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Government Contact Centre
by robert yawe 08 Feb '11

08 Feb '11

During the Prime Ministers round table meeting with the private sector last year which was then followed with a meeting with the permanent secretary in the prime ministers office concerning a government contact centre it was agreed by the prime minister that this should be effected. Can the relevant responsible person please give a status on this as during the Competitive Partnership Initiative conference none of the government officials present had a response to this question. 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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Mobile data: comparison of Kenya mobile operators
by Harry Hare 08 Feb '11

08 Feb '11

Interesting read http://bit.ly/e9PHp0 Kindest Regards Harry Hare Director eDevelopment House : : 604 Limuru Road Old Muthaiga : : P O Box 49475 00100 Nairobi : : Kenya T +254 20 3741646/7 : : C +254 725 650044 Training : : Research: :Consultancy: : Publishing

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KICTB Updates or lack thereof
by Edwin Onchari 07 Feb '11

07 Feb '11

Listers, At the risk of no longer being invited to participate in events organized by the agency, it has been quite interesting to note that despite many queries on updates on EOIs issued by the KICTB, there seems to be very few updates on the progress of such. A case in point is the "EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI) FOR CONSULTANCY SERVICES ON INTERNATIONAL IT INVESTMENT AND OUTSOURCING COUNTRY POSITIONING"- a subject that is critical to my organization and many in this forum. Myself and others have been asking whatever happened to this as there is very little communication around it. Was this EOI cancelled, awarded? It is interesting to note that despite the fact that KICTB is the ICT champion Kenya (with budgets), little information is available even on their website! I guess we'll keep wondering. My thoughts, Edwin

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Re: [kictanet] Bringing Sanity Back to our Roads
by andrea.bohnstedt＠ratio-magazine.com 07 Feb '11

