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[Fwd: [Fibre-for-africa] Kenya's fibre optic cable project queried]
by alice 12 Mar '07

12 Mar '07

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [Fibre-for-africa] Kenya's fibre optic cable project queried Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2007 08:32:18 +0300 From: Wairagala Wakabi <wakabi(a)cipesa.org> Reply-To: APC - Private list for use by EASSY Workshop Participants <fibre-for-africa(a)lists.apc.org> To: APC - Private list for use by EASSY Workshop Participants <fibre-for-africa(a)lists.apc.org> References: <mailman.0.1172828896.9025.fibre-for-africa(a)lists.apc.org> <45EBFF90.7090301(a)cipesa.org> <45EC0CF1.1050706(a)cipesa.org> So Kenya is pushing full throttle with its vision of building a cable to link the country to international fibre. The East African Marine System (TEAMS), promoted by government and expected to draw private financing as well, has been touted as the country’s answer to EASSy’s delays in getting off the ground – and in satisfying Kenya’s misgivings about the EASSy protocol, the role NEPAD has been playing in the initiative and – some say – South Africa’s attempt to dominate the show. But in the rush to get TEAMS off the ground, did the country ignore best practice in procurement? That is the question an article in today’s The EastAfrican newspaper asks. That is the question the country’s Attorney General’s Chambers has been asking. Their queries refer to the manner in which Tyco International Ltd. Was handed the $2.7 m deal to do prelim work on the deal “without competitive bidding”. One could join the AG’s office in asking questions: Will TEAMS go ahead with this plan anyway, now that some of the entities being expected to fund the construction of TEAMS have moved a step further with EASSy. Here we are referring to the likes of Telekom Kenya. And if EASSy goes ahead, then Flag Telcom/ Reliance Telecom actualise their advanced plan to build their cable (of which Kenya Data Network is a keenly involved party, just as it is in EASSy) how viable will these cables be? For more on cables planned on East coast of Africa, please see www.fibreforafrica.net . Wakabi -- Fresh snarl-ups in Kenya-Fujaira fibre optic cable project STAFF WRITER, The EastaAfrican, March 12, 2007 Controversy is simmering between the Office of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Information and Communications over the procurement for a multimillion-dollar plan by Kenya to build a fibre-optic cable link from Mombasa to Fujaira in the United Arab Emirates. Known as The East African Marine System (TEAMS), the project is expected to be launched in parallel with the $200 million East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) — a fibre-optic cable link along the eastern seaboard of Africa, from South Africa to Sudan via a number of landing points including Mombasa. The EastAfrican has learnt that the Office of the Attorney General has raised queries over the manner in which Tyco International Ltd — a transnational that operates in 100 countries — was in January this year awarded a $2.7 million contract by the Information Ministry to conduct a marine survey without competitive bidding. The ministry had in January sought and was granted an exemption from the Directorate of Public Procurement to procure the contract for a marine survey through single-sourcing. However, the Office of the Attorney General has — in a letter signed by Solicitor-General Wanjuki Muchemi — argued that the application to the directorate was not done according to procedure and demanded minutes of the ministry’s technical evaluation committee that decided that the project be single-sourced. Apparently, the ministry had sought the exemption on the grounds of the onset of the monsoon season in the Indian Ocean and the consequent need to fast-track the project. It is understood that, during an earlier meeting in Dubai between Kenya government officials and the Dubai-based Etisalat Ltd — the main private sector sponsors of the project — the point was made to the officials that the marine survey contract and the cable construction contract could not be awarded to separate companies. The government had been warned that it was rare for a cable contractor to accept a marine survey conducted by another firm. Experts had also told the government officials that marine surveys are usually deemed to be part and parcel of construction works and that awarding the survey component separately would amount to giving the construction contract to the same firm. The Office of the Attorney General wants to know why the issues raised by experts had been ignored. TEAMS is one of the largest projects being undertaken by the government this year. The government decided to launch the project when it realised that the EASSy project was facing too many delays. The government is set to invite bids any time from now for a financial arranger who will design a plan to raise money for the project, tentatively expected to be completed by early next year. The contract will be awarded competitively by April this year. The government — through Telkom Kenya — is working with Dubai-based Etilasat to build the cable. The private sector will be invited to either buy shares in the project or will be brought in on the basis of proved capacity to raise funds through models worked out by the financial arranger. The information and communications technology sector in Kenya has for years been held back by reliance on expensive satellite connectivity to the international network. Interest in construction of fibre-optic cable links to the Kenya Coast has risen dramatically and Kenya appears set to acquire cheaper international connectivity in less than two years. First is the planned $200 million EASSy, which is beginning to pick up momentum after a prolonged three-year gestation period. Currently, the proposal is for an open-access operation modelled to allow new entrants to use the infrastructure without paying high entry charges. This is expected to result in low costs for connectivity and exponential growth in transmission. According to the financing plan, up to 85 per cent ($170 million) of the funding is to come from development finance institutions, including the International Finance Corporation. The EASSy Construction and Maintenance Agreement — an important project implementation landmark — was signed in Nairobi last month by 24 licensee parties of the EASSy consortium from 17 countries. It is the trigger that now makes the project fully funded and committed from an equity point of view. Reliance Group of India has also joined the fray. The giant company has announced plans for a third cable option along the East African coast that will link South Africa and Kenya and also serve Tanzania, Mauritius, Mozambique and Madagascar as well as some landlocked countries. The cable link will be laid down by Flag Telecom, a subsidiary of Reliance. Seith East Africa Ltd of the United States is also understood to have approached the government of Kenya to allow it to build a control centre around the Athi River area to serve a new cable link it is planning to build joining ports on the East African coast to the Arab world. The company is part of the Blackstone Group, one of the largest private equity companies in the world. ============== Wairagala Wakabi Research Associate CIPESA Plot 22 Bukoto Street, Kamwokya P.O Box 26970 Kampala, Uganda Tel. +256 41 531899 Cell: +256 772 406 241 Email: wakabi(a)cipesa.org www.cipesa.org _______________________________________________ Fibre-for-africa mailing list Fibre-for-africa(a)lists.apc.org http://lists.apc.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fibre-for-africa

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monthly forum, march 22
by Rebecca Wanjiku 12 Mar '07

12 Mar '07

Kictanet invites you to the monthly forum next thursday March 22nd. the theme will be Access and Connectivity; bridging the rural urban divide, there will be presesntations from Tespok and Alex Gakuru, a consumer representative. the meeting starts at 3pm at the Jacaranda. you are welcome to ask any further questions regarding access and connectivity, the forum is what was previously reffered to as monthly meetings, it was felt that the meeting should be a place where members can discuss issues and present them to policy makers. e.g when presenting to the PS, one can say, these were deliberations and recommendations from the Kictanet monthly forum ........ please plan to attend, regards becky ____________________________________________________________________________________ We won't tell. Get more on shows you hate to love (and love to hate): Yahoo! TV's Guilty Pleasures list. http://tv.yahoo.com/collections/265

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AFRICAN SNOs – LAST YEAR’S MODEL STRUGGLES AT THE START GATE
by alice 12 Mar '07

12 Mar '07

FROM BALANCING ACT: AFRICAN SNOs – LAST YEAR’S MODEL STRUGGLES AT THE START GATE Africa’s Second National Operator licence processes run the danger of becoming the beached whale of regulatory liberalisation. The latter usually runs through the following stages: single monopoly operator, same plus mobile operators, and then reaches for a wider and more complex competitive ecology. The SNO is the cautious regulator’s option for introducing competition. In the early stages of liberalisation it allows the vertically-integrated monopoly of the incumbent to be converted into a duopoly operated by two vertically-integrated companies. So Senegal’s announcement in 2001 that it would introduce an SNO to compete with incumbent Sonatel perhaps fitted the pattern. But here we are six years later and there is still no SNO announcement from the Government and political timetabling (the recent President elections and the latter assembly elections) dictate that there will probably be no announcement until the Autumn. Sonatel has continued to entrench its de-facto monopoly and controls 80-90% of any market worth having. In any other country this degree of monopoly would be the subject of a legal anti-competition challenge. Malawi’s SNO bidding process (started in April 2006) appears to be going into a similar holding pattern. A local report leaking the conclusions of the evaluation process for the SNO bidders seems to show that MACRA will not proceed with appointing an SNO if it follows the evaluation report. There were three bidders: Access Communications, African Communications Ltd; and AirTel Communications. Terracom (the bidding vehicle of former Telecel owner Rwanda Miko Rwayitare) asked for a licence to do data and VoIP services. The three formal applications are all Malawian. However regulator MACRA’s Acting Director-General Mike Kuntiya says that a successful bidder will be known when the Government has made a final decision. Kuntiya maintains that all its evaluation report has done is make recommendations and the final decision must be made by Government. Speed is not a characteristic of the SNO process as it is unlikely that a decision will be made before April, several deadlines having already come and gone. Based on a number of different criteria including ownership and control, the technical and business plans, experience and credibility, the evaluation’s author ranked the three companies as follows: Airtel (86.83 points), Access Communications (73.57), Aircomms (69.5) and Terracom (14.52). The Government’s Information Minister said it was considering the company that scored the highest markets as it only had weaknesses in certain areas and MTL needed competition. The wheels have also come off Kenya’s SNO process when the selected winner Vtel Consortium failed to make the first licence payment. After Vtel failed to make its first payment, Reliance was give a week to raise its similar first payment otherwise the process would be cancelled. No news has emerged since that point. The curse of the SNO Licence procedure? We shall see.

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IT DON’T MEAN A THING IF IT AIN’T GOT THAT FRING – VOIP NIGHTMARE FOR MOBILE OPERATORS
by alice 12 Mar '07

12 Mar '07

TOP STORY FROM BALANCING ACT: IT DON’T MEAN A THING IF IT AIN’T GOT THAT FRING – VOIP NIGHTMARE FOR MOBILE OPERATORS _____________________________________________________________________ An early adopting reader alerted us last week to the existence of Fring. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s free Skype-style client specifically designed for mobile phones. This South African reader had been making use of it to phone friends and business contacts. If the Fring thing catches on – particularly in those African countries with reasonable broadband capacity – then it looks set to put a hole in the revenues of the mobile operators. It does both voice and SMS for the cost of the data use from the mobile provider that is much cheaper than current voice rates. Russell Southwood looks at the coming VoIP challenge for Africa’s new incumbents. Fring (http://www.fring.com] is an Israeli start-up that has developed a software that enables your mobile phone to call your friends at no cost using your UMTS or GPRS or WiFi data connection. The software can also use your Skype account to make calls to your Skype contacts or call landline or other mobile phones using SkypeOut. You can also chat using either MSN Messenger or Google Talk. The software is only available for Nokia phones at present but will doubtless migrate to other handsets before too long. The existence of mobile VoIP clients like Fring pose a significant challenge to mobile operators. It is already possible to use an IP client like Skype to make mobile calls over existing data-enabled networks. Depending on the data capacity enabled, quality will vary from the not very good to the perfectly adequate. African mobile operators are vulnerable on network quality issues in many countries (particularly on international calling) and therefore VoIP-enabled mobile calling will be attractive. As mobile operators now carry most voice traffic and often operate with low levels of competition, it is not unfair to describe them as having all the characteristics of the new incumbents. And faced with the VoIP threat, a number of operators have reverted to the incumbent’s chosen behaviour: try to close down anything new that threatens revenue. MTN has already announced in South Africa that it has banned Skype and that anyone it catches using it will be charged at its voice rates. This position has neither logic nor past experience behind it. European operators like T-Mobile announced publicly that it was banning Skype on its network but in late 2006 it said it was reversing the ban and would reach an agreement with Skype. The latter has already announced deals with Hutchinson in several markets and said it was making available a Pocket PC client that would enable wider user of its services. An example of the Hutchinson deals is 3G mobile operator 3 in the UK. Its pitch gives a clear idea of the shift in thinking required to offer a mobile VoIP service:”Why should you pay per minute, per message, per click, per megabit? In the real world, you buy your PC, pay for broadband and that’s it. Our principle is simple – X-Series customers will only pay a flat access fee on top of their basic subscription and then what’s free to use on the internet should be free to use on mobile broadband (subject to fair usage and international roaming conditions, of course)”. The other challenge will be Wi-Fi-enabled handsets. By October 2006 10% of hot-spot operator The Cloud’s traffic by kbps was coming from voice. It has achieved this by securing alliances with both traditional players and news entrants including: Net2Phone, Vonage and Skype. Its Ultra Wi-Fi offer allows unlimited use in the UK for US$23.36 a month and it has 7,500 hot-spots across Europe. But as it grows it is also doing business with existing mobile operators. In 2006 it signed an agreement to partner with Vodafone’s German operator D2 to provide WLANs. So what will African mobile operators do as they come to terms with a mobile VoIP future? At present, they have yet to commit but most do not yet appear to have come to grips with the implications of this challenge. ____________________________________________________________________

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[Fwd: [Fibre-for-africa] Operators ignore NEPAD, sign EASSy construction deal]
by alice 12 Mar '07

12 Mar '07

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [Fibre-for-africa] Operators ignore NEPAD, sign EASSy construction deal Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2007 08:28:01 +0300 From: Wairagala Wakabi <wakabi(a)cipesa.org> Reply-To: APC - Private list for use by EASSY Workshop Participants <fibre-for-africa(a)lists.apc.org> To: APC - Private list for use by EASSY Workshop Participants <fibre-for-africa(a)lists.apc.org> References: <mailman.0.1172828896.9025.fibre-for-africa(a)lists.apc.org> <45EBFF90.7090301(a)cipesa.org> <45EC0CF1.1050706(a)cipesa.org> Major development on EASSy, listers. The companies that are signatories to the EASSy memorandum of understanding (MOU) have signed a deal with Alcatel-Lucent for construction of the cable. NEPAD has apparently been ignored in the exercise. A release from the group says 22 regional entities and a few international ones are party to the undertaking (just over a week ago they told Fibre-for Africa it was over 29 entities) so it is not clear who is and who is out. Cost of construction was at the weekend pegged at US$240 m by the MoU parties, down from the $300 m NEPAD has been mentioning. This latest development raises questions of whether NEPAD will go ahead with its NBIN, of which EASSy is the principal component, or will engage the MoU signatories with a view to reconciling and placing ‘their’ EASSy under the auspices of the NEPAD eAfrica Commission. And, will the EASSy holding company be headquartered in Rwanda (as a meeting called by NEPAD last June decided) or will it stay in Kenya, where it has been coordinated since inception in 2002? Worth of note is that at the weekend, Mr John Shira who has helped coordinate the project for quite a while, but whose voice had become fainter since NEPAD attempted to take the driver’s seat, was among those speaking on behalf of the MoU parties at the weekend. And then, how will the signing of the cable affect other in-the-pipeline plans to build alternative cables along Africa’s east coast? Telkom Kenya officials were among those who spoke, in a press release Alcatel-Lucent issued: "This project represents a milestone in the development of the African communication infrastructure, where there is a strong need for optical connectivity" Sammy Kirui, Chairman of the EASSy Project Management Committee and Managing Director of Telkom Kenya. "Alcatel-Lucent is recognized as one of the key turnkey suppliers in the submarine cable market and was selected through a competitive tendering process". See: http://www.companynewsgroup.com/communique.asp?co_id=116613 The NEPAD eAfrica Commission is planning a meeting in “April/May” to flesh out the issue of shareholders – yet here they are now already acting as a unit, even engaging contractors… Telkom SA said in a statement that the project would open new opportunities for it in Africa, an indication that the telcos are firmly behind the deal with Alcatel-Lucent. Wakabi ============== Wairagala Wakabi Research Associate CIPESA Plot 22 Bukoto Street, Kamwokya P.O Box 26970 Kampala, Uganda Tel. +256 41 531899 Cell: +256 772 406 241 Email: wakabi(a)cipesa.org www.cipesa.org _______________________________________________ Fibre-for-africa mailing list Fibre-for-africa(a)lists.apc.org http://lists.apc.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fibre-for-africa

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domain name & governance news
by Rebecca Wanjiku 12 Mar '07

