre at City Hall Annex. Six years later, the chief officer confirmed that the project is still under the Chinese firm’s control, making it impossible to repair and maintain the cameras. SH7.2M REPAIRS Mr Karanja said the company wants to be paid Sh7.2 million to repair the cameras and hand over the project to the county government. “We had pledged to pay before the contractor could resume maintenance works and subsequent handover of the project to us but we are yet to settle the bill and that is why the contractor has not resumed the project maintenance,” said Mr Karanja. But the PAC Chairman Wilfred Odalo faulted the City Hall for assuming responsibility for damages they did not cause. In response, Mr Karanja said the pledge was made because of security is a priority given recent terror attack in the city at the Dusit hotel complex. In May 2018, it was revealed that 26 of the CCTV cameras — installed in major roads such as Moi Avenue, Uhuru Highway, Kenyatta Avenue and Tom Mboya Street — were not working. Those installed along University Way and at Lusaka Roundabout have also stopped working after they were damaged by students and a contractor respectively. The committee resolved to invite the contractor in its next sitting to shed more light on the issue.

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Fwd: [AfrICANN-discuss] Piloting the Use of TV White Space for Community Network in Rural Tanzania
by Barrack Otieno 05 Feb '19

05 Feb '19

Listers, For TV white space enthusiasts, your support will be appreciated. Regards ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Matogoro Jabera <jaberamatogoro(a)gmail.com> Date: Mon, Feb 4, 2019 at 4:19 PM Subject: [AfrICANN-discuss] Piloting the Use of TV White Space for Community Network in Rural Tanzania To: africann <africann(a)afrinic.net>, <afnog(a)afnog.org> Dear Colleagues, It is my hope that this email will find you doing fine. I am happy to inform you that our project titled "Piloting the Use of TV White Space for Community Network in Rural Tanzania" has been nominated for WSIS Prizes 2019 by International Telecommunication Union. For this project to be considered among the winning project for the prize, we would appreciate your vote and if possible also helping us sharing this news in your network so that we could receive more votes for our project. I am also including details on how to vote below: 1. Visit this link: https://www.itu.int/net4/wsis/stocktaking/Account/Login?ReturnUrl=%2Fnet4%2… 2. Create an account using your email to the voting system. 3. A confirmation email will be sent to your email, click a link sent in your email to activate the account. 4. Login to the voting system using your email address and password provided during account creation. 5. Once logged in, you will be presented a list of project for category 1. You MUST vote at least one project from category 1. 6. Vote for any project in category 2 and category 3. 7. Our project is listed in category 4 project. Please search project name titled "Piloting the use of TV White Space for Community Network in Rural Tanzania". Vote for this project in category 4. 8. Vote for one project from the remaining categories, 5-18. 9. Once voting is completed, a list of the voted project will be displayed as attached. Regards, MATOGORO Jabhera Assistant Lecturer College of Informatics and Virtual Education The University of Dodoma P.O Box 490, Dodoma. Website: www.udom.ac.tz *IEEE Membership ID: 93934185* _______________________________________________ AfrICANN mailing list AfrICANN(a)afrinic.net https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo/africann -- Barrack O. Otieno +254721325277 +254733206359 Skype: barrack.otieno PGP ID: 0x2611D86A

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Fwd: [AfrICANN-discuss] Recent blogs
by Barrack Otieno 05 Feb '19

05 Feb '19

Listers, Might be of interest to some. Best Regards ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Yaovi Atohoun <yaovi.atohoun(a)icann.org> Date: Tue, Feb 5, 2019 at 12:27 PM Subject: [AfrICANN-discuss] Recent blogs To: AfrICANN Community List <africann(a)afrinic.net> Hello everyone / bonjour à tous *ICANN64 Prep Week: *https://www.icann.org/news/blog/icann64-prep-week *Technical Study Group Makes Progress at First Face-to-Face Meeting: * https://www.icann.org/news/blog/technical-study-group-makes-progress-at-fir… Thanks -- Yaovi Atohoun Stakeholder Engagement and Operations Manager- Africa; ICANN Tel. +229 66015649/65209067 www.icann.org _______________________________________________ AfrICANN mailing list AfrICANN(a)afrinic.net https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo/africann -- Barrack O. Otieno +254721325277 +254733206359 Skype: barrack.otieno PGP ID: 0x2611D86A

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