07 Feb '11

Yes, it's impunity at every level, and also precisely the reason why even the prettiest new constitution won't make a blind bit of difference unless enforced - or observed. And plenty of us are probably drivers. -----Original Message----- From: godera(a)skyweb.co.ke Sent: 07/02/2011, 16:11 To: Andrea Bohnstedt Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Bringing Sanity Back to our Roads Andrea, It is simply impunity- period. As long as no action is taken on such rogues, no amount of education will help them. All we need is law enforcement in every single aspect of our daily lives. Question is how to make the law enforcers enforce the law. Gilda Quoting Andrea Bohnstedt <andrea.bohnstedt(a)ratio-magazine.com>: > 'Overlapping' happens absolutely everywhere. By matatus, by big buses, by > taxis, by normal drivers, by people in posh four-wheel drives. A four-wheel > drive with a diplomatic number plate squeezed past me yesterday whilst the > driver was on the phone no less. > > I had a four-wheel drive and a matatu literally (and I mean literally) in > the back of my knees walking my dog to the vet. On the pavement. A policeman > stood around the corner dreamily staring into a bush. > > I think the name-and-shame approach is a start - because everything else > looks so hopeless: Part of Nairobi's nightmare traffic could be resolved if > everyone were either a bit more willing to obey traffic rules and consider > the life and health of their fellow citizens, or if the traffic police > enforced rule-abiding behaviour rather than shake everyone down for a bribe > and then let them do the same thing again. > > In addition, I'd love a public education campaign on the basics of driving. > E.e. some explanation of what a slip road is (to slip into traffic, not to > crouch at the beginning, and then fling yourself across several lanes like > the metaphorical lemming with a death wish), that the use of an indicator is > ever so helpful for anyone behind you because it actually indicates where > you're going, ...... > > I'd like a matatu/bus lane only to be used by matatus/buses - but they > mustn't leave it. > > I'd like each matatu to have a number to clearly identify it, and a central > register where you can report them. Yeah, I know, funny. > > Does anyone have any better ideas? > > > On 7 February 2011 14:43, Francis Hook <francis.hook(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > With all due respect to the developers/promoters of this, I do not get it. > > > > 1 - overlapping - We all know where motorists tend to overlap (Waiyaki Way > > from Lion place all the way to Old Safaricom house, Lower Kabete Road near > > Sarit Centre, the deceleration lane after brookside drive, etc) - that > > remains constant given the fixed nature of roads. How does this help? > > 2 - Speeding - this is a variable in the sense that it has nothing to do > > with location rather the driver and the time of day and traffic > conditions. > > It may happen along the 200 stretch of road outside the Mall/Bus stage - > or > > it may happen between kangemi and ABC Place - again, how is this useful? > > 3 - How to Report > > > > 1. By sending an email toalert(a)overlap.co.ke > > 2. By sending a tweet with the hashtag/s*overlapKE* > > 3. By filling this form <http://www.overlap.co.ke/reports/submit/> > > > > > > I do not think I need to explain - perhaps a passenger can take their eyes > > off the road to key in this info but a driver SHOULD not - and if its not > > real time info, then its no good. > > > > 4 - Defective/unroadworthy car - I'd rather have real time info on serious > > accidents (trailer lying across the road from 0900....or road closed for > > construction/etc etc - that unroadworthy car will move off the road or get > > towed eventually.... > > > > > > As a tax payer, one thing I would not mind seeing is reports of GK > vehicles > > being driven after hours or on the weekend (at least for any whistle > blowing > > value that may have). Also car jacking black spots. > > > > I also have concerns on how the reporting is moderated - what is to stop > > someone submitting false information. I recall pointing out this > > particular aspect to one of the developers/founders of Ushahidi - esp any > > affect that may have had on perpetrating PEV and helping the mobs know > where > > to avoid or where to go... > > > > > > > > > > > > On 7 February 2011 14:17, Norman Boinett <nboinett(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > >> I came across this site Overlap.co.ke <http://www.overlap.co.ke/> ( > >> #overlapKE ) posted by Bankelele I think it is a great idea and it > >> definitely needs our support. it helps rank serial over-lappers it also > >> points out over-lapping hot-spots. > >> > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> kictanet mailing list > >> kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > >> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > >> > >> This message was sent to: francis.hook(a)gmail.com > >> Unsubscribe or change your options at > >> > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/francis.hook%40gmail.c… > >> > >> > > > > > > -- > > Francis Hook > > +254 733 504561 > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > kictanet mailing list > > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > > > This message was sent to: andrea.bohnstedt(a)ratio-magazine.com > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/andrea.bohnstedt%40rat… > > > > > > > -- > Andrea Bohnstedt <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/andreabohnstedt> > Publisher > +254 720 960 322 > > www.ratio-magazine.com > Find/post East Africa > careers<http://www.ratio-magazine.com/careers/index.php> > Find/post conferences, workshops, trainings, other business > events<http://www.ratio-magazine.com/businessevents/index.php> > ------------------------------------------------- This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/

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Re: [kictanet] Bringing Sanity Back to our Roads
by Matunda Nyanchama 07 Feb '11

07 Feb '11

Without effective deterrence, driver education is meaningless! Greed (including meaningless greed!) prevails. We need a carrot and stick approach! In Europe & North America they tie one's driving record to insurance premiums; traffic violations (based on severity) add up to demerit points; the more one has the higher the insurance premiums - the stick! A good driving records helps save on premiums - the carrot! Here is what I wrote back in the 1990s (Road Accidents in Kenya - Some Thoughts); things seem to have worsened since then, despite the flip in improvement under Michuki. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matunda Nyanchama, PhD, CISSP; mnyanchama(a)aganoconsulting.com Agano Consulting Inc.; www.aganoconsulting.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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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Country Domain Names Becoming Source of Revenue
by Alice Munyua 07 Feb '11