12 Mar '07

hi, ICANN meeting takes place next week, here are some articles relating to Internet governance that can make good reading, hope you find them relevant,\ it doesn't open directly, can cut and paste... regards becky ***************** GOVERNANCE ***************** African At-Large Community MoU with ICANN Open for Public Comment The African region of At Large has reached a consensus on the contents of a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") between the region and ICANN. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-2-07mar07.htm Who is ICANN and Where Does it Fit With Internet Governance? by Kieren McCarthy Youd be surprised how many people are asking that question at the moment, but you wont be surprised to know that the only thing they agree on is that they either dont know, or that they disagree with the people that believe they do. I am not going to attempt to provide my own answer, but I will point to a paper just released by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST). http://www.circleid.com/posts/who_is_icann_internet_governance/ http://blog.icann.org/?p=29 ********************** DOMAIN NAMES ********************** Top-shelf domain names fetched a bundle in '06 The domain name aftermarket - or, if you prefer, speculation/ransom market - eclipsed the $100 million milestone for the first time last year, according to Zetetic, a research company. Here's a look at some of the numbers: A total of $111 million and change was spent on 17,974 names; The average price was $5,582, up 13 percent over the previous year's $4,954; That rate of increase surpassed the previous year's jump of 10 percent; And five names went for more than $1 million, four more than in 2005. http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/12149 ICANN locks down at-risk Registerfly domains ICANN plans to sue scandal-hit domain name registrar Registerfly.com tomorrow (6 March), saying the company is putting its customers' estimated 2 million domain names at risk. http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=80D83445-B5D5-47BC-B74D-D70E… RegisterFly Site Goes Offline The web site for troubled domain registrar RegisterFly went offline early Tuesday and remains unavailable. The downtime follows weeks of problems with the registerfly.com site, with domain name owners saying they have been unable to manage or transfer their domains. Amid growing concern about the status of domains at RegisterFly, ICANN has asked a California court to force RegisterFly to turn over its database of domain data and compel an emergency audit of its books and records. http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2007/03/06/registerfly_site_goes_offline.… But: RegisterFly Site Back Up A quick update - RegisterFlys website is back up and Glenn Stansbury of RegisterFly claims that transactions are being processed. http://blog.icann.org/?p=38 How to Get Help When You Have a Problem with Your Registrar ICANN successfully introduced competition in the registrar marketplace which has resulted in over 860 ICANN accredited registrars now offering a range of registration services. Go to http://www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html for a complete list of ICANN accredited registrars. Registrants have the option of simply purchasing a domain name, or purchasing a domain name that includes a package of services such as web hosting services, domain name proxy services and other related services. With this range of registrar services available to the public, comes a range of customer service offerings. Registrants have found that some registrars offer 24 hour live customer service assistance, while others only offer customer service via e-mail. Accordingly, registrants are encouraged to carefully research a potential registrar before entering into a contract for registration services to determine if the potential registrar meets the needs of the registrant. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-06mar07.htm RegisterFly Update ICANN provides the following update: PIR notified ICANN that the .ORG registry has restored the domains that were in RGP and placed those domains on Server Deleted Prohibited status; AND On March 5, 2007, RegisterFly provided a copy of domain name registration data in response to ICANN's request pursuant to RAA section 3.4.3. ICANN is analyzing the data for integrity and completeness. ICANN will respond to RegisterFly with questions regarding aspects of the material provided. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-3-07mar07.htm When Domain Names Bite Back The domain-name registration industry is suffering a bloody blow with the recent calamity at one of its most popular registrars. Registerfly was once one of the fastest-growing discounters on the scene, amassing millions of domain registrations, until an awkward ownership struggle and a bout of sloppy customer support found countless owners watch their dot-com names expire without renewal. http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2007/03/07/when-domain-names-bite-bac… VeriSign Domain Name Industry Brief Shows Continued Strong Internet Growth (news release) VeriSign released the VeriSign Domain Name Industry Brief for the fourth quarter of 2006. According to the report, which highlights key industry data for worldwide domain name activity, total domain name registrations reached 120 million, representing a 32 percent increase over the previous year, and an eight percent increase over the third quarter of 2006. http://www.verisign.com/press_releases/pr/page_040772.html Domain name registrations increase 32 percent in 2006; China records 43 percent rise in a single quarter Domain name registrations reached 120 million in the fourth quarter of 2006, representing a 32 percent increase over the previous year, and an eight percent rise over the previous quarter. http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;887105837 VeriSign: 120M Domains Registered VeriSign released its quarterly Domain Name Industry Brief. Among the findings is that there are now 120M domain names registered across all top level domain names. This is up 32% compared to 2005. http://domainnamewire.com/2007/03/06/verisign-120m-domains-registered/ http://webhosting.info/news/1/verisign-releases-domain-name-industry-brief_… http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=8612 400,000 .mobi Domain Names Now Registered dotMobi announced more than 400,000 .mobi domains have been registered in 104 countries since the domains launch in October 2006. http://www.circleid.com/posts/400000_mobi_domain_names/ Over 400,000 .mobi domains registered The Dublin-headquartered provider of the international .mobi mobile internet domain has revealed that it has now registered over 400,000 domain names. http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single7903 http://mobile-ent.biz/news/25963/dotMobi-passes-400k http://www.betanews.com/article/mobi_Registrations_Pass_400000/1173125 http://earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,69442.shtml Price of domain names ending in .cn comes down China's top Internet address registration agency has slashed the price of domain names ending with .cn to win users from the ".com" service, whose server is overseas. ... The promotion by CNNIC, backed by the Ministry of Information Industry, charges only one yuan (US$0.13) a year for registration per domain name, which is confined to English names ending with .cn. http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2007/200703/20070308/article_308251… billgates.tel domain could be yours for the asking A new top level domain, .tel, will be launched next year designed to enable organisations and individuals to consolidate all their contact information in one place. Its backers have confirmed that individuals' domain names will be allocated on a first come first served basis. http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/10187/53/ Porn Industry Against New XXX Domain The renewed interest in the proposal of a ".xxx" TLD, created specifically for sexually explicit content, has once again sparked a controversial debate between the adult entertainment industry, domain distributor ICM Registry and conservative groups. The adult entertainment industry (through their professional organization Free Speech Coalition) issued a press release last Tuesday petitioning for help in opposing the proposal set by Stuart Lawley, head of ICM. The ICANN approved the TLD in June 2005, but in May 2006 voted against their contract with ICM. http://media.www.dailytitan.com/media/storage/paper861/news/2007/03/06/News…> nz: Bankers try again for second-level anti-phishing domain The Bankers Association is having another go at setting up a bank.nz second-level internet domain to mitigate the problem of phishing scams in the banking sector. http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/8886E2E9D36A70BFCC257292000EB1B1 InternetNZ investigates becoming a charity InternetNZ, the organisation that manages New Zealand internet domain addresses among other functions, is exploring whether it qualifies for charitable status as an organisation that promotes the public good. http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/1BC9033D86D9E026CC257292000E1A27 Why I left the ICANN At Large Advisory Committee John Levine writes "For about the last two years, I was a member of ICANNs At Large Advisory Commitee. In case anyone is wondering, heres why Im not on the ALAC any more." http://www.circleid.com/posts/why_i_left_icann_at_large_alac/ Social Networking and Web 2.0 Creating DNS Performance Issues for Carriers A revolution is taking place on the Internet, with new sites redefining how we interact online. The next-generation Internet is emerging in collaborative and interactive applications and sites with rich, varied media (images, video, music). As with many revolutions, this one is driven by the younger generation, which is adopting social networking sites like MySpace and video sharing sites like Google's YouTube. But the general shift is not restricted to the young, as more mature consumers and businesses alike are exploring the possibilities of collaborative, media-rich applications. This major shift in Internet applications has its unintended victims. One of them turns out to be the DNS. http://www.circleid.com/posts/social_web_2_dns_performance_carriers/ ICANN Successfully Conducts Laboratory Tests of Internationalised Domain Names In October, 2006, ICANN engaged Autonomica AB of Stockholm, Sweden, to develop, conduct, and report on the results of laboratory testing of internationalized top-level domains in a setting corresponding to the public root. Quoting from their report, "Autonomica AB has, under a contract with ICANN, investigated whether the addition of top level domains containing encoded internationalized characters (so called IDNs) would have any impact on the operations of the root name servers providing delegations, or the iterative mode resolvers used to look up the information. No impact at all could be detected. All involved systems behaved exactly as expected." http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-4-07mar07.htm ICANN gTLD Registry Data Escrow Report This report has been prepared as part of the Registry Failover Project, to assist with the review of ICANN's existing data escrow requirements for gTLD registries, and to contribute to the above mentioned deliverables. As a part of the review, ICANN is working with several gTLD registries to examine data from an escrow deposit for the purpose of determining whether the current requirements are sufficient or need to be improved. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-05mar07.htm Asia/Australia/Pacific At-Large Community MoU with ICANN Open for Public Comment The Asia/Australia/Pacific (AP) region of At Large has reached a consensus on the contents of a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") between the region and ICANN. http://icann.org/announcements/announcement-07mar07.htm Can't choose your typosquatters Commentator Bill Langworthy points out that, much as in real-world real estate, a domain name's value is all about location, location, location. And, good or bad, typosquatters are just a keystroke away. http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2007/03/06/AM200703061.html Domain Names & Defensible Traffic Andy Hagans recently posted about his linkbait marathon strategy to rank his sites at the top of the search results. Brian Provost posted about his love for domaining. Domain names may play a big roll not only in anchor text, but also in overall domain credibility, linkability, and defensibility. http://www.webpronews.com/blogtalk/2007/03/01/domain-names-defensible-traff… The 50 Most Important People on the Web - 35. Vinton G. CerfChairman, ICANN Board of Directors, and vice president and chief Internet evangelist, Google http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,129301-page,8-c,techindustrytrends/articl… FamilyAlbum.com and GoDaddy Update Heres the latest about the FamilyAlbum.com fiasco with GoDaddy. Domain Name Wires story about FamilyAlbum.com has garnered lots of attention. A story about the story has about 3,500 Diggs on Digg.com. Message boards are buzzing. Bloggers are blogging. But where does that leave us? Did GoDaddy have the right to delete FamilyAlbum.com? http://domainnamewire.com/2007/03/05/familyalbumcom-and-godaddy-update/ uk: Our Farm Holiday Website Has Been Hijacked to Sell Porn A luxury North Wales holiday farmhouse owner last night called for an investigation after a website promoting the business was hijacked to sell porn. ... Mr Thomas said: "We pay a monthly subscription and a yearly payment which may have gone through just a few days late. "I am not well up on computers, but it may have been lying dormant for three or four days during which time other users were able to get into it and add links." http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/861654/wales_our_farm_holiday_websi… The benefits of renting a domain name (member's sub req'd) Renting a domain name can have numerous benefits including economical profitability. These consequences can be tax benefits, retention of the domain name ownership even despite a bankruptcy filing as well as being able to use the domain name by the original owner. As for individuals that want to rent these domain names, there can be many benefits including the use of a restricted domain name for one. http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=articles&id=279587… ICANN Opens .museum Agreement Proposal for Comments ICANN, last week announced the proposed .museum sTLD registry agreement is posted for public comment and can be viewed at draft proposed agreement and appendices at proposed appendices. http://webhosting.info/news/1/icann-opens-.museum-agreement-proposal-for-co… NameMedia Launches New Domain Sales Platform (news release) NameMedia today announced the launch of ActiveExchange, providing domain owners access for the first time to the exclusive distribution network of the industry's leading domain marketplace. http://digital50.com/news/items/BW/2001/07/14/20070306006115/namemedia-laun… Godaddy Introduces Discounted Domain Club GoDaddy announced the introduction of the Discount Domain Club, a subscription-based service established for frequent domain buyers to save money. Membership in the Discount Domain Club affords domain name buyers registration prices that are up to 36% off of Go Daddy's domain pricing and includes free subscriptions to other Go Daddy services. http://webhosting.info/news/1/godaddy-introduces-discounted-domain-club_030… Demand Media Announces Social Networking Tools For .TV Domain Names (news release) Demand Media and eNom announced that eNom resellers will be able to offer their customers the Demand Media industry leading social networking tools with every .tv registration. http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/862129/demand_media_announces_socia… MindGenies Attains ICANN Accreditation MindGenies, an internet solutions and consultancy company, yesterday announced that it is now an ICANN accredited registrar. http://webhosting.info/news/1/mindgenies-attains-icann-accreditation_030707… British porn mastermind fights US Government (sub req'd) The British man behind the proposed .xxx Internet domain believes that the US Government has intervened to thwart his plans. http://www.legalbrief.co.za/article.php?story=20070307084858371 Regierungskoalition macht sich für TLDs wie .berlin stark Die Koalitionsfraktionen von SPD und CDU/CSU im Deutschen Bundestag setzen sich für die Einführung neuer Top-Level-Domains vor allem für regionale und urbane Gemeinschaften wie beispielsweise ".bayern", ".nrw" oder ".berlin" ein. Die Bundesregierung soll aufgefordert werden, sich im Rahmen der Mitarbeit im GAC der ICANN für die Weiterentwicklung des Adressraums im Internet einzusetzen. http://golem.de/0703/50928.html http://www.pc-magazin.de/common/nws/einemeldung.php?id=50909 http://www.umts-report.de/news.php?ida=575911&idc=236 http://www.internet-magazin.de/common/nws/einemeldung.php?id=50909 Weiterentwicklung des Adressraums im Internet Anlaesslich der Einbringung des Antrages der Koalitionsfraktionen 'Weiterentwicklung des Adressraums im Internet' erklaert der medienpolitische Sprecher der SPD-Bundestagsfraktion im Deutschen Bundestag, Joerg Tauss: http://www.umts-report.de/news.php?ida=575911&idc=236 Bundestag widmet sich dem Domain Name System Die Bundesregierung solle sich für die Einführung neuer TLD im Domain Name System des Internets starkmachen allen voran TLDs für regionale und urbane Gemeinschaften. Den Vorschlag für einen entsprechenden Beschluss bringen die Koalitionsfraktionen nach Diskussionen im Unterausschuss Neue Medien noch diese Woche in erster Lesung in den Bundestag ein. Der Initiator des Vorschlags, Jörg Tauss, medienpolitischer Sprecher der SPD-Fraktion im Bundestag, teilte im Vorfeld mit, Adresszonen mit Regionalbezug ganz im Stil der neu eingeführten Zonen .eu für die EU, .cat für Katalonien und .asia für den asiatischen Raum seien von besonderer Bedeutung für deutsche Bundesländer, Städte, Gemeinden und Regionen. http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/86329 Aserbaidschan: Großer Sprung in den Cyberspace Ali Abbasow, Minister für Kommunikations- und Informationstechnologie von Aserbaidschan, nutzte die erste Vollversammlung der "Global Alliance for ICT & Development" (GAID) im kalifornischen Santa Clara, um für internationale Unterstützung des geplanten großen Sprunges seines Landes in den Cyberspace zu werben. http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/86193 Die wichtigsten Frauen der IT-Branche Esther Dyson Die Schweizerin beeinflusste als Kolumnistin der NY Times viele IT-Diskussionen, prägte als Vorstand der ICANN ( Verwaltung von Internet- Adressen) viele Web-Entwicklung und ist gefragte Netz-Beraterin. http://www.kurier.at/galerie/index/3636/1/nachrichten/techno CeBITaktion für DomainReseller von DNS:NET - -März.de oder Maerz.de? Kein Problem mit DNS:NET Domains (news release) Die DNS:NET Internet Service GmbH startet zur CeBIT ihr Aktionsprogramm für die über 600 Reseller im Bereich Domainregistrierung. 1998 als Domainserviceanbieter gestartet, ist die DNS:NET mittlerweile als Carrier und Telefongesellschaft national und international aktiv. http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2007-03/artikel-7864320.asp http://www.wallstreet-online.de/nachrichten/nachricht/2032209.html http://www.pressetext.com/pte.mc?id=98951 LICANN durcit sa position vis-à-vis de Registerfly Dans un communiqué publié le 2 mars, lICANN fait le point sur les actions en cours contre Registerfly, un registrar américain très critiqué pour son manque de rigueur. http://domainesinfo.fr/actualite/1146/l-icann-durcit-sa-position-vis-a-vis-… Nouvelle modalité de suppression des .FR et des .RE LAFNIC prévoit au 4eme semestre 2007 de sécuriser toute procédure de suppression de ses noms en lui associant une période de rédemption de 30 jours. http://domainesinfo.fr/extension/1147/france-nouvelle-modalite-de-suppressi… RegisterFly, dopo due anni l'ICANN si muove Su un caso che ha fatto discutere e che per due anni ha visto crescere le proteste dei clienti del registrar, l'ICANN decide finalmente di prendere provvedimenti http://punto-informatico.it/p.aspx?id=1914836 Telecomunicaciones : Llega el dominio ".tel" Los dominios ".tel" se emplearán para realizar comunicaciones a través de telefonía en Internet. ICANN publica en su blog que en breve podremos comenzar a registrar dominios ".tel". Una entrada para el dominio ".tel" acaba de ser creada en el "root zone". Los registros se podrán realizar en breve a traves de Telnic. http://www.faq-mac.com/mt/archives/021866.php De 50 mäktigaste på nätet - Vinton G. Cerf Vinton G. Cerf utvecklade TCP/IP-protokollen som internet vilar på, därmed går det att påstå att han är en internets grundare. För närvarande har är han ordförande i ICANN. 2005 blev han Googles vice-president och chefsevangelist. http://www.ekonominyheterna.se/nyheter/2007/03/06/natets3135viktigasteperso… Potíe registrátora RegisterFly trvají Webové stránky doménového registrátora RegisterFly jsou vypnuté od úterý tohoto týdne, upozornuje Netcraft. Situace okolo spolecnosti RegisterFly je ji delí dobu problematická. Po vlne obvinování se mezi vedením firmy a vlastníky dolo i na zmínky o prípadném zproneverení financních prostredku. RegisterFly navíc, podle informací z amerických médií, nezaplatil za své zákazníky registracní poplatky. http://digiweb.ihned.cz/c4-10072070-20604820-i00000_d-potize-registratora-r… Túl gyorsan terjedt a net, túl sok lett a visszaélés Az internet alapító atyja szerint számoltak ugyan a hálózat sebezhetoségével, ilyen fokú bunözéssel azonban, ami az almúlt években jelentkezett a világhálón, már nem - igaz, azzal sem, hgy az internet ennyire elterjedt lesz, mint ma. http://www.origo.hu/techbazis/internet/20070305huhh.html +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Expecting? Get great news right away with email Auto-Check. Try the Yahoo! Mail Beta. http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta/newmail_tools.html

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test 20070309 3:55pm EAT - ignore
by John Walubengo 09 Mar '07

09 Mar '07

test ____________________________________________________________________________________ 8:00? 8:25? 8:40? Find a flick in no time with the Yahoo! Search movie showtime shortcut. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/#news

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ICANN publishes DNS Attack Factsheet
by A. Wanjira Munyua 09 Mar '07

09 Mar '07

ICANN's published a very good summary of the February 6 attack on the > root server system. > > <http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-08mar07.htm> > > "ICANN has today released a factsheet concerning the recent attack on > the root server system on 6 February 2007. The factsheet is intended > to provide an explanation of the attack for a non-technical audience > in the hope of enlarging public understanding surrounding this and > related issues. > > Aside from covering the attack itself and the engineers' response to > it, the factsheet also briefly reviews the root server system, the > domain name system, Anycast technology, and what can be done in order > to deal with such attacks in future. > > It is hoped that the factsheet will be the first in a series, with > ICANN's general manager of public participation, Kieren McCarthy, > acting as series editor. Future factsheets hope to follow a similar > approach of providing clear and topical non-technical information > about various aspects of the Internet in which ICANN is involved. > > We welcome whatever feedback the community may have, plus suggestions > for future factsheets. Please post any comments you have on the > related blog post. This factsheet is released under a Creative > Commons licence." > > Good to see creative commons license being used, help spread the word. > Blog post here <http://blog.icann.org/?p=37 > > Factsheet in PDF > <http://www.icann.org/announcements/factsheet-dns-attack-08mar07.pdf> > > > I imagine Kieren McCarthy would like to hear from people what he > should be covering next. And any comments on the factsheet itself. > > Adam > > _______________________________________________ > ALAC mailing list > ALAC(a)atlarge-lists.icann.org > http://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/alac_atlarge-lists.icann.org > > www.alac.icann.org > www.icannalac.org

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Microsoft�s Ballmer rekindles Linux patent fears
by Alex Gakuru 09 Mar '07

09 Mar '07

Sparks fly less than a month after Microsoft and Novell signed partnership By John Fontana, Network World, 11/21/06 For the second time in two years, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer last week played the patent infringement card against Linux and again set off a round of negative speculation and vendor clarifications..... As part of the deal between Microsoft and Novell, the pair is making payments to each other not to assert patent claims. Novell is paying $40 million to Microsoft in exchange for the latter company's pledge not to sue SUSE Linux users over possible patent violations, and Microsoft is paying Novell $108 million for a similar agreement that says Novell wont sue Microsoft users.... Experts have speculated the Microsoft-Novell deal was, in part, a swipe at Linux leader Red Hat and that Ballmers recent comments over intellectual property were in that vein. I guess that could be the rationale, but is Red Hat that much of threat to stoop to this level? said Ovum Summits Davis. http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2006/112106-ballmer-linux.html?page=1 ----- /end test message/ --------------------------------- Food fight? Enjoy some healthy debate in the Yahoo! Answers Food & Drink Q&A.

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attack on root server
by Rebecca Wanjiku 09 Mar '07

09 Mar '07

ICANN's summary of the February 6 attack on the > root server system. > > <http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-08mar07.htm> > > "ICANN has today released a factsheet concerning the recent attack on > the root server system on 6 February 2007. The factsheet is intended > to provide an explanation of the attack for a non-technical audience > in the hope of enlarging public understanding surrounding this and > related issues. > > Aside from covering the attack itself and the engineers' response to > it, the factsheet also briefly reviews the root server system, the > domain name system, Anycast technology, and what can be done in order > to deal with such attacks in future. > > It is hoped that the factsheet will be the first in a series, with > ICANN's general manager of public participation, Kieren McCarthy, > acting as series editor. Future factsheets hope to follow a similar > approach of providing clear and topical non-technical information > about various aspects of the Internet in which ICANN is involved. > > We welcome whatever feedback the community may have, plus suggestions > for future factsheets. Please post any comments you have on the > related blog post. This factsheet is released under a Creative > Commons licence." ____________________________________________________________________________________ Don't get soaked. Take a quick peek at the forecast with the Yahoo! Search weather shortcut. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/#loc_weather

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OFC final report
by Rebecca Wanjiku 09 Mar '07

09 Mar '07

here is the OFC final report. i have attached a copy and given the executive summary below, hope it will make good reading and background info.... Executive Summary The East African Coast remains the only seabed that is yet to be covered by International Submarine Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) Connectivity. With over three prospective Submarine Optical Cables in the offing, East Africans are standing at the threshold of new opportunities and are expecting better and more affordable communication services that OFCs have provided in other parts of the globe. But the question remains which model of OFC provisioning, will bring about meaningful and sustainable Socio-economic gains for the majority of citizens in East Africa and its environs? The Online Discussion explored this question by investigating the existing models for providing OFC and evaluating how each model would impact on the Key Stakeholders. The Key Stakeholders identified included the Regulator, the Consumers, the Government, the Development Financial Institutions (DFIs), the Private Operators and Investors. Efforts were made to understand each Stakeholders objectives with a view to ensuring that a model that can closely balanced out most of the conflicting interests could be arrived at. The generic models of Consortium, Open-Access and Privately provisioned OFC were discussed and their requirements and the impacts they (would) have on the various stakeholders were elicited. The role of the Regulator with regard to protecting Consumer interests in whichever of the above models were particularly emphasised and considered fundamental. The Open-Access principles were preferred irrespective of the OFC provisioning methods adopted especially with respect to allowing market-rate access both to existing and future Data Operators. With regard to ownership and financing of the OFC, it was felt that a mixture of Public, Private and DFIs sources of capital maybe the most efficient. In such a case, the owners would then constitute a body (Special Purpose Vehicle, SPV) to operate and maintain the OFC in the interest of the stakeholders. On the other hand, there was also the other alternative that placed less or no emphasis on the construction and ownership of the International OFC. Instead, it suggested that more emphasis should be placed towards developing a comprehensive and national (domestic) OFC. A comprehensive and active domestic infrastructure, coupled with local content would be expected attract Internet Backbone Providers (IBPs) wishing to tap into this new source of domestic traffic. Such Operators would therefore construct and extend their own OFC into the region at their own cost - as long as the local (domestic) Operators can guarantee to purchase an economic capacity of International bandwidth from the IBPs at market rates. Both the Online discussions as well as the Face-to-Face workshop provided a rich source of information that is hoped will provide valuable input in shaping the Policy and Regulatory direction regarding the provisioning of this critical submarine cable that would finally conquer the last frontier the East African Coast. Rebecca Wanjiku, journalist, p.o box 33515, Nairobi.00600 Kenya. Tel. 254 720 318 925 blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss an email again! Yahoo! Toolbar alerts you the instant new Mail arrives. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/toolbar/features/mail/

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[Fibre-for-africa] Invigorating debate on EASSy and other fibre
by A. Wanjira Munyua 09 Mar '07

09 Mar '07

Dear Listers, > > A short note here to draw your attention to some of the new resources that > have recently been uploaded on the Fibre for Africa website > (www.fibreforafrica.net) which provides information about international > bandwidth in Africa, its costs and the existence of monopoly access to it: > > 1) Question and Answer Interview with Dr Edmund Katiti, Policy and > regulatory Advisor for the NEPAD eAfrica Commission. He speaks about the > plans for forming the Special Purpose Vehicle to develop, own, operate, > and maintain the regional ICT broadband network for Eastern and Southern > Africa; moves toward engaging consultants to attract shareholders in the > network; and how the Commission views cables being planned by countries > such as Kenya and South Africa. > 2) Question and Answer Interview with Mr Edmond Nyakairu, chairman of the > finance committee of the EASSy Memorandum of Understanding signatories: On > the operators current feelings about the NEPAD eAfrica Commission; on the > Commissions continued use of the name EASSy; the impact which building > EASSy would have on proposed Kenyan and South African cables; on whether > EASSy makes commercial sense; and the way forward in delivering cheaper > and more accessible bandwidth to east and southern Africa. > 3) Article on the cables planned for the East Coast of Africa: This > resource lists the various initiatives to build cables that are parallel > to EASSy and questions whether this will not render EASSy less competitive > or even unviable. But how viable will these cables themselves be, and are > they planning on embracing Open Access principles? > 4) Paper on Enabling Open Access through Universal Access: This paper > makes the case for Open Access Infrastructure in addressing Africas > connectivity headaches; it examines flaws that are common in some of the > connectivity (including Universal Access) programmes on the continent; and > concludes that regional infrastructure undertakings like EASSy require > Universal Access to be correctly implemented and to address demand in > order for Open Access principles to prevail. > > EASSy appears to be at crossroads, with operators and the Commission > maintaining major disagreements. It is not clear when the champagne > bottles will be popped for its ground-breaking ceremony, or even who the > investors in it will be. The clock is ticking. Debate on what needs to be > done to secure a win-win situation not just for the NEPAD and the > telcos but importantly as well for the users who endure slow service at > exorbitant prices, needs to be sustained at this time. > > Wakabi > > > > ============== > Wairagala Wakabi > Research Associate > CIPESA > Plot 22 Bukoto Street, Kamwokya > P.O Box 26970 Kampala, Uganda > Tel. +256 41 531899 > Cell: +256 772 406 241 > Email: wakabi(a)cipesa.org > www.cipesa.org > > _______________________________________________ > Fibre-for-africa mailing list > Fibre-for-africa(a)lists.apc.org > http://lists.apc.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fibre-for-africa

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My Evening in Jail (O.K, next to Jail)
by John Walubengo 08 Mar '07

08 Mar '07

O.K, before the moderator tells me to take this conversation off the list - I wish to promise that it will end with an IT twist... Yesterday evening, I was stopped by the Traffic Police at Madaraka Roundabout (next to Strath University). As a law abiding citizen, I stopped and without being asked, I opened the boot, stepped out and handed over my Driving Licence. After 5minutes (eternity for me!) I realised that the young police officer was struggling with his torch trying to shine the lamp on my annual renewal licences. I moved closer and he seemed happy to have discoverd and even happier to confirm that I had FORGED it (what???). He was alleging that it expired last year and since I was the clever-one, i simply extended the year by overwriting the original deadline and replacing it with next year (i.e from 2006 to 2008 expiry date) I tried to say indeed the overwriting was truly there, but it must have been done by the KRA (Kenya Revenue Officials, they are human and can make mistakes) but he was adamant that I must visit their Police station and be checked in. I tried to say that if I had committed a traffic offence , I would have expected that he would write me a ticket/summons? to appear in court sometime later in the week and stand accused awaiting defence/judgement/penalty..(lawyers could correct me on that). Later on he agreed that he will write the Summons from the Poice Station and so we drove to the nearest police station for this summons to be written. We reached there (Nyayo Stadium Police Station) and he asked me to sit right next to the Cells (which were full of some very mean looking 'Matheri' type of characters). After 5min, he came back to say that his Boss, the Officer in Charge of the Station is not in and so I have to be locked in until tomorrow morning, when he will come and write me the summons (hallooo??- next to THOSE guys?). To cut down the story, my wife new someone, who knew some Senior cop, whom she called and he eventually gave instructions to have me released - on Condition that I apologise for the offense (O.K. now what had I done again?). Here is the IT angle - isn't it time their website www.kenyapolice.go.ke gave the Citizens the correct position regarding Police Procedures for Civil/Criminal offence? I mean I never knew a traffic offence could earn you 1-night accomodation with General Ali's (the Police Commissioner) guests. Further more, when are those so called Tamper-proof Driving Licences going to hit the market? walu. nb: the overwriting was explained to me by KRA this morning - they say that it often happens and all they do is to double-stamp the affected license which they actually done- but I never knew the implication of that double-stamp. Am sure the young Police Officer had seen the double-stamping but was not in a hurry to educate me - he preferred to drag me to next to his cells for whatever (you are allowed to speculate) reasons. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Get your own web address. Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business. http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains/?p=BESTDEAL

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Fw: [COMO Alliance] Media and Religion
by Florence Etta 08 Mar '07

08 Mar '07

Sorry for cross posting! The Communication and Media Research Institute has great pleasure in announcing the publication of the latest issue of our Open Access Journal Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture. Volume 4 Number 1 is dedicated to the them Media and Religion. You can access this issue and back numbers without charge at: http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/page-880. Alternatively, you can click on the links below for direct access to the articles. MEDIA AND RELIGION Anthony McNicholas Editorial Michael Bailey `He Who Has Ears to Hear, Let Him Hear: Christian Pedagogy and Religious Broadcasting During the Inter-War Period Diego Contreras Coverage of Complex Theoretical Content. The Case of Dominus Iesus Timothy J. White Catholicism and Nationalism in Ireland: From Fusion in the 19th Century to Separation in the 21st Century Dominica Dipio Religion in Nigerian Home Video Films Erica Baffelli Mass Media and Religion in Japan: Mediating the Leaders Image Book Reviews Maria Way Religion and Film: An Introduction Religion in a Changing Europe: Between Pluralism and Fundamentalism _______________________________________________ COMO_Alliance mailing list COMO_Alliance(a)lists.asc.upenn.edu http://lists.asc.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/como_alliance ___________________________________________________________ Now you can scan emails quickly with a reading pane. Get the new Yahoo! Mail. http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html

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AfriNIC Meeting: Abuja, Nigeria 23rd April-4 May 2007
by A. Wanjira Munyua 08 Mar '07

08 Mar '07

Dear Colleagues The next AfriNIC Meeting will be held in Abuja, Nigeria from 23rd April to 4 May 2007, together with AfNOG, INET Africa, AfTLD and AFREN meetings. It is an open forum to discuss issues related to internet number resource management within the AfriNIC service region. This meeting will also host a regional IPv6 conference where network operators will share their experiences on IPv6 deployment. We are looking for presentations and tutorials of relevance from anyone. Tutorials are usually 2 to 4 hour workshops, while presentations may last between 10 and 30 minutes. Presentations / Tutorials may cover the following topics: - IPv6 deployment - Routing Best Practice/Address Space Prefix Filtering - Reverse DNS implemenation - DNSec - Fighting Spam We would like to have as many practical, hands-on presentations as possible and they do not have to be long. Policy proposals are also usually discussed at the meeting, but must pass through the appropriate phases of the Policy Development Process (please see http://www.afrinic.net/pdp.htm) If you would like to make a presentation or tutorial, please send your proposal to meeting(a)afrinic.net Your proposal should contain the following information: - Full Name - Email Address - Affiliation - Short biography - Title of Talk - A detailed abstract or outline describing the presentation - Draft slides for the presentation (if ready/available) - Length of talk (minutes/hours/days) - Need (or not) for sponsorship or assistance to attend the meeting (travel and/or accommodation, etc) The audience at AfriNIC meetings is mainly composed of technical network operators and engineers with a wide range of experience levels from beginners to several years of experience. Presentations that contain any sort of marketing and commercial content are usually not encouraged at such meetings. Best Regards Hisham R. Rojoa Membership Liaison & Communications Officer AfriNIC

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internet news, research papers - international
by Rebecca Wanjiku 07 Mar '07

07 Mar '07

makes good bachground material/.....incase of interest... The rise of technology addiction http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/6411495.stm Mobile Content Usage is Higher in Developing Countries http://clickz.com/stats/sectors/wireless/article.php/3625143 *************** RESEARCH PAPERS *************** Mobile Commerce consumer issues and policy challenges for a promising market (OECD) Mobile commerce is a promising market both for consumers and businesses. However, consumer troubles and complaints are increasing and can sometimes become serious, including issues for minors. Member countries experiences show that we should ensure that consumers benefit. In particular, countries may review their instruments with regard to a more effective scheme for information disclosure, liability protection over SIM and RFID cards, effective notice to excessive consumption, and the importance of consumer education. Businesses may also consider more effective consumer protection schemes. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/22/52/38077227.pdf The 'agreement' that sparked a storm At a recent legal presentation attended by prominent intellectual property lawyers and law professors, a loaded question was posed to the audience: "By a show of hands and be honest, now how many of you read the terms and conditions presented in an end-user license agreement?" Of the nearly 100 people in the auditorium, not a single hand was raised. Shocking? Only if such an admission is unexpected. It really isn't. http://www.abanet.org/buslaw/blt/2007-01-02/kahana.shtml The Net Neutrality Debate: Twenty Five Years After United States v. AT&T and 120 Years After the Act to Regulate Commerce by BRUCE OWEN (Stanford Law and Economics Oline Working Paper) Abstract: Net neutrality policies could only be implemented through detailed price regulation, an approach that has often failed, in the past, to improve consumer welfare relative to what might have been expected under an unregulated monopoly. Regulatory agencies often settle into a well-established pattern of subservience to politically influential economic interests. Consumers, would-be entrants and innovators are not likely to be among these influential groups. History thus counsels against adoption of most versions of net neutrality, at least in the absence of refractory monopoly power and strong evidence of anticompetitive behavior - extreme cases justifying dangerous, long shot remedies. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=963623 Helping Hands: Design for Member-Maintained Online Communities This thesis studies the design of member-maintained online communities, systems where many members help perform upkeep. A key design challenge is motivating members to contribute toward maintenance. Social science theories help to explain why people contribute to groups. We use these theories to design two general mechanisms for increasing peoples motivation to contribute. http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~cosley/thesis/final.pdf Where Antitrust Ends and IP Begins by Katarzyna A. Czapracka (Yale Journal of Law and Technology) U.S. antitrust enforcers see little scope for antitrust policy to mitigate the consequences of imperfect IP policies. They are reluctant to intervene in what is perceived to be the sphere of IP policy and take the view that any competitive concerns are better remedied by changes in the IP policy. This trend corresponds with shielding antitrust policy away from fields occupied by other forms of regulation. Exactly the opposite tendencies are present in EU competition law. Both the European Commission and the ECJ seem to see a role for competition law to correct improvidently defined IPRs, even if it entails adjusting competition principles. It may seem reasonable, as unlike competition policy, most issues relating to IP policy within the European Union are still decided at the national level. Yet, there is an inherent danger in this approach. It may lead antitrust authorities to adopt analytically questionable approaches that undermine the coherence of antitrust law. Competition agencies must be particularly cautious in adopting the measures to curb IP laws, as they may discourage private R&D investment. The views of the Commission on application of Article 82 to interoperability information, as expressed in the Microsoft Decision and the Article 82 Paper, confirm that these reservations are valid. http://research.yale.edu/lawmeme/yjolt/files/20062007Issue/fall06-czapracka… The Race Robert Kuttner learns that newspapers have a bright future as print-digital hybrids after all-- but they'd better hurry. http://cjr.org/issues/2007/2/Kuttner.asp Does information beget information? by Dennis S. Karjala (Duke L. & Tech. Rev) Using the language of mathematics, Professor Polk Wagner has recently argued that the impossibility of fully appropriating the value of information in a rightsholder leads to the surprising conclusion that expanding the degree of control of intellectual property rights will, in the long run, increase the sum total of information not subject to ownership claims and therefore available as part of the cultural and technological base on which new growth and development can occur. Indeed, he claims that open information will grow according to the formula for compound interest, where the interest rate is 100% plus or minus a factor z supposedly related to creation incentives. This article demonstrates that Professor Wagner's mathematical analysis is simply wrong and does not lead to any of the conclusions he reaches concerning the growth of open information. It also shows both the difficulties and the dangers of the lay use of the language of mathematics in resolving complex social problems even if one does the math correctly. http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dltr/articles/2007dltr0001.html Internet 3.0: Identifying Problems and Solutions to the Network Neutrality Debate by ROB FRIEDEN (Pennsylvania State University) This paper examines the network neutrality debate with an eye toward refuting and dismissing the many false and misleading claims and concentrating on the real problems occasioned by the Internet's third evolution. The paper accepts as necessary and proper many types of price and quality of service discrimination. However the paper identifies other types of hidden and harmful discrimination. The paper concludes with an identification of best practices in good discrimination that should satisfy most network neutrality goals without creating disincentives that might dissuade ISPs from building the infrastructure needed for Internet 3.0 services. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=962181 The Internet and the Project of Communications Law by SUSAN P. CRAWFORD (Cardozo Law School) Abstract: The internet offers the potential for economic growth stemming from online human communications, but recent industry and government actions have disfavored these possibilities by treating the internet like a content-delivery supply chain. I recommend that the internet be at the center of communications policy and that laws affecting internet access be evaluated in terms of whether they further U.S. economic growth by facilitating increased emergent online diversity. The article criticizes the nearly exclusive focus of communications policy on the private economic success of infrastructure and application providers, and suggests that communications policy be focused on facilitating communications themselves. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=962594 Internet Think by SUSAN P. CRAWFORD (Journal on Telecommunications and High Technology Law) Abstract: This essay suggests that how "the internet" is understood has substantial legal, social, and cultural consequences. Beginning in the 1940s, Netheads adopted an understanding of man-computer symbiosis that continues to be attractive to internet futurists. Later on, in the 1970s, Engineers addressed the architectural needs of the future in a concrete way, seeking to interconnect diverse networks. In recent years, the Telcos have increasingly taken the position that "the Internet" is no more than the sum of their privately-owned pipes and wires. These three different approaches to "the Internet" are now informing a complex and important public policy debate about "network neutrality." http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=962596 Rebooting Cybertort Law by MICHAEL L. RUSTAD & THOMAS KOENIG (Washington Law Review) Abstract: Cyberspace provides an ideal legal environment for tortfeasors and online criminals because Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have no duty to mitigate harms caused by ongoing torts, crimes, and infringing acts. Courts have stretched Congress's express language in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act from the narrow purpose of immunizing ISPs as publishers to the expanded purpose of shielding them from all tort liability. This Article proposes imposing a limited duty of crae on ISPs to remove or block ongoing tortious activities on their srvices when they have been given actual notice. This reform will harmonize American ISP liability law with the European union's Electronic Commerce Directive, which imposes an affirmative duty on ISPs to take down objectionable materials. It also will unify U.S. law by creating procedures consistent with the takedown policy mandated by the Digital Copyright Act. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=961885 Authors v. Archivers: The Copyright Infringement Battle Over Web Pages by KINARI PATEL Abstract: Archiving Internet content by storing old versions of Web pages is currently a growing trend because of the educational, cultural, and evidentiary value it provides. Google and the Internet Archive are two examples of Internet archives that provide this service. However, by storing old versions of Web pages without first obtaining the permission of authors, Internet archives infringe on the copyrights of authors. Under the fair use exception to copyright infringement, Internet archives may be legally authorized to archive old versions of Web pages without first obtaining the permission of authors in certain situations. However, this paper argues that, in all cases, the burden should be placed on authors to notify Internet archives that they wish for their Web pages to be excluded from the archive, rather than placing the burden on Internet archives to contact authors before they archive Web pages. By not overburdening Internet archives, the current opt-out policy is more advantageous than an opt-in policy because it allows Internet archives to continue to provide the benefits of archiving old Web pages to the public. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=965199 Corporate Complicity in Internet Censorship in China: Who Cares for the Global Compact or the Global Online Freedom Act? by SURYA DEVA (George Washington International Law Review) This article critically evaluates the efficacy of two regulatory initiatives - the UN Global Compact and the US Global Online Freedom Act - in dealing with the specific challenges posed by doing business with or within China. In considering how much promise these two initiatives offer in ensuring that corporations take their human rights responsibilities seriously, two specific claims are advanced. First, that the Global Compact has failed not only in convincing US corporations to embrace, support and enact its ten principles, but also in ensuring that participant corporations seriously fulfill their undertaken commitments. Such a US-specific inquiry is especially relevant because many MNCs that have been sued for human rights abuses have a presence in the US. The second claim is that although home state extraterritorial regulation is a potential option to tame MNCs' abusive activities, it is unlikely that the Freedom Act, even if enacted, will achieve its goal of promoting Internet freedom globally by combating censorship by authoritarian foreign governments. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=964478 The Structure of Search Engine Law by JAMES GRIMMELMANN (Yale Law School Information Society Project) Abstract: This article will provide a road map to the legal issues posed by Internet search engines. It will indicate what questions we must consider when thinking about search engines, and it will detail the interconnections among those questions. It will not endorse any particular normative framework for search. Nor will it recommend who should regulate search. Instead, it will provide the necessary foundation for informed decision-making, by whatever regulator and whatever its normative approach. Part I will explain how modern search engines function and describe the business environment within which they operate. Part II, the heart of the article, will present a descriptive analysis of the legal struggles over search, showing how questions of search policy, many of which have long been latent in different fields of Internet law, are increasingly confronting lawyers, courts, and regulators. Part III will then show, with five examples, how taking a broad view of search yields otherwise unavailable insights into pressing controversies. This is not to say that the end result must be a body of search-specific law, only to note that failing to consider the larger forces at work in search is antithetical to sensible policy-making. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=963118 Internet Jurisdiction: A Comparative Analysis (Harvard Law Review) The difficult jurisdictional issues raised by the Internet have captured significant attention, prompting one federal judge to comment that, [t]o paraphrase Gertrude Stein, as far as the Internet is concerned, not only is there perhaps no there there, the there is everywhere where there is Internet access. This lack of clear borders creates tension between different interests. The media desire certainty regarding when online content creates a basis for personal jurisdiction so that they can avoid defamation lawsuits in distant places. Sovereign nations want to ensure that the ubiquitous nature of the Internet does not undermine their ability to enforce substantive laws balancing speech and reputation rights. This Parts comparison of U.S. and Commonwealth cases reveals differing approaches to determining when to exercise jurisdiction over media defendants based on Internet content. U.S. courts have adopted a targeting test that requires purposefully directing activity at a forum as opposed to merely providing content accessible there. Courts in Commonwealth countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada, have based jurisdiction on foreseeability, exercising jurisdiction over any online media content that could harm a plaintiffs reputation in the forum. Although these inconsistent jurisdictional tests are a matter of procedure, they stem from different substantive laws and from Commonwealth courts underlying unfriendliness to U.S. free speech protections. Media defendants have argued for special jurisdictional rules applicable to the Internet alone; however, any such call for reform must recognize that the procedural divergence results from entrenched substantive differences. Thus, this Part argues that absent an international agreement harmonizing the jurisdictional analysis, courts are not likely to adopt special Internet rules, and media groups will instead be compelled to turn to technological solutions. http://www.harvardlawreview.org/issues/120/feb07/DEVO/DEVO_intro07.pdf *********** CENSORSHIP *********** au: Industry closes anti-coal website THE mining industry has used copyright laws to close an anti-mining website launched by a small protest group in Newcastle. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/03/04/1172943275688.html Egypt's bloggers test state media control (Reuters) Egyptian bloggers have come into the spotlight, on the one hand as an important forum for political debate, on the other as the target of government attempts to limit their freedom of expression. http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL2870055620070304 Movement to free Kareem looks to UN We've learned all too well by now that many parts of the globe won't tolerate any perceived insult to Islam, however unintentional. Invite cartoonists to draw Muhammad, as Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten did in 2005, or be one of the dozens of other publications that reprinted the caricatures in solidarity with Jyllands-Posten, and watch the death threats pour in and lethal rioting start as some Muslim organizations try to get the government to levy criminal charges. http://hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layo… Egyptian Blogger Appeals Prison Sentence (AP) Lawyers filed an appeal Monday on behalf of a blogger who was sentenced to four years in prison for insulting Islam and Egypt's president. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/27/AR200702270… *************** DIGITAL DIVIDE *************** ca: The Digital Divide: Is There A Solution? Definition of the Digital Divide: The difference in opportunities available to people who have access to modern information technology and those who do not. Traditionally the working poor and homeless have been at a big disadvantage by not having access to the latest technology available. The disadvantages are many. Lack of access to information and being less competitive in the job market are two of the most significant. http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/03/04/064418.php ie: ComReg report reveals a growing digital divide The latest Trends Series survey, which was conducted by Amarach Consulting during November and December 2006, indicates that 45 percent of home internet users now have broadband subscriptions. This compares to 48 percent of home internet users who still access the web via dial-up. http://www.enn.ie/frontpage/news-9943682.html FastWeb founder turns his attention to Internet television and video-on-demand In seven and a half years, Silvio Scaglia transformed FastWeb from a start-up with a plan to bring fiber-optic cables into houses from Milan to Palermo into a company with 1.3 billion in annual sales and 1.1 million clients. http://iht.com/articles/2007/03/04/business/nettv05.php ***** VoIP ***** us: FCC: Local telephone carriers must connect to VOIP The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has ruled that incumbent local exchange carriers must connect to VoIP services, overruling two state public service commission opinions. http://infoworld.com/article/07/03/02/HNlocalphonevoip_1.html ********************************** ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a PS3 game guru. Get your game face on with the latest PS3 news and previews at Yahoo! Games. http://videogames.yahoo.com/platform?platform=120121

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EASSy: What's in a Name?
by A. Wanjira Munyua 07 Mar '07