07 Feb '11

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/technology/07dotco.html Country Domain Names Becoming Source of Revenue By ERIC PFANN <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/eric_pfanner/i…> The keystroke-saving shortcut is possible because the government of Montenegro makes its “country code top-level domain” — the .me suffix — available to commercial and private Internet users, for a fee. Facebook and other companies have snapped up such addresses to help draw more users to their sites — or to prevent rivals from doing so. The sale of country codes by governments that got lucky when the endings were allocated, securing two-letter combinations that double as widely recognized words or symbols, is not new. The island nation of Tuvalu, for example, has sold its code, .tv, for more than a decade. With a few exceptions, Internet addresses that end with country codes have failed to catch on with consumers, and .com remains the suffix of choice for marketers seeking to establish their Web credentials. But now companies that market country codes like .me, .tv and .co, for Colombia, are stepping up their efforts to sell them worldwide. “The opportunity for us is to become the platform of choice for entrepreneurs around the world,” said Juan Diego Calle, chief executive of .CO Internet, a Miami-based company that operates the .co registry under license from the Colombian government. “To do that, we want to build massive awareness.” One reason for the renewed push is a shortage of potential names ending with the most widely used domain suffix, .com. More than 90 million .com addresses are already in use, and the companies that sell them say few letter combinations are still available. Another reason is a liberalization of the domain name system. The Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers, the organization that oversees Internet addresses, recently made it possible to create domain names in non-Latin alphabets, including Cyrillic and Arabic; next year, the organization wants to make it possible to create all sorts of new endings, like .paris or .shopping. Countries like Colombia and Montenegro want to get in before their country codes are lost in the crowd. For cash-strapped governments, the sale of country code domain names is also a nice little earner. Colombia, for example, gets 25 percent of the revenue from sales of the .co name under its deal with .CO Internet. Last year, the company generated a total of $20 million from the sale of .co domains; this year, that is expected to rise to more than $30 million, Mr. Calle said. More than 600,000 .co addresses have been sold, in more than 200 countries, he said. Only about 20,000 of those are actually from Colombia, with the most interest coming from the United States and Europe. The company predicts that the total number of .co registrations will rise to five million within five years. Mr. Calle is hoping for a surge of interest after a high-profile marketing pitch over the weekend. During the Super Bowl <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/super_bowl/i…>, the championship game of American football, the world’s largest domain name registrar, Go Daddy, was set to highlight .co in an advertisement — featuring, as is typical of the company’s cheesy but attention-grabbing spots, “Go Daddy girls” in tight T-shirts and hot pants. In advance of the game, Go Daddy said it planned to introduce a new member of the team, a “.co girl.” While some country codes have had a hard time attracting anything other than niche interest, analysts say the Colombian suffix may have a better chance to rival .com because the letters “co” are recognized in many languages as an abbreviation for “company” and are not merely seen as an abbreviation for the country’s name. “As long as it doesn’t become well-known that it’s just a bastardization of the country code for Colombia, it could take off,” said Josh Bourne, managing partner of FairWinds Partners, which advises companies on the use of domain names. Many of the names with suffixes like .co or .me are simply defensive registrations by companies that want to prevent practices like “cybersquatting” or “domain name parking” — that is, the registration of their name by a third party that essentially holds it for ransom. To prevent that, the operators of a new top-level domain like .co are now generally required to let brand or trademark owners register their own names during a so-called sunrise period. As a result, the address apple.co <http://apple.co/>, for example, automatically redirects traffic to the company’s main site, apple.com <http://apple.com/>. Some companies have been making more creative use of country code domain endings. Like Facebook, a number of well-known Web sites have used them for abbreviated addresses; these include Overstock.com <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/overstockcom-inc/inde…>, an online retailer, which recently added a shorter address, o.co <http://o.co/>, using the Colombian country code. DoMEn, the company that operates the .me registry, has been promoting the use of .me for social media sites and bloggers, seeing it as a natural appendage for people who want to tell the world about themselves. The suffix has been employed, for example, by About.me <http://about.me/>, a start-up that lets users create personal profile pages that aggregate their presence on other social networking services; About.me <http://about.me/> was acquired by AOL <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/aol/index.html?inline…> in December. Other country codes that have been adopted for similar uses include .at (Austria), .cc (Cocos Islands) and .tm (Turkmenistan.) Yet not every country is eager to see its two-letter code adopted by marketers all over the world. France, for example, requires users of .fr to have a physical presence in the country. “Some countries wanted to keep their domains clean and restrictive, but most of them have given up on that by now, in the search for additional revenue,” Mr. Bourne said. While some of the companies selling country code domain names play down their affiliation with the countries that own the rights to these endings, seeing it as a barrier to wider international adoption, that is not the case for doMEn. “It’s a good promotion for Montenegro, said Natasa Djukanovic, international sales director at DoMEn. “A lot of people who didn’t even know we existed now know where we are.” A version of this article appeared in print on February 7, 2011, in The International Herald Tribune.