07 Mar '07

----- Original Message ----- From: "Wairagala Wakabi" <wakabi(a)cipesa.org> To: "APC - Private list for use by EASSY Workshop Participants" <fibre-for-africa(a)lists.apc.org> Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 3:28 PM Subject: [Fibre-for-africa] EASSy: What's in a Name? > Here are the views of CIPESA Senior Policy Associate Anthony Mugeere on > the reported renaming of EASSy. He wonders whether change of name would > achieve anything but that. > -- > > EASSy re-naming is not an EASY option > > By Anthony Mugeere > > So what, as renowned playwright William Shakespeare once asked, is in a > name? Does a rose (flower) by any another name still smell the same? > > The recent pronouncement by South Africas communications minister, > Matsepe-Casaburri that the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) had > been renamed the NEPAD Broadband Infrastructure Network (NBIN) was as > astounding as her assertion, during the same function, that the original > model developed for the cable is not what international financial > institutions such as the World Bank would have liked. This was in direct > reference to the closed access model, believed to be widely favoured by > the consortium telecom operators who conceived the EASSy project way back > in 1992. > > Whereas the merits and demerits of closed access have been widely debated > by all and sundry, the assertion gives further credence to what some > analysts have for long asked: What really does the World Bank stand for? > In the early 1990s, the Washington-based financial institution pushed for > the liberalisation and privatisation of the telecom sub-sector in almost > all African countries - with resounding success. By so doing, the World > Bank wanted governments to get out of utility services such as > telecommunications so that the profit-driven and often more efficient > private sector takes centre stage. Countries like Uganda, that implemented > the structural adjustment policies are now role models of accepting the > closed access model of telecom growth and are reaping big dividends. So > has the World Bank changed its thinking on liberalisation when it supports > NEPADa representative of regional governments? That however, is another > story. > > Todays story is entirely about the change of name by NEPAD. On the > outlook, there is nothing to write home about. It is just a change of > name, period! Two glaring facts are however very clear about the > development: First, NEPAD is now the regional initiative that is > implementing the once much-publicised EASSy project. Secondly, that EASSy > thing as it was once labelled by a member of the NEPAD e-Africa > Commission is just a component of what NEPAD is doing now. The > Pretoria-based commission is currently working implementing the overall > broadband infrastructure network. > > Whereas the implementation of the project is only awaiting signing and > ratification of the protocol and perhaps the announcement of the new > landing point for the second undersea cable, the renaming of the project > further shows that the founding fathers of the EASSy cable are being > relegated to a less fancied position in the decision making hierarchy. > Although NEPAD has, on several occasions, denied claims by some consortium > members that it hijacked their thing, the renaming of the project would > lend more sympathy to the club members in the cause than to the regional > body. The situation is akin to constructing a houses internal water and > sewerage systemcomplete with high-density pipes - without working on the > outside system that connects it to the municipality or national grid. > > When will NEPAD, given the bureaucratic protocol issues, pull off the > broadband project all the way from South Africa through Botswana, > Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Uganda to Kigali as explained by the > communications minister? Wont individual countries like Uganda who are in > the process of laying their own backbone infrastructure complete theirs > and tap onto the Kenyan link and trigger a tapping wave from its > neighbours especially Rwanda and Burundi? Wont private investors, who > have already smelt a business opportunity cash in on the situation to tap > on the Kenya line to do closed access business before NEPAD opens up its > network? > > NEPAD needs to ponder these and more questions as it embarks on > implementing the regions eagerly awaited infrastructure project. Having > re-named the baby, it is not wise to throw out young EASSys bed just yet. > Implementing the EASSy project, as first conceived in 2002 would have > delivered immediate relief to those in urgent need of affordable bandwidth > and reliable connectivity than implementing a massive broadband project, > subject to bureaucratic and funding bottlenecks under a new name. The > equation is simple: If it sounds like EASSy, it should be easy. Wrapping > rose flowers to be delivered as a Valentines Day gift to your spouse or > lover with inscriptions reading, accept these bougainvillea flowers does > not, in any way negate the fact that they are rose flowers. But then, when > have EASSy matters ever been easy? > -- > > Wakabi > > ============== > Wairagala Wakabi > Research Associate > CIPESA > Plot 22 Bukoto Street, Kamwokya > P.O Box 26970 Kampala, Uganda > Tel. +256 41 531899 > Cell: +256 772 406 241 > Email: wakabi(a)cipesa.org > www.cipesa.org > _______________________________________________ > Fibre-for-africa mailing list > Fibre-for-africa(a)lists.apc.org > http://lists.apc.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fibre-for-africa

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Fwd: [TIER] Kenyans to transfer money using cell phones
by Eric Osiakwan 07 Mar '07

07 Mar '07

Begin forwarded message: > From: Omar Bakr <ombakr(a)cs.berkeley.edu> > Date: 7 March 2007 08:10:12 GMT+03:00 > To: tier(a)tier.cs.berkeley.edu > Subject: [TIER] Kenyans to transfer money using cell phones > Reply-To: ombakr(a)cs.berkeley.edu > > http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070306/tc_nm/ > kenya_safaricom_dc;_ylt=Ag4Aze84R.NQ0AijtjDj_24jtBAF > _______________________________________________ > TIER mailing list > TIER(a)tier.cs.berkeley.edu > https://mail.millennium.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tier Eric M.K Osiakwan Executive Secretary AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org) Tel: + 233.21.258800 ext 2031 Fax: + 233.21.258811 Cell: + 233.244.386792 Handle: eosiakwan Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/ Slang: "Tomorrow Now"

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Celtel Malawi says fire cuts off network
by Tiwonge Msulira Banda 07 Mar '07

07 Mar '07

Its now 5 days since Celtel Malawi went off as a result of fire. More on the following links: http://za.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID… http://www.nationmalawi.com/articles.asp?articleID=20927 Regards, Tiwonge -- Tiwonge Msulira Banda ___________ The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. (Numbers 6:24-26, King James Version)

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Fwd: SANTECemailList Digest, Vol 79, Issue 1
by Judy Okite 05 Mar '07

05 Mar '07

FYI Kind Regards, ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: santecemaillist(a)mailman.unisa.ac.za To: <santecemaillist(a)mailman.unisa.ac.za> Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2007 14:34:52 +0200 Subject: [SANTECemailList] Second Call for Papers - Virtual Reality in Distance Education * Second Call for Papers - Virtual Reality in Distance Education This second Call for Papers is for a theme issue of the International Journal of Social Sciences (IJSS) (http://www.enformatika.org/ijss/) entitled Virtual Reality in Distance Education. The projected publication date is October 2007 (Volume 1, N. 4). The Guest Editor is Gulsun Kurubacak, Ed.D. (gkurubac(a)anadolu.edu.tr) International Journal of Social Sciences (IJSS) is a scholarly open access, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, quarterly and fully refereed journal focusing on theories, methods and applications in social sciences. This open access, peer-reviewed journal encourages top-flight social science inquiry and research across all social science disciplines. It also recognizes contributions made by the social science research community to other disciplines, including biological and physical sciences, and promotes connections between all research communities. Welcome are submissions on Virtual Reality communications, pedagogies, technologies, and managements. The aim of this Special Issue is to add to the body of literature and encourage discussions and promote the exchange of ideas and information on Virtual Reality in Distance Education. Our intent is to stimulate critical debate and research, and add to the theoretical foundation used to underline Virtual Reality research, approaches, principles, and applications. Improvements in Virtual Reality have powerful impressions on digital society; therefore concentration will also be paid to communicational, educational, organizational, psychological and also sociological aspects. All submissions will be peer reviewed. Those submissions accepted for publication will be published in the International Journal of Social Sciences (IJSS). DEADLINES: * Submission Proposals: March 30, 2007 * Notification of Acceptance: April 15, 2007 * Papers Due: May 31, 2007 * Peer Reviews Returned: July 15, 2007 * Finalized Papers Due: August 30, 2007 * Publication Date: October 01, 2007 SUBMISSION PROPOSALS Individual or multiple-authors must first submit an abstract-length proposal of approximately 500-750 words to International Journal of Social Sciences (IJSS) Guest Editor, Gulsun Kurubacak, at gkurubac(a)anadolu.edu.tr . Those who have had their abstracts accepted will be formally invited by the Guest Editor to submit a full-length paper of approximately 5000 to 7000 words. For IJSS's submission guidelines, visit: http://www.enformatika.org/ijss/instructions.html All full length papers submitted to IJSS will be subject to multiple blind peer review. All blind peer reviews will be shared with the authors. While influenced by the outcome of the blind peer reviews, the Guest Editor, Gulsun Kurubacak reserves the right to decide on final publication. TOPICS MAY INCLUDE BUT NOT LIMITED: * Virtual Reality as A New Media * Building and Implementing Virtual Reality Strategies in Educational, Medical, etc. Institutions, Corporations and Government * Emerging Hardware and Software for Virtual Reality * Computer Graphics and Real-Time Simulation Technologies for Virtual Reality * Building Interactive and Collaborative Virtual Reality Milieus * Building Knowledge Networks through Virtual Reality * Theoretical Considerations for the Development of Virtual Reality * Media Technology for Virtual Reality * Pedagogy for Virtual Reality * Implementing Virtual Reality * Management of Virtual Reality Processes * Evaluation in Virtual Reality * The Strengths and Limits of Virtual Reality * Informal Learning and Communications Utilizing Virtual Reality * Educational Design for Virtual Reality * Communicational Design for Virtual Reality * Learner Support in Virtual Reality * Learning Objects for Virtual Reality * Multicultural Implications of Virtual Reality * Virtual Reality for Diverse Learners * Establish Virtual Reality Milieus for a Global Community * Building Democratic and Egalitarian Virtual Worlds * Identities in Virtual Reality * Virtual Reality and Culture * Virtual Reality for the Next Generation * Virtual Reality for Mutual Understanding * Quality Insurance in Virtual Reality * Accreditation for Virtual Reality * Case Studies, Qualitative, Qualitative and Mixed Researches in Virtual Reality For more information contact: Gulsun Kurubacak, Ed.D Assistant Professor in Distance Education Anadolu University College of Open Education Distance Education Dept Email: gkurubac(a)anadolu.edu.tr * _______________________________________________ The SANTECemailList mailing list is SANTECemailList(a)mailman.unisa.ac.za http://mailman.unisa.ac.za/mailman/listinfo/santecemaillist -- Judy Ann Okite, +254-721237507,+254-734252336 P.O. BOX 2228 00100, NAIROBI,KENYA. "Even if you are on the right track, you'll still get run over if you just sit there."

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Global growth in cell phone connections
by Harry Hare 05 Mar '07

05 Mar '07

Dear Colleagues, The cellular market in Africa is expected to grow by 28% this year making it the fastest growing region globally. It is also predicted that there will be an estimated 409 million new connections this year making the total global cellular phone connections to 3 billion..serious numbers if you asked me. You can read more on http://cgap.org/portal/site/portfolio/Feb2007Data/ Harry -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.5/707 - Release Date: 3/1/2007 2:43 PM -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.5/707 - Release Date: 3/1/2007 2:43 PM

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KDN’S WULFF EXPRESSES DOUBTS ABOUT EASSY PROJECT
by alice＠apc.org 05 Mar '07

05 Mar '07

INTERNET NEWS FROM BALANCING ACT * KDN’S WULFF EXPRESSES DOUBTS ABOUT EASSY PROJECT Many consumers, African Governments and companies are pinning their hopes on the East African Submarine System (EASSy) to lower international bandwidth costs allowing for cheaper broadband services. But is the project doomed for failure? Speaking at the Institute for International Research Broadband Conference, Dr. Kai Wulff, Managing Director of Kenya Data Networks (KDN), expressed serious doubts over the EASSy project as a whole. Wulff described EASSy as a project which evolved out of the noble need to drive down broadband costs, but is essentially a group of ministers which ‘decided to invest some money, which they don’t have, into a system which they do not know what it should look like.’ While the development of an open access submarine system is a good idea, the project as whole has evolved to a stage where the effectiveness and cost of access on the cable is not guaranteed. Wulff further warned that EASSy is falling increasingly under the control of monopolistic operators like Telkom SA, and this shift is threatening the principle upon which the project was founded which is to bring more affordable broadband services and bandwidth to African consumers. Questions were raised about the rather strange termination point of Djibouti for the EASSy cable, especially since the investors in the cable may then be reliant on the monopolistic Djibouti Telecom for onward bandwidth to the rest of the world. The KDN MD asked whether the Djibouti termination point would have still been selected if Djibouti Telecom was not part of the EASSy consortium. Wulff said that unless investors in EASSy can be offered certain guarantees, like the price of bandwidth on the cable, the price of onward bandwidth from Djibouti and access to the termination points of the cable, it does not make sense to blindly invest in such a system. He pointed out that unless investors have open access to the EASSy termination points, they may have to pay exorbitant fees for onwards bandwidth from Djibouti which will eliminate the advantages of the cable, even if prices on the system itself are very low. Wulff said that before KDN, one of the few potential investors who have their money ready, signs the EASSy agreement, they will need to receive clarity regarding onward bandwidth capacity, pricing of bandwidth on the actual system and access to the cable landing stations. Another issue which was challenged is the concept of ‘Open Access’. While the philosophy behind an open access network is commendable, Wulff questioned how the pricing levels will be set and who will be responsible for these levels. With EASSy being touted as a direct competitor to the current SAT3/SAFE system, a system which Telkom currently profits from, it raises questions concerning Telkom’s dedication to see the new cable become a success story. Currently SAT3/SAFE is serving a large portion of the international bandwidth needs of South Africa, and with exclusivity rights on SAT3, Telkom stands to lose millions in profit if EASSy provides competition on international bandwidth to Southern African countries. A basic South African – Djibouti link may however serve Telkom’s African ISP aspirations, which is significant if one considers their recent R 142.6 Million purchase of Africa Online. This cable can supply Telkom with better control of the East African ISP market, and may explain why consortium members like Telkom may not be too concerned about onwards international bandwidth from Djibouti. When asked whether a 2008 launch date for EASSy is feasible, Wulff made it clear that it will never happen. He said that a minimum of 18 months is needed to roll out the system after the ‘money is ready’, something that may take a very long time in itself to materialize. (SOURCE: MyADSL)

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Eassy renamed The Nepad Broadband Infrastructure Network
by alice＠apc.org 04 Mar '07

04 Mar '07

(Apologies for cross posting) -----Original Message----- From: Raymond Smith (R) Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 2:19 PM To: Johan Meyer (JP); Prince Radebe (PJ); Peet Janse Van Rensburg (HP); Kobus Stoeder (JF) Subject: Eassy renamed The Nepad Broadband Infrastructure Network Cape Town | ITWeb, 20 February 2007 ] - Eassy (The East African Submarine Cable System) has been renamed The Nepad Broadband Infrastructure Network (NBIN), because Kenya has opted out of the South African-led continental fiber optic backbone system, says communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri. Speaking before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications today, Matsepe-Casaburri gave a rundown on the structure of the network, such as the special purpose vehicles (SPVs) that are being created to manage, maintain, operate and fund the terrestrial and undersea components of the system. According to the minister, the network will be controlled through a "golden share" scheme, whereby African countries would be able retain control of the various entities that are to be created to run the entire network and keep it from falling into foreign hands. Matsepe-Casaburri says the ratification of the inter-governmental treaty should appear before Parliament around June and that 12 out of 23 countries that had initially agreed to it had signed the treaty. The NBIN aims to provide a number of landlocked African countries, mainly on the eastern side of the continent, access to two broadband networks. One will run as backbone from South Africa through Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Uganda to terminate in the Rawandan capital of Kigali. The second is an undersea cable that will run up the African east coast and was supposed to land in Kenya. The new landing point has not been announced as yet. Other countries that have signed up are Lesotho, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritius, Namibia and Madagascar. Special vehicles According to Matsepe-Casaburri, three types of special purpose vehicles (SPVs) will be created to maintain, operate and finance the network. The use of SPVs was recommended because they would be able to go and raise the capital needed without having to resort to individual government loan applications to international financial institutions. African governments to operate and maintain the terrestrial networks will own the first type of SPV. The second type of SPV will be a hybrid model that would include African governments and private companies that are licensed to operate telecommunications networks. The third type of SPV will operate and maintain the undersea system and this will allow the participation of foreign-owned telecommunications operators, although they would not be allowed to have controlling stakes. No foreigners Matsepe-Casaburri says the participation of foreign-owned firms in NBIN will be limited to ensure that it remains an African-led project, and to ensure the security of the network. She noted that the model developed is not what international financial institutions such as the World Bank would have liked. However, she says, it is based on an open access model with non-discriminatory pricing meaning that anyone, whether a shareholder or not, would pay the same fees. "We wanted to avoid the club-type situation we have had with the (Telkom) SAT-3 undersea cable, but this did not sit well with a number of other countries and institutions," Matsepe-Casaburri says. She wanted to elaborate on her comment, but then realised that the media were present. South African companies that have already been identified as potential partners in the project are Telkom, Sentech, MTN, Vodacom and Cell C. However, Matsepe-Casaburri says the door is not closed on other potential investors. ________________ Raymond Smith Senior Specialist International Market Development Telkom Market Strategy and Development Phone: +27 12 311 6478 Mobile +27 82 7750558 FAX: +27 12 311 7910

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Re: [kictanet] KIXP History in the making!
by Wainaina Mungai 03 Mar '07

03 Mar '07

hi... please contact Dr. Matunda Nyanchama on matunda(a)hotmail.com He has been active in the Canada chapter of Kenyans abroad. --- Wainaina Mungai http://www.madeinkenya.org SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. > -------Original Message------- > From: Midafrica <media(a)midafricanet.co.ke> > Subject: Re: [kictanet] KIXP History in the making! > Sent: 02 Mar '07 07:41 > > > > Jambo Wote, > > I wish to get in touch with Kenyans living in Canada, and especially in > Torronto. If they have a Kenyan community association, I would like to know > their names and e-mails. > Wagatharia > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > _______________________________________________ > > kictanet mailing list > > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at > > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/media%40midafricanet.co.ke > > > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/wainaina%40madeinkenya.org >

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U.S. Trade and Development Agency Sub-Saharan Africa Information and Communications Technology Conference San Francisco, California ● March 19-21, 2007
by alice＠apc.org 03 Mar '07

03 Mar '07

Hi all Anyone on the list attebnding this meeting? U.S. Trade and Development Agency Sub-Saharan Africa Information and Communications Technology Conference San Francisco, California ● March 19-21, 2007 PRELIMINARY AGENDA Monday, March 19, 2007 09:00 -19:30 Registration 09:15 - 09:45 Briefing for Project Presenters and Commercial Service Officers (by Invitation) 10:00 - 10:30 Briefing for African Communications Ministers and Dignitaries (by Invitation) 10:30 - 11:00 Briefing for U.S. Company Participants 11:00 - 12:30 Pre-Conference Technology Workshops: Workshop 1: New Service Technologies and Advanced Media Content This workshop will explore new technologies rapidly expanding across Africa, such as VOIP and mobile telephony, and the advanced services that they can provide. Workshop 2: Extending the Grid: Wireless, Rural Rollout, and Last Mile Connectivity Solutions This workshop will examine the role of wireless technologies and other innovations that are extending the grid to reach rural populations. 12:30 – 14:00 Lunch Break 14:00 - 15:00 Opening Plenary and Welcome 15:00 - 16:30 Overview of African ICT Environment This session will bring together prominent industry leaders from the public and private sector to discuss the current African ICT Environment and some of the significant issues that will guide future growth in the sector. 16:30 - 17:00 Press Briefing 19:00 – 20:30 Welcome Reception Tuesday, March 20, 2007 07:30 -18:00 Registration 07:45 - 09:00 Continental Breakfast – Partnership Breakfast African ICT companies will introduce themselves giving U.S. companies the opportunity to learn about potential African partners. 09:00 - 10:00 Creating a Winning ICT Environment This session will focus on African countries that have successfully developed policies that create an enabling environment for ICT businesses and are attracting significant ICT investment. 10:00 - 10:15 Networking Break 10:15 – 12:00 Project and Business Opportunities 1: ICT Infrastructure Development African delegates will present upcoming ICT infrastructure development projects and business opportunities, such as the installation of fiber optic networks, sub-sea cables, and satellite infrastructure. 12:00 – 13:30 Luncheon USTDA Grant Signing 13:30 - 14:30 African IT Workforce: Availability, Development and Training This session will focus on how companies investing in Africa can best employ, empower and expand the existing IT workforce on the Continent. 14:30 - 14:45 Networking Break 14:45 - 16:15 Project and Business Opportunities 2: E-Service Initiatives African delegates will present upcoming E-Service projects and business opportunities, such as E-Government, E-Post, and E-Health initiatives. 16:15 - 18:00 Pre-scheduled One-on-One Meetings 19:00 - 20:30 Reception and Dinner Wednesday, March 21, 2007 08:00 -18:00 Registration 08:15 - 09:00 Continental Breakfast 09:00 - 10:00 Financing ICT Investment This panel discussion will present strategies for financing ICT investment in Africa, and provide case studies of successful transactions. 10:00 - 10:15 Networking Break 10:15 – 12:00 Project and Business Opportunities 3: Telecom Service Sector African delegates will present upcoming telecom service sector projects and business opportunities, such as the issuance of new global licenses, private-sector network expansion strategies, and telecom liberalization. 12:00 - 14:00 Luncheon 14:00 - 15:00 Technology Workshops Workshop 3: Infrastructure Development and Network Expansion This workshop will examine technology solutions for country, regional, and international access. Workshop 4: E-Services This workshop will focus on technology used in the implementation of E-Government, E-Health, and E-Education programs. 15:00 – 15:15 Networking Break 15:15 – 16:15 Government /Business Roundtable The roundtable will highlight observations, lessons learned, and next steps toward project implementation, based on discussions and information gained during the conference. The participants will comprise a cross-section of U.S. and African public and private sector conference participants. 16:15-18:30 Pre-scheduled One-on-One Meetings 19:30 - 21:30 Closing Reception * A Technology Showcase Exhibit Area will be present for the duration of the Conference ** Preliminary Conference Agenda is subject to change. Updated information on the conference agenda, confirmed delegates and projects can be found at www.trademeetings.com

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EUROPEAN SUMMER SCHOOL ON INTERNET GOVERNANCE:
by alice＠apc.org 03 Mar '07

03 Mar '07

EUROPEAN SUMMER SCHOOL ON INTERNET GOVERNANCE: INTERACTIVE LEARNING IN A MULTISTAKEHOLDER ENVIRONMENT Meissen, Germany, July 30 - August 4, 2007 Internet Governance was one of the most controversial issues in the process of the UN sponsored "World Summit on the Information Society" (WSIS). Based on a broad definition of Internet Governance the Tunis phase of WSIS decided in November 2005 to establish an Internet Governance Forum (IGF) for further discussion of the various dimensions of Internet Governance and to launch a process towards enhanced cooperation among involved institutions and organisations like ICANN, ITU and others. The issue of Internet Governance is rather new not only for economic activities, political debate and diplomatic negotiations but it is also new both for scientific research and academic education. The European Summer School on Internet Governance (EURO-SSIG) will help to promote the understanding of the different dimensions of Internet Governance as it was defined in the Final Report of the UN Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) in July 2005. It will bring together students from different stakeholder groups to support a practice oriented interactive learning in a multistakeholder environment. The first European Summer School on Internet Governance (EURO-SSIG) will take place in the Evangelian Academy of the former St. Afra Monastir in Meissen/Germany, from Monday, July 30 - Saturday, August 4, 2007. The EURO-SSIG offers 40 hours of lectures and seminars on the different aspects of Internet Governance by leading international experts. The programme covers lectures on the technical, political, legal, socio-economic and cultural dimension of Internet Governance as well as theories on global governance in the information age and multistakeholderism. Faculty members include Prof. Jonathan Zittrain from the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), Dr. David Souter from the London School of Economics (LSE), Dr. Jeanette Hofmann from the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin and former WGIG Members Dr. Bill Drake and Jovan Kurbilja from the Geneva Institute for Higher International Studies (HEI), Avri Doria from Lulea Technology University (LTU) and Prof. Wolfgang Kleinwächter from the University of Aarhus who will chair the EURO-SSIG Faculty. Additionally to the lectures there will be evening round tables with leading professionals from government, private sector and civil society. EURO-SSIG is open both for students and academic staff members. There is a limited numbers of places for fellows from governmental agencies and the private sector. Fellows will get a signed certificate. The privileged participation fee - which includes accommodation (five nights), all meals, teaching material, the touristic program and the gala dinner - for students and academic staff members is 500.00 EUR (plus 19% VAT) per person. There are special tariffs for governmental and private sector representatives. Application forms can be found unter www.euro-ssig.eu. The dateline for applications is May, 15th, 2007. There is a limited number of fellowships for students which can be obtained on request and availability. The Summer School is organized by a consortium of European universities under the leadership of the Department of Media and Information Studies of the University of Aarhus in close cooperation with the "Global Internet Governance Academic Network" (GIGANET). It is supported by DENIC. Cooperation partners are UNESCO and the Diplo Foundation. To get more information contact the EURO-SSIG secretary Sandra Hoferichter under info(a)hoferichter.eu <mailto:info@hoferichter.e> or go to the EURO-SSIG website http://www.euro-ssig.eu <https://server1.medienkomm.uni-halle.de/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://ww…> which provides also special information with regard to accommodation and transportation.

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Re: [kictanet] KIXP History in the making!
by Wainaina Mungai 03 Mar '07

03 Mar '07

hi... please contact Dr. Matunda Nyanchama on matunda(a)hotmail.com He has been active in the Canada chapter of Kenyans abroad. --- Wainaina Mungai http://www.madeinkenya.org SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. > -------Original Message------- > From: Midafrica <media(a)midafricanet.co.ke> > Subject: Re: [kictanet] KIXP History in the making! > Sent: 02 Mar '07 07:41 > > > > Jambo Wote, > > I wish to get in touch with Kenyans living in Canada, and especially in > Torronto. If they have a Kenyan community association, I would like to know > their names and e-mails. > Wagatharia > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > _______________________________________________ > > kictanet mailing list > > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at > > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/media%40midafricanet.co.ke > > > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/wainaina%40madeinkenya.org >

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Eassy renamed The Nepad BroadbandInfrastructureNetwork
by alice＠apc.org 02 Mar '07

02 Mar '07

And another question.....remember NEPAD advocated and still advocates for greater participation in the world economy etc etc. So I ask, in view of the recent developments Re; EASSy.....on whose terms? alice > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Alex Gakuru" <alex.gakuru(a)yahoo.com> > To: <alice(a)apc.org> > Cc: "Kenya ICT Policy" <media(a)kictanet.or.ke>; > <civilsociety(a)kictanet.or.ke> > Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2007 5:53 PM > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Eassy renamed The Nepad Broadband > InfrastructureNetwork > > >> Wow! >> Q: So South Africa can unilaterally rename a Pan-African initiative >> alone? >> Q: Was Kenya not to remain in the delay-prone project for redundancy? >> Q: I also believed Kenya had stated we were building a regional TEAMS the >> vast capacity? >> Q: Is South African Freedom of Information really working properly for >> their media? >> >> More questions than answers according to me... >> >> /Alex >> >> alice(a)apc.org wrote: (Apologies for cross posting) >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Raymond Smith (R) >> Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 2:19 PM >> To: Johan Meyer (JP); Prince Radebe (PJ); Peet Janse Van Rensburg >> (HP); Kobus Stoeder (JF) >> Subject: Eassy renamed The Nepad Broadband Infrastructure Network >> >> >> Cape Town | ITWeb, 20 February 2007 ] - Eassy (The East African >> Submarine Cable System) has been renamed The Nepad Broadband >> Infrastructure Network (NBIN), because Kenya has opted out of the South >> African-led continental fiber optic backbone system, says communications >> minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri. >> >> Speaking before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications >> today, Matsepe-Casaburri gave a rundown on the structure of the network, >> such as the special purpose vehicles (SPVs) that are being created to >> manage, maintain, operate and fund the terrestrial and undersea >> components of the system. >> >> According to the minister, the network will be controlled through a >> "golden share" scheme, whereby African countries would be able retain >> control of the various entities that are to be created to run the entire >> network and keep it from falling into foreign hands. >> >> Matsepe-Casaburri says the ratification of the inter-governmental treaty >> should appear before Parliament around June and that 12 out of 23 >> countries that had initially agreed to it had signed the treaty. >> >> The NBIN aims to provide a number of landlocked African countries, >> mainly on the eastern side of the continent, access to two broadband >> networks. One will run as backbone from South Africa through Botswana, >> Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Uganda to terminate in the Rawandan capital >> of Kigali. The second is an undersea cable that will run up the African >> east coast and was supposed to land in Kenya. The new landing point has >> not been announced as yet. Other countries that have signed up are >> Lesotho, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritius, Namibia and >> Madagascar. >> >> Special vehicles >> >> According to Matsepe-Casaburri, three types of special purpose vehicles >> (SPVs) will be created to maintain, operate and finance the network. The >> use of SPVs was recommended because they would be able to go and raise >> the capital needed without having to resort to individual government >> loan applications to international financial institutions. >> >> African governments to operate and maintain the terrestrial networks >> will own the first type of SPV. The second type of SPV will be a hybrid >> model that would include African governments and private companies that >> are licensed to operate telecommunications networks. The third type of >> SPV will operate and maintain the undersea system and this will allow >> the participation of foreign-owned telecommunications operators, >> although they would not be allowed to have controlling stakes. >> >> No foreigners >> >> Matsepe-Casaburri says the participation of foreign-owned firms in NBIN >> will be limited to ensure that it remains an African-led project, and to >> ensure the security of the network. >> >> She noted that the model developed is not what international financial >> institutions such as the World Bank would have liked. However, she says, >> it is based on an open access model with non-discriminatory pricing >> meaning that anyone, whether a shareholder or not, would pay the same >> fees. >> >> "We wanted to avoid the club-type situation we have had with the >> (Telkom) SAT-3 undersea cable, but this did not sit well with a number >> of other countries and institutions," Matsepe-Casaburri says. >> >> She wanted to elaborate on her comment, but then realised that the media >> were present. >> >> South African companies that have already been identified as potential >> partners in the project are Telkom, Sentech, MTN, Vodacom and Cell C. >> However, Matsepe-Casaburri says the door is not closed on other >> potential investors. >> >> ________________ >> Raymond Smith >> Senior Specialist >> International Market Development >> Telkom Market Strategy and Development >> Phone: +27 12 311 6478 >> Mobile +27 82 7750558 >> FAX: +27 12 311 7910 >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> kictanet mailing list >> kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke >> http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet >> >> Please unsubscribe or change your options at >> http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alex.gakuru%40yahoo.com >> >> >> >> --------------------------------- >> We won't tell. Get more on shows you hate to love >> (and love to hate): Yahoo! TV's Guilty Pleasures list. > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > >> _______________________________________________ >> kictanet mailing list >> kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke >> http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet >> >> Please unsubscribe or change your options at >> http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alice%40apc.org > > > _______________________________________________ > media mailing list > media(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/media > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/media/alice%40apc.org

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test
by alice＠apc.org 02 Mar '07

02 Mar '07

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KIXP History in the making!
by Michuki Mwangi 02 Mar '07

02 Mar '07

FYI, KIXP hit its highest traffic capacity rates yesterday following the online publication of the KCSE Results 32Mbps. This is clear leadership from the Government in promoting/generating local content. We need a couple more of such. Bravo! -- Michuki Mwangi KENIC

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Needed: Experts for Detailed Feasibility Study for the implementation of asubmarine cable system for the Indian Ocean Commission countries
by Harry Hare 28 Feb '07

28 Feb '07

FYI .apologies for cross-posting. Harry ------- Original Message ------- >From : Jane Møller Larsen[mailto:-jml@ict.danishma-nagement.-dk] Sent : 2/28/2007 2:34:21 PM To : jml(a)ict.danishmanag-ement.dk Cc : Subject : FW: Needed: Experts for Detailed Feasibility Study for the implementation of asubmarine cable system for the Indian Ocean Commission countries Dear Sir/Madam, Please also distribute this to personal contacts and networks where you believe that experts could find interest in this. Thank you in advance. ____________-_________-_________-_________-_________-_________-_________-__ We are presently looking for experts who have an interest in the following position: Project title: Detailed feasibility study (DFS) for the implementation of a submarine cable system for the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) countries Application deadline: As soon as possible and at the latest 9 March 2007 Contract duration: Short term Company: Danish Management A/S (http://www.-danishmanagement-.dk/) for the RICTSP/COMESA. ____________-_________-_________-_________-_________-_________-_________-__ General information: The objective: The IOC requires a Detailed Feasibility Study (DFS) exploring all options to ensure adequate and sustainable international broadband connection to its member countries (Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion Island and Seychelles). Scope of work: The DFS will cover the technical, commercial and financial feasibility investigations, developing and analyzing detailed configurations, as well as economic and financial analysis for connecting the countries to a submarine cable system. Results to be delivered: i. A complete traffic study for IOC countries over a 10-15 year period; ii. A description of the competitive environment and its impact on the ICT development on the islands; iii. A technical, commercial and financial analysis for each cable option; iv. A review and subsequent recommendation on the optimal financing and ownership structures; v. A desktop study of the base configuration including the potential landing sites in the IOC Mission days/total: The assignment is scheduled to cover 168 man-days in total, with a team of two experts. One economist as Team Leader, and one ICT engineer. Regions/Countries to visit: Zambia, Kenya, South Africa, Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion Island and Seychelles Estimated contract start: As soon as possible. Profiles of the Experts: Economist 15 years working experience with broad experience in the development of models and forecasting scenarios in the telecommunications sector, as well as in assessment of business environment and of technical and competitive commercial options including analysis of cost estimations. Telecommunications engineer Knowledge of submarine cable connectivity configurations, with 10 years of working experience in feasibility studies for international connectivity, including 3 years experience in submarine cable systems. Experience with inter-island connectivity will be an asset. Experience in carrying out feasibility studies in the formulation of telecommunication and international connectivity strategies. Eligibility (who can apply?): EU citizens and citizens from: Angola, Burundi, DR Congo, Malawi, Rwanda, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan AND citizens of the ACP member states: http://www.acpsec.-org/en/acp_-states.htm Languages: The team must be proficient in ENGLISH and FRENCH. Background information: Website of Indian Ocean Commission: http://www.coi--info.org/ http://www.eafricac-ommission.-org/project_-infrastructure.-html http://www.eassy.-org/ http://www.fibrefor-africa.net/ Please find ToR enclosed. If you find the position of interest and your - or one of your proposed expert's - profile complies with the stated criteria, please contact us immediately and send us a short professional presentation of yourself and an updated CV with relevant similar experience (stating your age, nationality, languages spoken, education and exactly in what you are an expert). Send your application to: ictjobs(a)danishmanag-ement.dk Contact person: Jane Moeller Larsen Danish Management A/S Margretheholmsvej 2 1432 Copenhagen, Denmark Phone: +45 70 200 298 Direct: +45 35 250 655 Kind regards, Jane Moller Larsen __._,_.___ -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.412 / Virus Database: 268.18.4/703 - Release Date: 2/26/2007 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.412 / Virus Database: 268.18.4/703 - Release Date: 2/26/2007

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Elections take center-stage on the internet
by Bill Kagai 28 Feb '07

28 Feb '07

Hiya, I have received a fone call from an ODM supporter wishing to find out why their website www.odm-kenya.org is pointing to a government website. This poses a serious challenge to us in the 'internet business' with regard to whether we have secure systems in place. However, upon digging a bit deeper, I have realised that possibly, this is a simple blackmail prank since the WHOIS records have not been altered and only the MX record has been changed to point the website to an innocent Govt server. Tracert'ing the address also shows that it is the admin and registrant of the website who have access to the odm website registry. I am sure many ODM supporters might be pointing a finger at Govt just because someone managed to ping the communications website and put the server address on the opposition website to create a furore and possibly make money Pablo Escobar Way. [Plata o plomo] Spanish for [silver or lead] literally meaning pay up the bribe or face assassination. How do we contain these Matheri's of the internet???. Seems the games have just begun??? -- -- With Kind Regards, Bildad Kagai MD - Circuits & Packets Communications Ltd Content & Training Partner - JKUAT E-Government Academy Suite B2, Tetu Apartments, State House Avenue P. O. Box 20311 - 00200 Nairobi, Kenya Tel. 254 20 272 8332 Fax. Rendered Obsolete URL. www.circuitspackets.co.ke URL. www.JKUATEgovAcademy.ac.ke

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Fwd: [ke-internetusers] Wi-fi explained
by Alex Gakuru 27 Feb '07

27 Feb '07

ABC of Wi-Fi Judy Adhiambo <judy.adhiambo(a)gmail.com> wrote: Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2007 17:54:23 +0300 From: "Judy Adhiambo" <judy.adhiambo(a)gmail.com> To: ke-internetusers(a)bdix.net Subject: [ke-internetusers] Wi-fi explained Q&A: Wi-fi explained Wireless hotspots are spreading across the UK, with blanket wi-fi zones now being rolled out in many city centres. Operators are promising wireless surfing at the touch of a button from the park, the bus or the street corner. So what does the wireless future have to offer and will it live up to the hype? What is wi-fi? Wi-fi is the acronym for Wireless Fidelity, essentially a set of standards for transmitting data over a wireless network. Wi-fi allows you to connect to the net at broadband speeds without cables, as long as you have the right equipment and, in most cases, a regular internet service provider and a wi-fi account. To understand the technology behind wi-fi, imagine using a walkie-talkie. Your voice is picked up by a microphone, encoded onto a radio frequency and transmitted with the antenna to another walkie-talkie, which decodes your voice. Wi-fi works in broadly in the same way, but using a better radio that is capable of handling a lot more data per second. HOW DOES WI-FI WORK? 1: Wi-fi uses antennas around which wi-fi "hotspots" are created. The hotspots are outlets equipped to receive the radiowaves that power wireless networking. Until recently, wi-fi has been confined to more than 10,000 hot-spots in cafes, bars and airport lounges. But various projects are under way to set up city-wide zones, where a series of antennas are installed in the streets, on lampposts or street signs. The hotspots around them together create a much wider area of coverage. Norwich has a mesh network which links each lamppost antenna to the next creating a seamless wi-fi hotspot around the centre of the city. 2: The source internet connection is provided by a PC or server to which the antennas are connected either wirelessly or via a cable. 3: Some mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDA) now have wi-fi chips installed. With mobile phones, this means conventional networks can be bypassed and inexpensive long-distance calls made over the web (using Voice over Internet Protocol, VoIP). 4: Many laptops and handheld computers now come with built-in wi-fi connectivity; it is also possible to add wi-fi to your computer with a special card that plugs into a port on your laptop. How do I use a giant wi-fi zone? In the UK, there are already more than 10,000 wi-fi hotspots in public places such as restaurants, hotels, cafes, libraries and airports. Wi-fi-enabled laptops and phones can be set up to connect to these hotspots automatically; usage is generally paid through a credit card at a login page on a web browser. Frequent users may even have accounts with service providers such as T-Mobile, BT Openzone, O2, SkypeZones and Nintendo wi-fi. Will it catch on? So far, wi-fi has been a service that is most useful for business people who need to work on the move; but operators want to make it available to all. However, some analysts warn that wi-fi could be the "next dotcom crash", mainly because of patchy hotspot coverage, lack of enabled hardware and uncertainty over how to make money. There are still a few big challenges ahead for wi-fi. Finalising interoperability and standards is one, and the concern over security is another. Just because there are more than 10,000 wi-fi hotspots in the UK does not mean that a pass to use one means you can use all of them. Currently wi-fi hotspots are divided by who controls them. In Norwich the local authority and regional development agency are pioneering a free wi-fi service. This model could catch on, if successful. More than 3,000 connections are being made to the city's wi-fi network each week Logging on to the internet via wi-fi in different locations brings the risk (just as it does at home or in the office) of your computer being infected by computer viruses and worms. Experts advise you to install security software and update it regularly. Who stands to profit? Some critics argue that wireless hotspots can be a rip-off - the price of installing a wireless router in, say, a coffee shop, involves a one-off cost of a few hundred pounds but customers may be charged upwards of £5 an hour. Users of the new city-wide wi-fi networks will be required to pay access charges to an account provider, such as BT Openzone or T-Mobile. The revenues will be shared between the owners of the street furniture on which the equipment is installed (usually local councils), wi-fi hotspot suppliers and the internet service providers. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4758722.stm _______________________________________________ ke-internetusers mailing list ke-internetusers(a)bdix.net http://www.bdix.net/mailman/listinfo/ke-internetusers --------------------------------- Food fight? Enjoy some healthy debate in the Yahoo! Answers Food & Drink Q&A. _______________________________________________ ke-internetusers mailing list ke-internetusers(a)bdix.net http://www.bdix.net/mailman/listinfo/ke-internetusers

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Fwd: [Idlelo2] FW: [ipr] WIPO: Winds of Change
by Judy Okite 27 Feb '07