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Social media & the demolition of a church & clinic
by robert yawe 07 Feb '11

07 Feb '11

Hi, Many of us have commented on how social media was used in Tunisia and Egypt to pressure the incumbent and we suggested that Kenya might be at the precipice of the same. From the actions over the past two weeks namely the demolition by unknown people with undated court orders and blank title deeds of a Church off Juja Road in Eastleigh and a council clinic in high-ridge is an indication that social media in Kenya is basically that, social. If social media was going to drive change in this country Christians should have been mobilised 2 weeks ago to prevent the demolition of the church and the rest of us over the past weekend to stop the demolition of the public clinic. Kisia got notified so late that by the time he got to site of the clinic the bulldozer had pulled down one side of the building and had already exited the location. No one was even able to get through to the tsar if corruption Dr. P Lumumba, he never appeared on site and neither had the Minister of Public Health. The minister of medical services is away in the US, as per article on the press, but should have gotten a posting on his wall about what was transpiring or even an earlier alert of what was being planned. If social media will create a change then the intention to demolition either of the 2 facilities should have started chatter ignited by a single posting by the typist at NCC who typed the order, or the driver of the bulldozer or anyone else who was privy to such information and when this posting was done it should have a viral effect not only in the spread by also in the reaction. We should have descended on the sites like white blood cells to the site of an infection in the body. For social media in Kenya to have the effect it had in Tunisia or the British student demonstrations aka riots we need to regularly use the media for advocative action such as avoiding a particular matatu because the driver is known to be reckless or the makanga never washes. When there is an accident on the highway causing a major jam we should be able to update other drivers so that they can take action even though it might mean beginning the Mututho hour closer to the office. We need to use it regularly so that we internalise the usage, we should not expect that it will just happen suddenly when a message is posted on a wall and we experience a revolution. President Obama did not just wake up on the eve of the election to make a posting on facebook or twiter no, he used the medium to mobilise people to town hall meetings in nondescript locations many years before he even become senator. Then and only then will the new order manifest itself in Kenya, Mapambano. Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200e Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

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Media council Draft bill 2010 (Day Eight--Code of Conduct/Wrapping up)
by Solomon Mburu Kamau 04 Feb '11