27 Feb '07

FYI ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Ashraf Patel <AshrafP(a)osisa.org> Date: Feb 27, 2007 4:05 PM Subject: [Idlelo2] FW: [ipr] WIPO: Winds of Change To: idlelo2(a)fossfa.net -----Original Message----- From: owner-ipr(a)mailhost.soros.org [mailto:owner-ipr@mailhost.soros.org] On Behalf Of Vera Franz Sent: Saturday, February 24, 2007 1:38 PM To: ipr(a)mailhost.soros.org Subject: [ipr] WIPO: Winds of Change The reform of WIPO, which many of us had first discussed at the TACD Meeting in October 2003, made important progress here in Geneva yesterday: As part of the Development Agenda process, Member States agreed that WIPO will have to take into account access to knowledge concerns, such as the protection of the public domain and the control of anti-competitive practices. WIPO might finally abonadon its vision of a maximalist IP regime. More below, as well as at eff.org, eifl.net, cptech.org http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/wipo-embraces-reform-on-i_b_419 51.html WIPO Embraces Reform on Intellectual Property Mission <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/wipo-embraces-reform-on-i_b_41 951.html> by JAMES LOVE Geneva: Today the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) concluded the first of a two-part review of proposals for a reform effort called the "development agenda." In doing so, WIPO and its member states have done something very positive, and surprising -- both because it signals important reforms, and because it happened with very strong support from all of the WIPO members, including the United States and members of Europe, delegations that usually take a hard line in global negotiations on intellectual property issues. <http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/huffingtonpost/blog/politics;nickname=ja mes-love;entry_id=41951;United+States=1;European+Commission=1;Geneva=1;p tile=2;sz=300x250;abr=!ie4;abr=!ie5;abr=!ie6;ord=123456789?> The negotiations have just broken up. This is our statement on the outcome: Knowledge Ecology International Statement on WIPO Development Agenda negotiation The agreement on dozens of WIPO reforms was broader and more substantive than had been anticipated. Some of the measures signal important changes in this controversial UN body. WIPO members agreed to "consider the preservation of the public domain within WIPO's normative processes and deepen the analysis of the implication and benefits of a rich and accessible public domain." WIPO agreed to "promote measures that will help countries deal with IP related anticompetitive practices." "Norm-setting activities shall . . . take into account different levels of development" and "take into consideration a balance between costs and benefits." WIPO adopted an expanded mandate to undertake studies to assess the economic, social and cultural impact of intellectual property practices and norm setting activities. All of this signals a new tone and approach for WIPO. In a sense, WIPO is finally entering the new century, and responding to the growing demand for reforms, and a more balanced ! approach to intellectual property protection. In some areas, however, the agreement was quite limited. The cluster that included "access to knowledge," was quite thin, for example. In June, WIPO will look at a much more ambitious set of proposals, most of which were opposed by the United States or the European Commission in 2005. The June meeting, which is expected to be much more difficult, will look at topics such as proposed treaty on access to knowledge -- a startling departure from WIPO's longstanding efforts to focus largely on expanding the scope and enforcement of intellectual property rights. This week's negotiation went far better than almost anyone had anticipated, and many share the credit for the excellent outcome. The United States government had greatly moderated its positions and tone, and was credited by many delegates for its constructive and open approach to the negotiations on a topic for which the US is normally considered a hard-liner. Several European States, including for example the UK, Germany and Switzerland had worked hard to find ways to reaching consensus with key developing countries. Indian persistent efforts to engage the US and European negotiators was helpful and effective. Argentina and Brazil were among the countries that had pushed the hardest for the reform agenda. Chile's leadership on the issue of the public domain was key. The contributions from the Africa Group were excellent, including for example countries like South Africa. Very high marks were given to Trevor Clarke, the impressive Chair of the meeting, who hails from Barbado! s. Many non-government organizations (NGOs) and experts have labored long and hard on the development agenda negotiations, not all of which were able to attend this meeting, which comes after at least seven WIPO meetings where this topic has been discussed. The contributions of the (north and south, east and west) development, consumer, free software, library and public interest groups working on technology issues were very important, and it has been a pleasure to work with all of them. It is now time to turn our attentions to the June negotiations on the next group of proposals for the development agenda, which go much further, and present more controversy. It is also important to ensure that WIPO implements the new reforms. The first step is very important, but it is a long journey. Here are some quotes from others who are here: (Indian Delegate) "As a delegation we feel it is a very significant forward movement. The meeting concluded in a spirit of compromise and consensus. This augers well for future deliberation which may lead to the finalization of a development agenda for WIPO. It is imperative that the member states maintain this spirit in the next meeting of the PCDA." (Nigerian Delegate) "It has been a very long and tortuous route but we have at last come out of the tunnel into the brilliant prospects of implementing the Development Agenda in WIPO." Teresa Hackett (EIFL.NET) "The Chairman was breath of fresh air. After two years, it feels like things are moving forward. The public domain received unexpected attention, but it gave us the opportunity to talk about why WIPO should care about a rich and accessible public domain." Miriam M. Nisbet (American Library Association) "Despite some confusing and conflicting statements about the public domain, it has been gratifying to hear lively debates by the WIPO delegates that reinforce the importance of the topic." Ren Buchholz (Electronic Frontier Foundation) "WIPO made a refreshing amount of progress this week. The excellent Chair kept things moving and Member States seemed happy to be hard at work. However, it's critical that the spirit of this session is present at the June meeting. If certain countries obstruct fair consideration of the rest of the proposals -- and there are many -- we should not be surprised if this week's success suffers." David Tannenbaum (Yale Information Society Project) "It is disorienting to see such a breathtakingly good outcome come out of a process that was largely closed. The language is very general and it will be important to use these principles to guide current and future treaty negotiations." Cliffor Guimares (Brazilian Copyright Office) "The final results of the discussions of the Annex A are positive. Group B showed some flexibility in order to reach an agreement. . The African Group devoted a lot of effort to reaching agreement on technical assistance matters. Of course, Annex A comprises only part of the negotiation. Brazil hopes that the spirit of cooperation and goodwill displayed in PCDA3 is extended to PCDA4." Iryna Kuchma (eIFL) "It was my first participation at PCDA and it was a pleasure for me to see the progress in the Development agenda. As an Eastern European the only pity I have is that other East European countries don't realize that Development agenda will be as beneficial for them as for the Friends of Development." Malini Aisola (Knowledge Ecology International) "After many days of negotiations, I am glad that WIPO Member States were able to reach decisions on Annex A proposals. This is surely a favorable first result in the development agenda process. In order for the process to be completed, it is crucial that member states rise to the challenging task of reaching consensus on the remaining proposals in the June meeting. Witnessing the cooperation and collaboration of the nations at the PCDA has been a valuable experience for me." Eddan Katz (Yale Information Society Project) "This is an important moment for the recognition of the role of human development in innovation. agreement on these principles will help us move forward in promoting access to knowledge as a commitment for the whole world." (Senior member of the US delegation) "We sensed a different atmosphere on both sides this time". Vera Franz "With this week's meeting we are a step closer to making WIPO fit for the 21st century. Back in 2003 WIPO had argued that a meeting on open collaborative knowledge projects would fall outside the agency's mandate. With today WIPO has put these issues firmly on its agenda, acknowledging that in a healthy and competitive knowledge economy more IP is not always better. What is next? These changes will have to impact future norm-setting at the agency." Thiru Balasubramaniam (Knowledge Ecology International) "The Chair, Ambassador Trevor Clarke of Barbados, steered the helm of the Development Agenda process with judicious authority rejuvenating hopes that WIPO can mainstream public interest concerns into its core mandate. Kudos to Pakistan, Chile, India, Brazil, South Africa and the United States for their spirit of cooperation and goodwill It was refreshing to hear WIPO Member States laud the value of the public domain. Crunch time begins in June where proposals detailing an elaboration of a Treaty on Access to Knowledge and a Medical R&D Treaty will be discussed." <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/wipo-embraces-reform-on-i_b_41 951.html> _______________________________________________ Idlelo2 mailing list Idlelo2(a)fossfa.net http://mailman.dst.gov.za/mailman/listinfo/idlelo2 -- Judy Ann Okite, +254-721237507,+254-734252336 P.O. BOX 2228 00100, NAIROBI,KENYA. "Even if you are on the right track, you'll still get run over if you just sit there."

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Re: [kictanet] Will the new alliance against Celtel last?
by Florence Etta 27 Feb '07

27 Feb '07

CELTEL really ought to go ahead and consolidate a continental position across al the countries where they operate and have a first continental roaming/home rate arrangement to the chagrin of their competitors and the joy of thier customers. They should show us their true capitalist spirit and drive prices down and their banks accounts bursting with one stroke of genius! Imagine the scoop of joining Nigeria to the CELTEL EA network. Thats CAPITALISM right? Or have I missed soemthing? Cheers, FE Florence Etta P.O. Box 14285,00800 Westlands-Nairobi, Kenya Tel: Mobile + 254-733-621851 Terrestrial: + 254-20-7121506 Fax: + 254-20-7125732 Alternative Email:florence.etta@gmail.com ----- Original Message ---- From: "alice(a)apc.org" <alice(a)apc.org> To: feanywhere(a)yahoo.co.uk Sent: Tuesday, 27 February, 2007 9:04:06 AM Subject: [kictanet] Will the new alliance against Celtel last? Will the new alliance against Celtel last? When Celtel unveiled its single EA network there was a lot of trepidation in the communications sector on the implications of such a move. Talking heads and officious spectators immediately began wondering how the other two communications service providers in the Ugandan market, MTN and Uganda Telecom, would react. The decision to embrace East Africa, a first from Celtel, startled its competitors. The genius who came up with the idea deserves every bit of his pay cheque and more. No strategy will possibly have as far reaching results as this first from Celtel - who in Uganda were the pioneer mobile-phone service provider, although they squandered all the advantages of first entry with a premium pricing strategy - but that is a story for another day. The responses have been rapid and varied. MTN immediately commenced negotiations with Vodafone and Safaricom and presto, we have the three musketeers. The challenge posed by Celtel was sorted, or was it? Uganda Telecom, on the other hand, quickly signed a multimillion deal to sell Uganda's international gateway (256) to Gemtel, a Sudanese-based firm whose ownership is still being investigated by parliament. Before entering into an analysis of the merits and demerits of such a course of action, let us utilise the timeless lessons taught to us by our forefathers in Acholi folklore. There once was an able and robust hunter who chanced upon a baby leopard deserted by its mother. Nyaga, fascinated by the beautiful fur, carried the leopard home and commenced looking after it. Elders admonished Nyaga, women cautioned him on the folly of keeping something no human being had ever dared to keep, noting that the creature had long, sharp nails. To all this well-intentioned advice, Nyaga blocked his ears. In consequence, as the leopard grew bigger and bolder, one day in jest it wounded Nyaga. Niccolo Machevelli had nothing but disdain for mercenaries or auxiliaries in the defence of a principality. Similarly, auxiliaries leave the one who calls them in a lurch if they are defeated and in the power of the mercenaries if they win. It is through this prism that I choose to look at the response of the three musketeers to the challenge posed by Celtel. Yet even after painting such a grim scenario, we are yet to address the question of who the tiger in the alliance is or how long it will be sustained. Watmon Mike Kinyera via e-mail http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/Opinion/opinion2602073. htm _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/feanywhere%40yahoo.co.uk ___________________________________________________________ New Yahoo! Mail is the ultimate force in competitive emailing. Find out more at the Yahoo! Mail Championships. Plus: play games and win prizes. http://uk.rd.yahoo.com/evt=44106/*http://mail.yahoo.net/uk

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Fwd: [UgaBYTES] From KTN2 Kenya Network of Telecentres-KENTEL
by chelimo kenneth 27 Feb '07

27 Feb '07

Note: forwarded message attached. --------------------------------- The fish are biting. Get more visitors on your site using Yahoo! Search Marketing.

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Ground laid for TEAMS roll out project
by alice＠apc.org 27 Feb '07

27 Feb '07

Ground laid for TEAMS roll out project By JOHN KORIR Plan for the implementation of the multi-billion East African Marine Systems popularly known as TEAMS have been finalised, Information and Communication Permanent Secretary Dr Bitange Ndemo said yesterday. Speaking at a Nairobi hotel during an Information Communication Technology (ICT) industry stakeholders meeting, Dr Ndemo said the new technology will link the East African Coastline to the rest of the world, saying the coastline is the only one in the African continent that remains unconnected by the submarine cable. The PS told participants thatthe preparatory process for laying the framework is in high gear with a special team appointed working round the clock to ensure the detailed plans and other basic elements are put in place before the implementation of the project begins. He said the TEAMS will be laid from Fujairah and Mombasa , linking Kenya to the rest of the world. The PS said the new technology is a major milestone in the economy of the country. "With the shrinking distances round the world, our dreams and aspirations in being part of the rest of the world will only be realzed when our communication infrastructure enables us to undertake business with the rest of the world in real time and cheaply," Ndemo said. Dr Ndemo said the government is keen to stimulate the investments in ICTs and particularly the deployment of high bandwidth fibre-optical backbone newtworks. He further said the government is continuously developing the framework that facilitate the deployment of the telecommunications facilities and services. The PS observed that the country stands to benefit immensely from the connectivity, saying consumers are constantly yearning for high speeds and broadband connectivity that can propel the growth of e-commerce as well as lowering the costs of telecommunication acccess. Dr Ndemo at the same time called on players in the industry to explore ways of adopting the principle of infrastructure sharing so that resources could be optimally used. He said there was need for those in the industry to make efficient use of existing network facilities and save on costs that in most cases become sunk, saying the principle of infrastructure sharing is a global initiative aimed at cutting costs on the part of the players

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Will the new alliance against Celtel last?
by alice＠apc.org 27 Feb '07

27 Feb '07

Will the new alliance against Celtel last? When Celtel unveiled its single EA network there was a lot of trepidation in the communications sector on the implications of such a move. Talking heads and officious spectators immediately began wondering how the other two communications service providers in the Ugandan market, MTN and Uganda Telecom, would react. The decision to embrace East Africa, a first from Celtel, startled its competitors. The genius who came up with the idea deserves every bit of his pay cheque and more. No strategy will possibly have as far reaching results as this first from Celtel - who in Uganda were the pioneer mobile-phone service provider, although they squandered all the advantages of first entry with a premium pricing strategy - but that is a story for another day. The responses have been rapid and varied. MTN immediately commenced negotiations with Vodafone and Safaricom and presto, we have the three musketeers. The challenge posed by Celtel was sorted, or was it? Uganda Telecom, on the other hand, quickly signed a multimillion deal to sell Uganda's international gateway (256) to Gemtel, a Sudanese-based firm whose ownership is still being investigated by parliament. Before entering into an analysis of the merits and demerits of such a course of action, let us utilise the timeless lessons taught to us by our forefathers in Acholi folklore. There once was an able and robust hunter who chanced upon a baby leopard deserted by its mother. Nyaga, fascinated by the beautiful fur, carried the leopard home and commenced looking after it. Elders admonished Nyaga, women cautioned him on the folly of keeping something no human being had ever dared to keep, noting that the creature had long, sharp nails. To all this well-intentioned advice, Nyaga blocked his ears. In consequence, as the leopard grew bigger and bolder, one day in jest it wounded Nyaga. Niccolo Machevelli had nothing but disdain for mercenaries or auxiliaries in the defence of a principality. Similarly, auxiliaries leave the one who calls them in a lurch if they are defeated and in the power of the mercenaries if they win. It is through this prism that I choose to look at the response of the three musketeers to the challenge posed by Celtel. Yet even after painting such a grim scenario, we are yet to address the question of who the tiger in the alliance is or how long it will be sustained. Watmon Mike Kinyera via e-mail http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/Opinion/opinion2602073. htm

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Freedom of Information Bill Advances in Nigeria
by joseph kihanya 27 Feb '07

27 Feb '07

Dear All, Looks like we may only be fifth after all. Kihanya --- Justice Initiative <info(a)mail.justiceinitiative.org> wrote: > Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 21:08:45 -0500 (EST) > To: kihanyajn(a)yahoo.com > Subject: Freedom of Information Bill Advances in > Nigeria > From: "Justice Initiative" > <info(a)mail.justiceinitiative.org> > > For immediate release > > Contact: Maxwell Kadiri +234 803 304 0558 (Abuja) > David Berry +1 212 548 0385 (New York) > > FREEDOM OF INFORMATION BILL ADVANCES IN NIGERIA > > Following Adoption by Parliament, Bill Awaits > Presidential Signature > > Abuja, February 22, 2007The Open Society Justice > Initiative today > hailed the Nigerian Parliament's final approval of a > harmonized > freedom of information bill and called on President > Olusegun Obasanjo > to sign it into law quickly. > > The bill, if it becomes law, will guarantee > Nigerian citizens the > right to access government-held information. Nigeria > is set to become > just the fourth African nation with a freedom of > information law, > following South Africa, Uganda, and Angola. > > "This is a significant moment in Nigeria's > history," said Maxwell > Kadiri, a staff attorney with the Justice > Initiative's Abuja office. > "With President Obasanjo's signature, this new law > should set Nigeria > on the path to more open and more accountable > government." > > The bill has been pending in Parliament since 1999. > The Nigerian > House of Representatives approved one version of the > bill in 2004, > and the Senate unanimously approved a slightly > different version in > late 2006. The two versions were reconciled and > adopted by the full > Parliament yesterday. Now the bill requires the > assent of President > Obasanjo in order to become law. The Justice > Initiative and other > advocates expressed hope that this step would take > place without > delay. > > The bill's passage is a significant victory for > Nigeria's freedom of > information advocates, who have championed its > passage for over eight > years. It is also an impetus for other African > nations to enact > similar laws and for those nations that already have > freedom of > information laws to enforce them more vigorously. > > "This bill enables the Obasanjo administration to > claim as its > legacy the foundations of open and transparent > government in Nigeria. > President Obasanjo has always said he wants to > change the country for > the better and ensure the people's business is > done," said Kadiri. > "Through this bill, he can realize this ambition. We > look forward to > his signing it into law at the earliest possible > opportunity." > > The URL for this page is: > http://www.justiceinitiative.org/db/resource2?res_id=103632 > {http://www.justiceinitiative.org/db/resource2?res_id=103632} > > > > > -- > To unsubscribe from this list visit > http://www2.soros.org/newsletters/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=4e96a0eee7750a1d… > > To update your preferences visit > http://www2.soros.org/newsletters/lists/?p=preferences&uid=4e96a0eee7750a1d… > > > > -- > Powered by PHPlist, www.phplist.com -- > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Expecting? Get great news right away with email Auto-Check. Try the Yahoo! Mail Beta. http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta/newmail_tools.html

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Senegal Lesson ( 2004 )
by Alex Gakuru 26 Feb '07

26 Feb '07

[USATODAY] "Outsourcing comes to Africa, bringing jobs and fake Parisian accents" Posted 7/10/2004 DAKAR, Senegal (AP) On the job, she's Dominique Mercier nattering in lilting French, working her headset eight hours a day, and hawking telephone services to Europeans. Come day's end, the accent drops, and Dominique's true identity stands revealed: Fatou Ndiaye, 32-year-old Senegalese college graduate, and one of thousands of operators dialing up the West from booming call centers in West Africa.... <http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/telecom/2004-07-10-outsource_x.htm> ------------------------------------------------------ /Alex --------------------------------- Need a quick answer? Get one in minutes from people who know. Ask your question on Yahoo! Answers.

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FW: PROGRAMME COORDINATOR, SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION INDICATORS PROGRAMME
by alice＠apc.org 26 Feb '07

26 Feb '07

PROGRAMME COORDINATOR, SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION INDICATORS PROGRAMME Location : Pretoria South Africa Country : South Africa Company : NEPAD Description : Responsibilities The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) is the socio-economic programme of the African Union (AU). NEPAD’s Office of Science and Technology (OST) is the designated technical and administrative secretariat for the implementation of Africa’s Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action (CPA). Its mandate is to coordinate the implementation of the CPA and provide technical backstopping to the AU Commission and the African Ministerial Council on Science and Technology (AMCOST). NEPAD OST is launching a new programme to develop African science, technology and innovation indicators. The programme comprises of training workshops, national and regional surveys, establishing an observatory, and the production of an African Science and Innovation Outlook. These will be implemented through inter-governmental processes and activities by a network of carefully selected leading African and international organizations. Financial support for the programme is provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). NEPAD OST seeks to recruit a coordinator for the new programme. Based in Pretoria South Africa, the coordinator will work under the guidance and direction of the Director of NEPAD OST. He or she will be responsible for provision of effective operational management and implementation of the programme. The incumbent’s main functions will include: (a) initiating, supervising and carrying out activities as outlined in the programme proposal agreed upon between NEPAD OST and Sida, and the work-plan to be approved by an inter-governmental committee of AMCOST; (b) Overseeing the preparation of relevant manual(s), training materials and background studies; (c) Developing guidelines and procedures for the organization and conduct of national and regional science, technology and innovation surveys; (d) Coordinating activities of a network of expert institutions, including organizing meetings and tele-conferences for the network; (e) Organizing national and regional training workshop on indicators and surveys; (f) Reviewing national surveys and preparing regional comparative analysis or synthesis of the surveys; (g) Preparing quarterly reports on the implementation of the programme; (h) Participating in international, regional and national meetings and providing expertise and inputs; (i) Ensuring that all members of the AU and international partners are frequently informed of activities of the programme; and (j) Developing new proposals and mobilizing financial resources for the implementation of the programme and related follow-up activities. Qualifications : Qualifications Applicants for the post must have a doctoral degree in natural sciences or science policy studies and proven ability to conduct research on science, technology and innovation policy issues. They must possess skills for extensive inter-agency and inter-governmental networking; proven experience in project formulation and management. They should also have excellent written and verbal communication skills. Ability to plan and delegate responsibility as well as to develop strategies to accomplish objectives and to lead a multidisciplinary team is necessary. The Successful applicant will be issued with a two years contract renewable subject to performance and availability of funds. Internationally competitive salary and benefits are offered. Contact Details Contact Person : NEPAD OST Telephone : Fax : +27128414414 E-mail : Science(a)nrf.ac.za Apply Online : Website : Reference : FJA-NEP-OST1 FORWARD TO A FRIEND "AfricaRecruit one of The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) big achievements for just 4 years" The Journey So Far NEPAD Secretariat June 2005 www.findajobinafrica.com www.africarecruit.com www.africadiaspora.com

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Transparency and Silence: A Survey of Access to Information Laws and Practices in 14 Countries
by alice＠apc.org 25 Feb '07

25 Feb '07

Transparency and Silence: A Survey of Access to Information Laws and Practices in 14 Countries by Helen Darbishire and Thomas Carson This report details the results of a study undertaken by the Open Society Justice Initiative and its partners to discover how government offices and agencies in 14 countries respond to specific requests for information. The purpose of the study was to explore the strategy of, and trends in, one specific aspect of transparency: the passage of laws on freedom of information (FOI), or public access to government information and records. This report documents how various countries did - or did not - honour the right of access to information. As part of the study, partners of the Justice Initiative in Latin America, Europe and Africa filed a total of 1,926 requests for information; the Justice Initiative and its partners then evaluated and analysed how the people who made requests were treated, how government offices and agencies responded, and the nature and quality of the responses to the requests. The report concludes with a number of specific suggestions to help countries imp! lement effective FOI laws and regulations. http://www.comminit.com/trends/ctrends2006/trends-321.html

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Blogger jailed for 'insulting' Islam
by Rebecca Wanjiku 24 Feb '07