04 Feb '11

Back in college, we were studying a unit called 'Communication Ethics' and the introduction was like this: “A doctor, who prescribes medicine for a patient without proper examination, WILL be violating the Code of Ethics. He/she MAY lose the right to practice. A lawyer who deliberately misled a client WOULD be violating a code of ethics. He/she MAY lose the right to practice. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA) knowingly signs the statement misrepresenting a company's financial position, WOULD be violating a Code of Ethics. He/ she WOULD lose the right to practice. A journalist who accepts stolen document and poses as a police investigator as to get private telephone conversation, MIGHT be violating a Code of ethics.” It further went on to explain that a doctor, a lawyer and a CPA have mandatory Codes of ethics prescribed and enforced by their professions, while journalism does not have these mandatory code because of the fear that it might infringe upon the right to information. The prescription of a code of conduct for media practitioners is essential in running the profession in a responsible and unbiased manner. The media’s role is to inform, educate and entertain, therefore it must be guarded by the same tenets that are acceptable to the wider population, although, while democracy states the majority rules, not all that the majority say is morally acceptable. While I think it should be accepted, there are some pointers I’ve in regards to the Code of Conduct of the Bill (Second Schedule): Clause 1: (Accuracy and Fairness) Part (a), I still find it recognizing a journalist as a basis for the general term to refer to a reporter, editor or a broadcaster (same as in preliminary). There is a need to having these practitioners identified so as to have diverse players catered for. Part (b): “...it should be corrected promptly.” What is the measurement of prompt? A day, a week, an hour? Time limit should be provided for so that the media practitioners are bound by correcting inaccurate information from being misconstrued to be the true position. Part (c) needs to provide the time that an apology should be published or broadcast. Part (g) misses the element of reporting balancing subject of news, though addressed loosely in Part (c) and distributed widely within the Code of Conduct. Clause 3: (Integrity) Part (a): ‘Confidential sources should be used only when it is clearly in public interest...’ How will their privacy be protected? I’m thinking of members of the Defence Forces or the Civil Service who are not allowed to disclose their sources of information and guarded by respective regulations where they work in. I’m finding Clause 7 (Confidentiality) contradicting Clause 3 (Integrity). While the latter has a room for identifying the sources of news if the lives of the source are at risk, the former is direct opposite in a way. Clause 8 (Misrepresentation):This clause identifies subterfuge as misrepresentation but still the clause give a leeway for journalists to use it to get information. By my understanding, subterfuge is getting news/information by means deception. By using ‘public interest’, the journalist/media enterprise will create an impression that the information is necessary in the interest of the public. The same applies to Clause 9 (Obscenities, Taste and Tone in Reporting). This clause mentions public interest in part (a) and (b), but why should images of the dead, or obscenities have to be published? There is no public interest in displaying such stuff not unless we are promoting the ‘Gutter Press.’ Clause 18 and Clause 19, should, in my view, be integrated with what is in existing legislatures such as Children Act and Sexual Offences Act respectively. Clause 24 (Advertisements): “...the editor should be guided by the Advertiser’s Code of Conduct.”Do we have such a Code in the public domain or it’s the property or individual media enterprises? Clause 25 (Hate Speech): Do we have a statutory definition of what constitutes to “Hate Speech”? What is the definition of “Hate Speech” according to the National Integration and Ethics Commission? Generally, looking at the Code of Conduct, it needs to be fully or partially integrated with the laws of the land for example the Defamation Act (Cap 36) can be a pointer in preventing media houses from defaming the image of people. In my view, clause 25 forms a basis for Cap 36. Media organizations MUST subscribe to the Code of Conduct as one of the basis for operating in Kenya. Those who refuse to prescribe to this Code should have their licences revoked, but then without a transition clause, it remains quiet impossible to effect this. -- *Solomon Mbũrũ Kamau* ***************************************************** *Man is a gregarious animal and enjoys agreement as cows will graze all the same way to the side of a hill!* AND *It is better to die in dignity than in the ignominy of ambiguous generosity! * http://smiley2.wordpress.com http://mburu.sikika.co.ke

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http://twitter.com/Insafenetwork#
by Barrack Otieno 04 Feb '11

04 Feb '11

Listers, In case you are interested, you can follow Safer Internet Day 2011 on Twitter as well. Best Regards -- Barrack O. Otieno Afriregister Ltd (Kenya) www.afrire <http://www.afriregister.com>gister.bi, www.afriregister.com<http://www.afriergister.com> <http://www.afriregister.com>ICANN accredited registrar +254721325277 +254-20-2498789 Skype: barrack.otieno

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Safer Internet Day 2011
by Barrack Otieno 04 Feb '11

04 Feb '11

Listers, http://www.sidfair.org/web/kenya/home http://www.sidfair.org/web/guest/home <http://www.sidfair.org/web/kenya/home>Best Regards -- Barrack O. Otieno Afriregister Ltd (Kenya) www.afrire <http://www.afriregister.com>gister.bi, www.afriregister.com<http://www.afriergister.com> <http://www.afriregister.com>ICANN accredited registrar +254721325277 +254-20-2498789 Skype: barrack.otieno

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