24 Feb '07

Colleagues, An 'interesting' story here about an Egyptian blogger who has been jailed. Raises those nagging questions about just where we should stop as journalists in the exercise of our freedoms, and when authorities need to control what they term 'harmful' writings. But perhaps this should be of particular concern given that this wasn't a mainstream but an online missive by a blogger, which represents a growing interest by the state in what people do in what bloggers otherwise consider their private spaces in which they would want to freely express themselves with as minimal interference from authorities as possible. Wakabi ===== Blogger jailed for 'insulting' Islam Fri, 23 Feb 2007 An Egyptian blogger was sentenced to four years in jail on Thursday for insulting Islam and defaming President Hosni Mubarak, triggering condemnation from international human rights groups. A court in the Mediterranean costal city of Alexandria sentenced Abdel Karim Suleiman to three years for insulting Islam and to one year for defaming the president. This was the first time a blogger has been sentenced in Egypt for writings published on the Internet. Suleiman has been in custody since November 2006 and his trial started on 25 January. He denied all the charges. The 22-year-old blogger, also known by his pen name Karim Amer, was arrested after posting an entry on his blog lashing out at Cairo's Al-Azhar University the highest seat of learning in Sunni Islam. "I say to Al-Azhar and its university and its professors and preachers who stand against anyone who thinks differently to them: 'You are destined for the rubbish bin of history, where you will find no one to cry for you, and your regime will end like others have," he wrote. Despite worldwide appeals for his release, the court ruled that the young Muslim blogger should be jailed for posting a string of writings insulting Islam. "The Moharram Beik criminal court has sentenced the blogger after he created a website through which he attacked Islam," Judge Ayman Okkaz said. "On his site, he claimed that Islam incited terrorism, hatred and murder." The conviction was based on a series of vaguely worded articles in the penal code that forbid the spreading of false information, insulting Islam or other revealed religions, and "affronting the President of the Republic." Fellow blogger and rights activist Dalia Ziyada told AFP that Suleiman's defence team would lodge an appeal on Saturday. Crackdown on political bloggers Egypt recently launched a crackdown on political bloggers, who rose to prominence by challenging Mubarak's regime during the 2005 elections and more recently by highlighting cases of police brutality. Amnesty International lambasted the Egyptian judiciary for its unprecedented sanction against a blogger. "This sentence is yet another slap in the face of freedom of expression in Egypt," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa Deputy Programme Director, in a statement. "The Egyptian authorities must protect the peaceful exercise of freedom of expression, even if the views expressed might be perceived by some as offensive," she said, adding that Amnesty now considers Suleiman a prisoner of conscience. Sentence is a 'disgrace' The press freedom organisation Reporters without Borders called the sentence a "disgrace," noting that it would have a chilling effect on Egypt's vibrant blogging scene. "Suleiman's conviction and sentence is a message of intimidation to the rest of the Egyptian blogosphere, which had emerged in recent years as an effective bulwark against the regime's authoritarian excesses," a statement said. The sentiment was echoed by the New York-based Human Rights Watch, which saw the sentence as "a chilling precedent in a country where blogs have opened a window for free speech," said Middle East directior Sarah Lee Whitson. RSF also called on the United Nations to reject Egypt's request to host the 'Internet Governance Forum' in 2009. AFP visit our website at www.penplusbytes.net our blog is located at http://penplusbytes.blogspot.com/ --- --You are currently subscribed to penplusbytes as: rebeccawanjiku(a)yahoo.com --To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-penplusbytes-352938B(a)dgroups.org Penplusbytes online list is hosted on Dgroups- a joint initiative of Bellanet, DFID, Hivos, ICA, IICD, OneWorld, UNAIDS ____________________________________________________________________________________ TV dinner still cooling? Check out "Tonight's Picks" on Yahoo! TV. http://tv.yahoo.com/

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SA government to switch to open source
by Bill Kagai 24 Feb '07

24 Feb '07

SA government to switch to open source http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1377&s=news By *Staff Writer* 22 February, 2007 The South African Cabinet today announced that it had approved a free and open source strategy and that government would migrate its current software to free and open source software. At a Cabinet media briefing government said that it had "approved a policy and strategy for the implementation of free and open source software (FOSS) in government. In a statement the cabinet said "all new software developed for or by the government will be based on open standards and government will itself migrate current software to FOSS. This strategy will, among other things, lower administration costs and enhance local IT skills." "All the major IT vendors in the country have both supported the initiative and made contributions to the development of FOSS. Government departments will incorporate FOSS in their planning henceforth." Government plans to set up a FOSS project office by April this year. The office will be established by the department of ccience and technology, the CSIR and the State Information Technology Agency (Sita). Reuters writes that Themba Maseko told reporters the cabinet would use the open source Linux operating system in a bid to lower administration costs and enhance local IT skills. "This is going to be a long process... What this (open source) initiative is basically trying to streamline (is) our use and development of software in the country," Maseko said. Maseko said it was too early to provide timeframes for implementing Linux. South Africa joins governments in other emerging markets like Brazil, China, Spain, India and Malaysia in adopting open source software, with proponents of Linux arguing that the free software could help slash the cost of getting computers into schools, homes and community centres.

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contribution to Fiber discussion
by Michuki Mwangi 23 Feb '07

23 Feb '07

Something to learn from Bangladesh Click on the photos for full-sized versions: http://radio.woodynet.net/pics/index.php?photo=photos/2005/05.02-Dhaka/DSC0… http://radio.woodynet.net/pics/index.php?photo=photos/2005/05.02-Dhaka/DSC0… http://radio.woodynet.net/pics/index.php?photo=photos/2005/05.02-Dhaka/DSC0… http://radio.woodynet.net/pics/index.php?photo=photos/2005/05.02-Dhaka/DSC0… Those were taken in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. The good news is that a significant portion of what's being hauled out of the way of that big restaurant stove is fiber, rather than copper, and that there are seven competing fiber providers in the city, with very low prices and aggressive installation schedules. Regards, -- Michuki Mwangi KENIC

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you can lay your own cable.....
by Rebecca Wanjiku 23 Feb '07

23 Feb '07

Twenty years ago, countries in south Asia were faced with similar problems of connectivity that most of Africa faces today. That time, there was no government commitment, whether longsighted or myopic. Then, a group of individuals decided to lay the cable. They got minimal staff and divers to do the work and the connected most of the countries. For them, it was a question of meeting demand and providing it at an affordable cost. That time, no one had looked at issues their way but they knew of a future market. The story, was told by Brian Longwe- a reknowned ICT expert, and as he argued, the southern part of Asia is one of the most connected and has various cables, laid by individuals, companies and government consortia. Internet costs there as well as connectivity to other vital services have been considerably reduced. So what stops me and my friends from laying our own cable and selling it to willing buyers? Longwe asked Dr. Bitange Ndemo, Permanent Secretary at the ministry of Information and communication. Dr. Ndemo replied that there is nothing stopping any group from laying their own cable, provided they do not become a monopoly. There is no law blocking anybody from laying the cable. The government does not want to promote monopolies, he added. The debate took place at the workshop discussing the Optic Fibre Cable and the various models that the country may adopt to bridge the digital divide. The workshop was a conclusion of the two week-long online discussion on OFC. Rebecca Wanjiku, journalist, p.o box 33515, Nairobi.00600 Kenya. Tel. 254 720 318 925 blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ We won't tell. Get more on shows you hate to love (and love to hate): Yahoo! TV's Guilty Pleasures list. http://tv.yahoo.com/collections/265

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Kai vs Dr. Ndemo
by Rebecca Wanjiku 23 Feb '07

23 Feb '07

SPICING UP THE DEBATE When Kai Wulff, CEO , KDN and PS Ndemo are in one room discussing issues of internet connectivity, you can be assured of fireworks, but the common denominator is that they are concerned about reducing internet connectivity charges. They hold varied opinions on ownership and financing, and discussions are frank and honest, no holding back. It is hard to get bored when discussions start, it can only leave participant more informed of the varied opinions. For instance at the OFC workshop, PS Ndemo says that anybody can lay the cable so long as they are not a monopoly, that is, they must talk to other players in the sector. The PS notes if Kai wants to do it alone, then thats selfish. And Kai answers, I have talked to all of you but for two years no one wants to listen! So one may wonder, what is this heated debate all about? Its about OFC financing, ownership and operations, who allowed and who is not. For Kai, its about the service, let the guys laying the cable do their work, and all we do is promise them capacity that when the service is in Mombasa, they will get the business. In this model, one buys the services at competitive prices just like anywhere else in the world. It is a question of who offers the cheapest reliable service. Kai draws an analogy from supermarket business. If we can have OFC supermarkets in Mombasa, they can advertise their prices and services and if another one opens shop and has a better deal, then we can move there. Kai is simply opposed to Kenya laying the infrastructure, he wants others to come looking for business here. They lay the cable at their own cost, ours is just to give them the capacity. Loyalty is a good party if it serves both parties and will be bad if one is locked in a marriage one cant get out of, Kai said. His contention is that governments should be consumers not competitors to private sector in this field. But the PS has an alternative view, he argues that the government has taken the lead because the private sector is taking long. He told the meeting that one company had promised to lay the cable by 2009 and the government insisted that that would be too long, it should be done in a year. Out of 20 companies, the PS said, only Kai was complaining about the government. Thought the companies were not divulged, Kai just shook his head when the comment was made. The PS agreed that the government should be a consumer mainly but added that there is need for rural connectivity. He said that in many cases, private sector would be driven by profits and most of these rural areas do not have the profits. On the question of Telkom representing the government in TEAMS, Dr. Ndemo said that only happened because proper mechanisms had not been put in place. At the end of it, the PS invited Kai to his office so that they can discuss more issues affecting the sector. Dr. Ndemo argues that Kenya is willing to turn down international banks willing to invest in TEAMS because it is convinced that the Kenyan private sector has the financial might to back the cable investment. Dont let us down! the PS concluded. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss an email again! Yahoo! Toolbar alerts you the instant new Mail arrives. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/toolbar/features/mail/

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Re: [kictanet] government to woo investors
by Jose' 23 Feb '07

23 Feb '07

We need more players in bandwidth provision considering more people are venturing into BPO business. The bandwith we are being offered now are throt cutting for small business who are trying to stay afloat. Kudus to the Ministry of Communications. Best Regards, Jose' Njuki-Imwe Ngunjiri || +254 722 336754 || ----- Original Message ---- From: Rebecca Wanjiku <rebeccawanjiku(a)yahoo.com> To: ngunjirijnr(a)yahoo.com Sent: Friday, February 23, 2007 4:22:45 PM Subject: [kictanet] government to woo investors In April/ May, the government will commence a spirited campaign aimed at wooing investors and maintaining the existing ICT investors by tendering for bandwidth supply from companies. Much of the bandwidth will be subsidized by the World Bank and will be provided to universities and Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) organizations. The exercise is expected to kick off in July this year. Speaking at the OFC workshop, Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Information and Communication Bitange Ndemo said he had put down mechanisms at the treasury to ensure the process goes smoothly. Rebecca Wanjiku, p.o box 33515, Nairobi.00600 Kenya. Tel. 254 720 318 925 blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/ Food fight? Enjoy some healthy debate in the Yahoo! Answers Food & Drink Q&A. _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngunjirijnr%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Any questions? Get answers on any topic at www.Answers.yahoo.com. Try it now.

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taxes to be slashed
by Rebecca Wanjiku 23 Feb '07

23 Feb '07

Good news to mobile phone campanies! The government is going to waive the excise duty and push connectivity to about 18 million subscribers. But dont hold your breadth! This was a proposal given by PS Ndemo to other arms of government that are concerned with collecting taxes. Ndemo said the government was committed to reducing taxes to ensure universal connectivity. The song about duty and other charges continues, but lets hope something is done soon. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sucker-punch spam with award-winning protection. Try the free Yahoo! Mail Beta. http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta/features_spam.html

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government to woo investors
by Rebecca Wanjiku 23 Feb '07

23 Feb '07

In April/ May, the government will commence a spirited campaign aimed at wooing investors and maintaining the existing ICT investors by tendering for bandwidth supply from companies. Much of the bandwidth will be subsidized by the World Bank and will be provided to universities and Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) organizations. The exercise is expected to kick off in July this year. Speaking at the OFC workshop, Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Information and Communication Bitange Ndemo said he had put down mechanisms at the treasury to ensure the process goes smoothly. Rebecca Wanjiku, p.o box 33515, Nairobi.00600 Kenya. Tel. 254 720 318 925 blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sucker-punch spam with award-winning protection. Try the free Yahoo! Mail Beta. http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta/features_spam.html

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deletion of outdated domains
by Rebecca Wanjiku 23 Feb '07

23 Feb '07

ICANN U-turn over outdated domainsNick Wilsdon According to Cnews, plans by ICANN to delete some of the more ‘outdated’ domain extensions in their index have been derailed. They had opened a public discussion in San Paulo with a view to removing these extensions, which ended last month. Top of their list of their list for deletion was the Russian .su (Soviet Union) extension and the former Yogoslav Republic’s .yu. However the public proceedings have been dogged by protests and threats of legal action from domain owners, less than happy at the prospect of loosing their domain, marketing and branding expenses. ICANN finally agreed to leave the extensions alone. This is not the first time ICANN have deleted an extension, Great Britain’s .gb, was replaced by .uk, East Germany’s .dd and Zaire’s .zr after the country became the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However supporters of the .yu and .su domains have pointed out that these extensions are far from obsolete, they have a healthy number of subscribers. There are currently 7′000 .su domains in circulation, with an additional 250 being sold each month. The .su domain has remained popular in Russia, despite it’s higher cost, because so many valuable one-word phrases and brands remain available. This news will certainly breath new life into these extensions and their continued growth will make it even harder, if not impossible for ICANN to close them in the future. Rebecca Wanjiku, journalist, p.o box 33515, Nairobi.00600 Kenya. Tel. 254 720 318 925 blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ 8:00? 8:25? 8:40? Find a flick in no time with the Yahoo! Search movie showtime shortcut. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/#news

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IGF- is it more than talk??
by Rebecca Wanjiku 23 Feb '07

23 Feb '07

Internet Governance Forum: Is It More Than Talk? By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Multi-stakeholder dynamic coalitions of the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) are pushing to have privacy, intellectual property, open standards and freedom of expression on the agenda of the second meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil next autumn. At a 13 February IGF stocktaking meeting in Geneva, several of the coalitions formed at the first IGF (in Athens in October-November 2006) presented short progress reports. Agenda-setting, the role of the coalitions, the IGF as a whole and the IGF output are still to be debated. IGF activists and organisers also look to New York where the new UN Secretary General has yet to make his first comments on Internet governance issues. The dynamic coalitions so far are the most visible and practical outcome of the IGF in preparation for the second IGF meeting in Rio. The 50-member IGF coalition on privacy sponsored by the governments of France, United Kingdom, companies like Microsoft and Cisco Systems, and data protection officials from various countries, met on Sunday before the meeting. According to Ralf Bendrath, expert in privacy policy at the University of Bremen, the Privacy Coalition will publish issue papers shortly on privacy and identity, privacy and development, and privacy and freedom of expression. An Italian government delegate announced a meeting for discussion on an Internet Bill of Rights this summer. The A2K@IGF Coalition, another large dynamic coalition, aims at coordinating participation and awareness of access to knowledge (A2K) activities at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), including proposals for a Development Agenda and an Access to Knowledge Treaty at WIPO. One focus of the coalition is setting methodologies or best practice norms for the implementation of laws dealing with technological protection measures (TPMs) and digital rights management (DRM) restrictions, which have been shown to present serious impediments to access to knowledge and the free flow of information, said Robin Gross, executive director of IP Justice, which is instrumental in the coalition. Gross said coalition member Franklin Pierce College Law Center was for example checking on the effects of free trade agreements. Strong interest in the issue which was nearly untouched at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was shown by the growing partner list of the coalition. Ghana has joined the coalition and I think more countries will follow, said Gross. Key deliverables for Rio, according to Gross statement, are development of best practice norms for DRM technologies and anti-circumvention laws. Nitin Desai, senior UN official and IGF chair selected by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, said with regard to IGFs role on intellectual property issues: We are very well designed in providing a space for discussion. The IGFs non-negotiating role might help to look for some common ground. Any resolution on a recommendation or official output naturally would have to be taken at the WIPO level, he said. IGF Executive Secretary Markus Kummer said, The IGF is a neutral environment to discuss these issues. Kummer also referred to another aspect of the IP problem that he said would stay with the IGF: the question of open and non-proprietary standards. The IGF was criticised during the stocktaking phase for relying only upon proprietary formats. There are no easy answers, said Kummer. The role of the IGF as a pure discussion forum - a neutral, non-binding and non-duplicative process as the EU presidency put it - was intensively discussed during the stocktaking meeting. While hailed as a liberation of the bounds of classical diplomacy by some, several governments and NGOs asked for a more formalised output. As for the results it is important to have some kind of written conclusion or concluding statement that could be a reference for the meeting, said the head of the Brazilian delegation. In fact, the mandate given to the IGF in paragraph 72 refers to the possibility to make recommendations. Without a more formal role accompanied by more dialogue between governments, we risk entering into a course whose result will be the lack of interest for the IGF process, he warned. Several civil society members as well as government delegates said they did not agree with Desais point of view that formal decisions or votes were made impossible by the non-member nature of the IGF. Ideas like rough consensus", messages from the IGF or other compromises were put on the table beside the recommendations mentioned in the 2005 Tunis WSIS agenda. But US business and many Western governments warn against a mission creep of the IGF. What the final agenda for Rio will look like had to be left very much open. Procedures for next steps still have to be cleared by the new UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The future of the IGF Advisory Committee that was tasked with the preparations and programming of the first IGF still is not clear. While he would recommend keeping the advisory group, Desai said, the final decision lies with him. An update on another hot issue, the so-called enhanced cooperation process also had been delayed, said Desai, because of the change in New York. Several governments urgently asked about the outcome of bilateral consultations Desai held over the last month. Enhanced cooperation was agreed upon by the WSIS as a complementary process to the IGF. Its target was - at least as some interpret it - better cooperation between governments and relevant organisations on Internet governance. Whether or not the management of Internet infrastructure resources should be placed more prominently on the IGF agenda was a second issue of debate at the stocktaking meeting. A strong appeal to tackle it came from the non-governmental Third World Network. The issues of root servers, domain name servers and Internet Protocol are among the most important issues in Internet governance, Riaz Tayob urged participants. If they are absent from the agenda, the core issues are absent. Tayob complained that while the IGF was mainly established because these issues had not been resolved, it had been kept off the agenda. Supporters of the current governance model should not try to preclude discussion, and the IGF should not be a party to such censorship, he said. Brazils representative recommended to at least invite Internet governance organisations like the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) or UN International Telecommunication Union to give an update at every IGF session. Patrik Faltstrom, former member of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), said he personally would reject discussion on issues like root servers at the IGF as long as the questions to be answered were not more specified. While there might be aspects of the technical system that could be discussed at the IGF, so far questions had been very vague. In a way, Gross told Intellectual Property Watch, the infrastructure issue and the IP issue were related as both were facets of US attempts to have a certain control over the Internet. The IGF had to tackle both issues. The IGF should not, said Bendrath, shy away from the most controversial issues and be satisfied with simply being a multistakeholder-model accepted by everybody. Rebecca Wanjiku, journalist, p.o box 33515, Nairobi.00600 Kenya. Tel. 254 720 318 925 blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ No need to miss a message. Get email on-the-go with Yahoo! Mail for Mobile. Get started. http://mobile.yahoo.com/mail

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quick test - 20070222 3.45p.m -plse ignore
by John Walubengo 22 Feb '07

22 Feb '07

testing, testing... walu. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Expecting? Get great news right away with email Auto-Check. Try the Yahoo! Mail Beta. http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta/newmail_tools.html

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Stakeholder Workshop on Submarine Cable Provisioning: Friday 23rd Feb 2007- Jacaranda hotel
by alice＠apc.org 22 Feb '07

22 Feb '07

Dear all Please see below programme for tomorrows meeting and apologies for cross posting. --------------------------------------------------------------- 8:00-8:30: Registration- 8.30-8:45am: Introductions - Walu 8:45-9:15am: Background Info on Models for Provisioning of OFC (Private, Consortium & Open Access) *Walu 9:15-10:30 a.m: Brainstorming on Private-Sector Provisioned OFC *Walu/All *Critical Success Factors/Requirements expected of Regulator, Govt, consumers *Projected Impact on Stakeholders 10:30-11:00a.m.T/Break 11:00-11:45a.m: Brainstorming on the Consortium Provisioned OFC Walu/-All *Critical Success Factors/Requirements expected of Regulator, Govt, consumers *Projected Impact on Stakeholders 11:45-12:30p.m: Brainstorming on the Open Access Provisioned OFC *Walu/ALL *Critical Success Factors/Requirements expected of Regulator, Govt, Consumers *Projected Impact on Stakeholders 12:30p.m-12:45p.m: Brief by PS on TEAMs/EASsy -PS Ndemo 12:45p.m-1:15p.m: Wrap-up & Way Forward (Rapporteur and Brian Longwe) 1:15pm-Lunch and then Guest leave at their pleasure. Rebecca Wanjiku, journalist, p.o box 33515, Nairobi.00600 Kenya. Tel. 254 720 318 925 blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/

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OFC program for tommorrow
by Rebecca Wanjiku 22 Feb '07

22 Feb '07

Stakeholder Workshop on Submarine Cable Provisioning Friday 23rd Feb 2007- Jacaranda Hotel, Programme 8:00-8:30: Registration- 8.30-8:45am: Introductions - Walu 8:45-9:15am: Background Info on Models for Provisioning of OFC (Private, Consortium & Open Access) Walu 9:15-10:30 a.m: Brainstorming on Private-Sector Provisioned OFC Walu/All *Critical Success Factors/Requirements expected of Regulator, Govt, consumers *Projected Impact on Stakeholders 10:30-11:00a.m. T/Break 11:00-11:45a.m: Brainstorming on the Consortium Provisioned OFC Walu/-All *Critical Success Factors/Requirements expected of regulator, Govt, consumers *Projected Impact on Stakeholders 11:45-12:30p.m: Brainstorming on the Open Access Provisioned OFC -Walu/ALL *Critical Success Factors/Requirements expected of Regulator, Govt, Consumers Projected Impact on Stakeholders 12:30p.m-12:45p.m: Brief by PS on TEAMs/EASsy -PS Ndemo 12:45p.m-1:15p.m: Wrap-up & Way Forward (Rapporteur and Brian Longwe) 1:15pm-Lunch and then Guest leave at their pleasure. Rebecca Wanjiku, journalist, p.o box 33515, Nairobi.00600 Kenya. Tel. 254 720 318 925 blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss an email again! Yahoo! Toolbar alerts you the instant new Mail arrives. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/toolbar/features/mail/

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OFC program
by Rebecca Wanjiku 22 Feb '07

22 Feb '07

Stakeholder Workshop on Submarine Cable Provisioning Friday 23rd Feb 2007- Jacaranda Hotel, Programme 8:00-8:30: Registration- 8.30-8:45am: Introductions - Walu 8:45-9:15am: Background Info on Models for Provisioning of OFC (Private, Consortium & Open Access) Walu 9:15-10:30 a.m: Brainstorming on Private-Sector Provisioned OFC Walu/All *Critical Success Factors/Requirements expected of Regulator, Govt, consumers *Projected Impact on Stakeholders 10:30-11:00a.m. T/Break 11:00-11:45a.m: Brainstorming on the Consortium Provisioned OFC Walu/-All *Critical Success Factors/Requirements expected of regulator, Govt, consumers *Projected Impact on Stakeholders 11:45-12:30p.m: Brainstorming on the Open Access Provisioned OFC -Walu/ALL *Critical Success Factors/Requirements expected of Regulator, Govt, Consumers Projected Impact on Stakeholders 12:30p.m-12:45p.m: Brief by PS on TEAMs/EASsy -PS Ndemo 12:45p.m-1:15p.m: Wrap-up & Way Forward (Rapporteur and Brian Longwe) 1:15pm-Lunch and then Guest leave at their pleasure. Rebecca Wanjiku, journalist, p.o box 33515, Nairobi.00600 Kenya. Tel. 254 720 318 925 blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a PS3 game guru. Get your game face on with the latest PS3 news and previews at Yahoo! Games. http://videogames.yahoo.com/platform?platform=120121

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training opportunity
by Rebecca Wanjiku 22 Feb '07

22 Feb '07

DATES: 19th March 23rd March or 26th March -30th March VENUE: Safari Park Hotel PRICE: Kshs. 69,500 per person What and Why? With a Quality Management System you demonstrate predictability of your internal operations and ability to meet customer requirements. An effective Quality Management System will help enhance customer satisfaction. Quality management is what organizations practice to ensure that their procedures conform to the customer's requirements. Moving away from ad hoc processes gives you an overview that makes your internal processes easier to manage, measure, and improve. It is the first step on a journey toward continual business improvement. Taking control of your processes for improve bottom-line An implemented and documented Quality Management System enables you to control your different internal processes as defined by your scope: You will increase your efficiency and minimize the risk that obligations to customers are not met. You have a foundation from which to gradually improve your internal processes and strengthen your organization's ability to meet strategic objectives. You can measure your management system against various international and industry standards through third party certification. Putting your customer first A company working according to a Quality Management System is a more efficient and effective company. In addition, you will see that staff responsibility, motivation, and commitment will improve. A certified Quality Management System is also increasingly a condition of contract. The certificate proves to customers that you have the necessary systems in place to fulfill your obligations to them. What standards can you be certified to? To get on the road to certification, you should begin by reading about: The international ISO 9001:2000 quality management standard applicable to any manufacturing or service industry. ISO 9000 Series ISO 9000 Series ISO 9001:2000 An ISO 9001:2000 certificate proves that your Quality Management System has been certified against a best practice standard and found compliant. Issued by a third party certification body/registrar, the certificate lets customers know they can trust that you have implemented the necessary internal processes to meet obligations. The internationally recognized ISO 9001:2000 standard is generic. It is not a product standard, but applicable to any manufacturing or service industry. Created by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), its objective is to set international requirements for Quality Management Systems. Upgraded version ISO 9001:2000 is the latest version of the standard, issued December 15, 2000. The new edition has combined 1994 editions of ISO 9001, ISO 9002, and ISO 9003. What is different? The new standard places more emphasis on continual improvement and customer satisfaction than the 1994 versions. It applies to the processes of an organization that influence quality. The major clauses in the new standard are: Quality Management System Management Responsibility Resource Management Product Realization Measurement, Analysis, and Improvement Where do I go from here? For third party certification, you need to implement an effective Quality Management System complying with the requirements of the standard. The first step is to get on the road to certification. Road to Certification Certification, or registration, to a standard is the outcome of a successful assessment by an independent third party like Ignite Consulting. After having decided on the management system you wish to implement, there are certain steps to get you started. Experience has shown that some simple tips, often seemingly trivial, have proven invaluable to companies seeking certification. As you set out, keep these in mind: Make sure you begin the process with the right attitude. Have a complete understanding of the concept set forth in the standard, and use the standard as a guide template to define your management system. Know what application and implications of the standard will mean to your company. Use the standard as a tool for improvement. Have an understanding of the risks and processes that affect your organization's ability to realize its business strategy. Select your partner (certification body/registrar) carefully. What steps should I follow? Below you will find 10 general steps that will take you down the road to certification: Assemble a team and define your strategy: The adoption of a management system needs to be the strategic decision of the whole organization. It is vital that your senior management is involved in the creation process. They decide the business strategy that an efficient management system should support. In addition, you need a dedicated team to develop and implement your management system. Determine training needs: Your team members responsible for implementing and maintaining the management system(s) will need to know the full details of the applicable standard(s). There is a wide range of courses, workshops, and seminars available designed to meet these needs. We provide a number of public and in-house training courses. Contact Ignite Consulting for more information. Obtain a standard: Obtain and read a copy of the standard to familiarize yourself with the requirements. Then you should decide if certification/registration to this standard makes good sense for your organization. Review literature and software: There is a large amount of published information available that is designed to assist you in understanding and implementing a standard. Review consultant options: Independent consultants will be able to advise you of a workable, realistic, and cost effective strategy plan for implementation. Develop a management systems manual: Your management systems manual should describe the policies and operations of your company. Through the manual, you will provide an accurate description of the organization and the best practice adopted to consistently satisfy customer expectations. Develop procedures: Procedures describe the processes of your organization, and the best practice to achieve success in those processes. These procedures should answer the following questions about each process: why who when where what how Implement your management system: Communication and training are key to a successful implementation. During the implementation phase, your organization will be working according to the procedures that were developed to document and demonstrate the effectiveness of the management system. Consider a pre-assessment: You can choose to have a preliminary evaluation of the implementation of your management system by a certification body/registrar. The purpose of this is to identify areas of non-conformance and allow you to correct these areas before you begin the accredited certification process. Receiving a non-conformance means that a particular area of your management systems is not compliant with the requirements of the standard. Select a certification body/registrar: Your business relationship with the certification body/registrar will be in place for many years, as your certification has to be maintained. In this age of corporate scrutiny, it is imperative to choose a certification body/registrar with a reputation beyond reproach. Why Ignite Consulting? All management system certificates are not equal. Ignite offers more than a ticket to trade. When partnering with us, you begin a journey toward business improvement, and ultimately business excellence. With the following qualities, we are well equipped to satisfy your organization's certification needs: We offer Risk Based Certification as the standard way of conducting all management system certification. With our risk-based approach to certification, you get more than just a certificate. Our auditors will also evaluate how your management system handles risks, i.e. identifying strengths, weaknesses, and improvement opportunities. We provide a "one stop shopping" concept by offering a range of both single and integrated certification services that enhance the effectiveness of the certification process. We have partners all over the world that can provide local service to you. Our consultants and partners speak your language and know your local needs, customs, and market. For more information access www.igniteconsulting.co.ke or call us on 254-20-3673250-9 -- Catherine Murai Ignite Consulting & Investment Limited EDEN SQUARE 7th Floor, Chiromo Road, Westlands P.O. Box 15568 00100 GPO Nairobi, Kenya Tel: 254-20-3673250-9 Fax: 254-20-3673231 Email: njeri.murai(a)igniteconsulting.co.ke URL: www.igniteconsulting.co.ke Professional, Life Skills Coaching, Value Added Training on Conformity and Compliance, Business Management, Organizational Development and Facilitation. Rebecca Wanjiku, journalist, p.o box 33515, Nairobi.00600 Kenya. Tel. 254 720 318 925 blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sucker-punch spam with award-winning protection. Try the free Yahoo! Mail Beta. http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta/features_spam.html

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direct contact
by Rebecca Wanjiku 22 Feb '07

22 Feb '07

for those interested in this, please contact them directly, its easier.... Informationen zum Abbestellen des Newsletters finden Sie ganz unten. Press release, February 21, 2007 ************************************************** Berlin, Germany / Nairobi, Kenya - The first African Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Summit "Access and Inclusion for TVET in Africa through new ICT-based solutions" will take place in conjunction with this year's eLearning Africa, the annual pan-African conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training. The Summit will be held on 28 May 2007 in Nairobi. The African TVET Summit will bring together TVET experts, policy makers and practitioners to share experiences, discuss strategies, and implement mechanisms for the promotion and sustainability of best practice. Innovative ICT-based TVET initiatives will be identified by a panel of experts in the field and their developers will have the opportunity to present their work at the Summit. The panel will designate one TVET project as the "African Educational ICT Landmark Project" and it will receive support until the next Summit in 2008, when another landmark initiative will be selected. Discussions and plenaries will investigate how eLearning can be used effectively in technical vocational education and training, how ICT-based training can help bridge the gap between theory and practice, and which best-practice cases from other backgrounds can serve as role models. The event will provide insight into the current status of eLearning in TVET and enable participants to exchange experience. The African TVET Summit is supported by the Kenyan Ministry for Education, the UNESCO International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (UNESCO-UNEVOC), the UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Africa (UNESCO/BREDA), the Commonwealth of Learning, the German Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training and the organisers of the eLearning Africa conference, ICWE and Hoffmann & Reif Consultants. Regularly updated information on the Summit and the eLearning Africa conference programme can be found at www.eLearning-Africa.com. eLearning Africa 2007 takes place from May 28 to 30, 2007, under the patronage of the Hon. Prof. George Saitoti, Minister for Education, Kenya. It is the largest pan-African conference with a focus on ICT for development, education and training on the Continent. It is organised by ICWE GmbH and Hoffmann & Reif Consultants to establish and link a network and community of decision makers from governments and administrations with universities, schools, governmental and private training providers, industry, and important partners in development cooperation. Each year a different African country will serve as the venue. ***************************************** Notes for editors eLA - eLearning Africa, 2nd International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training, May 28 - 30, 2007 Organisers: ICWE GmbH, www.icwe.net, Hoffmann & Reif Consultants, www.hoffmann-reif.com Contact: ICWE GmbH, Tel.: +49-30-327 6140 info(a)elearning-africa.com, www.eLearning-Africa.com Press contact: Beate Kleessen ICWE GmbH Leibnizstraße 32 10625 Berlin, Germany Tel.: +49-30-327 61420 Fax: +49-30-324 9833 press-service(a)icwe.net www.icwe.net ____________________________________________________________________________________ Don't pick lemons. See all the new 2007 cars at Yahoo! Autos. http://autos.yahoo.com/new_cars.html

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Re: [kictanet] eLearning Africa 2007 Launches the TVET Summit
by Jose' 22 Feb '07

22 Feb '07

Wow! This is so great.How do we go about getting identified by the panel of experts? Please send them over to our Kimathi Information Centre.this is a very good opportunity to expose our craving eastlands youth to show case how there lives have been transformed by the centre. My number is desplayed down. "Innovative ICT-based TVET initiatives will be identified by a panel of experts in the field and their developers will have the opportunity to present their work at the Summit." Best Regards, Jose' Njuki-Imwe Ngunjiri || +254 722 336754 || ----- Original Message ---- From: Rebecca Wanjiku <rebeccawanjiku(a)yahoo.com> To: ngunjirijnr(a)yahoo.com Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 10:54:46 PM Subject: [kictanet] eLearning Africa 2007 Launches the TVET Summit Informationen zum Abbestellen des Newsletters finden Sie ganz unten. Press release, February 21, 2007 ************************************************** Berlin, Germany / Nairobi, Kenya - The first African Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Summit "Access and Inclusion for TVET in Africa through new ICT-based solutions" will take place in conjunction with this year's eLearning Africa, the annual pan-African conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training. The Summit will be held on 28 May 2007 in Nairobi. The African TVET Summit will bring together TVET experts, policy makers and practitioners to share experiences, discuss strategies, and implement mechanisms for the promotion and sustainability of best practice. Innovative ICT-based TVET initiatives will be identified by a panel of experts in the field and their developers will have the opportunity to present their work at the Summit. The panel will designate one TVET project as the "African Educational ICT Landmark Project" and it will receive support until the next Summit in 2008, when another landmark initiative will be selected. Discussions and plenaries will investigate how eLearning can be used effectively in technical vocational education and training, how ICT-based training can help bridge the gap between theory and practice, and which best-practice cases from other backgrounds can serve as role models. The event will provide insight into the current status of eLearning in TVET and enable participants to exchange experience. The African TVET Summit is supported by the Kenyan Ministry for Education, the UNESCO International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (UNESCO-UNEVOC), the UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Africa (UNESCO/BREDA), the Commonwealth of Learning, the German Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training and the organisers of the eLearning Africa conference, ICWE and Hoffmann & Reif Consultants. Regularly updated information on the Summit and the eLearning Africa conference programme can be found at www.eLearning-Africa.com. eLearning Africa 2007 takes place from May 28 to 30, 2007, under the patronage of the Hon. Prof. George Saitoti, Minister for Education, Kenya. It is the largest pan-African conference with a focus on ICT for development, education and training on the Continent. It is organised by ICWE GmbH and Hoffmann & Reif Consultants to establish and link a network and community of decision makers from governments and administrations with universities, schools, governmental and private training providers, industry, and important partners in development cooperation. Each year a different African country will serve as the venue. ***************************************** Notes for editors eLA - eLearning Africa, 2nd International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training, May 28 - 30, 2007 Organisers: ICWE GmbH, www.icwe.net, Hoffmann & Reif Consultants, www.hoffmann-reif.com Contact: ICWE GmbH, Tel.: +49-30-327 6140 info(a)elearning-africa.com, www.eLearning-Africa.com Press contact: Beate Kleessen ICWE GmbH Leibnizstraße 32 10625 Berlin, Germany Tel.: +49-30-327 61420 Fax: +49-30-324 9833 press-service(a)icwe.net www.icwe.net Klicken Sie auf die folgende URL, um sich von diesem Newsletter abzumelden oder Ihre Einstellungen zu ändern: http://nl.webmart.de/abo.cfm?K=3122361&E=239643605 _______________________________________________ secretariat mailing list secretariat(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/secretariat This message was sent to: rebeccawanjiku(a)yahoo.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/secretariat/rebeccawanjiku%40yahoo.com Need Mail bonding? Go to the Yahoo! Mail Q&A for great tips from Yahoo! Answers users._______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngunjirijnr%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta. http://new.mail.yahoo.com

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Re: [kictanet] E-Centre in Eastlands-Kimathi Estate
by Jose' 22 Feb '07

22 Feb '07

That will be a great opportunity for exposure for the centre to appear in the magazine. I am not a journalist but I love reading alot of books.I am a mobile phone technician working with a Nokia Authorized dealer shop on Koinange street.I am having the centre run with two other directors,who we all work on part time.The youth we trained run the centre and we get update after every hour on how the centre is doing. Yes its a business venture for the youth and its profitable.Fully self sustaining its self.Fully fledged one stop youth E-centre.Comp Games,newspapers,books and very soon an entertainment game centre fully fledged with X-boxes,Ps-games and TFT 21" television sets.Self funding venture run by the youth,for the youth,in benefit of the who community.We train the older folks on how to send emails and how to use the computers. At the moment,we are partnering with Kenya Police to actually train them in return for security.They guard the centre,and we train them for free.We haven't rolled it out fully but currently,we are having a pilot pro gramme of training two Police men for the next three months.If we succeed,we shall have up to 30 Policemen get trained with us.(We have trained ourselves to see an opportunity out of every adversity with now the current insecurity in our area.) Our plan is to roll it out the E-learning centres,by franchising with having it in every estate in Eastlands run by the youth but owned by Kimathi Information Centre.Whereby,we shall be training the youth,who in turn we shall supply computers to them. "Please call me thank you" I need to tell you more. or again log on to www.kimathiinformationcentre.com if I have left some issues out.My number is just beside my name below. Best Regards, Jose' Njuki-Imwe Ngunjiri || +254 722 336754 || ----- Original Message ---- From: munyiva ritah <rmunyiva(a)yahoo.com> To: ngunjirijnr(a)yahoo.com Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2007 8:34:58 AM Subject: Re: [kictanet] E-Centre in Eastlands-Kimathi Estate Tell me jose' as in more about the centre. Am a journalist, are you one? Can give some mileage on the project in some magazine-Business Post. Is it a business venture for youth...in eastlands what exactly is it? --- Jose' <ngunjirijnr(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > True that Ritah, > we partnering with local organized youth groups in > Easlands to train them and give them a chance to > learn how to run such a centre. > > Jericho Estate popularly know to as "JERII" watch > out for an e-learning centre soon. > > Hope Ya'all shall find time to come. > > Best Regards, > Jose' Njuki-Imwe Ngunjiri || +254 722 336754 || > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: munyiva ritah <rmunyiva(a)yahoo.com> > To: ngunjirijnr(a)yahoo.com > Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 3:20:01 PM > Subject: Re: [kictanet] E-Centre in > Eastlands-Kimathi Estate > > Cool idea on the E-centre, maybe we could get more > of > this in Eastlands. > Ritah > --- Judy Okite <judyokite(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > This is soo cool...Jose, > > > > I need to link up with you of the > list...please.... > > > > Kind Regards, > > > > On 2/21/07, Jose' <ngunjirijnr(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > > > > > Checkout, > > > > > > www.kimathiinformationcentre.com > > > > > > some of the pages are still under construction > > like the forum,chat and > > > guest book pages.Oh! also the donation page :-) > > > > > > We reach out to the Easltands community with > free > > ICT lessons > > > also we are a one stop E-centre. > > > > > > We are in the process of organizing a youth > > symposium that will focus on > > > preparing youth in creating business > > proposals,business plans and how to > > > apply for loans and in particular the Youth > loan. > > > > > > All keep y'all posted > > > > > > Best Regards, > > > Jose' Njuki-Imwe Ngunjiri || +254 722 336754 || > > > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > > > From: John Walubengo <jwalu(a)yahoo.com> > > > To: ngunjirijnr(a)yahoo.com > > > Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 7:45:48 PM > > > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Sasanet not working? > > > > > > well, am not a subscriber to them - i got > jittery > > when > > > their registration form had too many of what I > > thought were > > > personal questions without equivalent > > demonstration of how > > > they would secure my data... > > > > > > Nway, I just checked their website and it is up > > and > > > running...so what do you mean when you say they > > are no > > > longer working? > > > > > > walu. > > > > > > --- Alex Gakuru <alex.gakuru(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > > > > > > Wouldn't you be curious to find out a very > > popular free > > > > internet-based www.sasanet.co.ke is now no > > longer > > > > working? I wonder why? > > > > > > > > /Alex > > > > > > > > Mike Theuri <mike.theuri(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Alex, > > > > > > > > Thank you for sharing the blog on the > > anti-consumer > > > > setting in the country. The blog has very > useful > > > > information that is not being shared with > Kenyan > > > > consumers and it is key that consumer rights > are > > upheld. > > > > Your blog out to be brought to more attention > of > > key > > > > stakeholders in ICT and to consumers alike. > > > > > > > > Yes, the Ministry and CCK are best placed to > > > > authoritatively comment on such an issue. > > However I > > > > believe that what AT&T is discontinuing is the > > ability to > > > > use a "call back" number from Kenya to the US. > > It is very > > > > likely that the call back numbers which are > 0800 > > numbers > > > > are no longer profitable for AT&T especially > > given that > > > > they cost as high as $3/min. Technically they > > are > > > > supposed to be cheaper to use than if one was > to > > "call > > > > back" the US direct from any other country be > it > > Kenya or > > > > the UK. However with AT&T's rate to call the > US > > from > > > > Kenya as high as it is and with local > providers > > beating > > > > their tariffs they may have opted to drop this > > service. > > > > What this might do, is it might leave AT&T US > > based > > > > customers unable to call the US using their > AT&T > > calling > > > > cards for what would otherwise be exorbitant > > prices. > > > > > > > > The wording of the AT&T notice on the lack of > no > > future > > > > support for calls originating from Kenya > wasn't > > very > > > > clear and after some digging around it appears > > that it > > > > referred to users of AT&T who utilize call > back > > services > > > > while traveling overseas, it might just be due > > to stiff > > > > competition now that VOIP has been deregulated > > and > > > > tariffs have fallen (though not low enough) > and > > that no > > > > one in their right mind would be willing to > pay > > $3+ per > > > > minute for a call to the US when for a > extremely > > small > > > > fraction one could make the same phone call at > a > > lower > > > > rate. > > > > > > > > Even then the tariffs in general are not fair > > enough for > > > > Kenyan consumers and it is an uphill battle to > > enforce > > > > changes when some of the largest tax payers > > happen to be > > > > communication providers. It is unthinkable > that > > the > > > > government would do much to jeopardize a large > > and steady > > > > tax revenue stream to save the honorable > > consumer. > > > > Increasingly huge profits in a formerly > > depressed and now > > > > recovering economy like ours raise the > question > > whether > > > > the consumer is getting a fair deal. It is > akin > > to oil > > > > companies making several times over some > nations > > GDP in > > > > profits and claiming that they are struggling > > themselves > === message truncated ===> _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/rmunyiva%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Any questions? Get answers on any topic at www.Answers.yahoo.com. Try it now. _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngunjirijnr%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta. http://new.mail.yahoo.com

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Executive Summary of comments KICTANet Freedom of Information Discussions
by alice＠apc.org 22 Feb '07

22 Feb '07

Dear all Below is an executive summary of the discusions on the freedom of information policy that took lace last week. Prepared and submitted by J. Kihanya. best regards alice ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Freedom of Information Policy as drafted and put out for discussion bythe Ministry of Information and Communications was greeted with approval andlauded as a great step towards achieving one of the most fundamental rightsthat underpins all other rights in Kenya.The discussion was not very high but a consensus emerged from the variouspresenters that the following should guide the policy direction. a.. The right to information is the bedrock of all other human rights. The United Nations recognized this in 1946 when the General Assembly resolved:"Freedom of Information is a fundamental human right and the touchstone forall freedom. In its most basic form, a right to information ensures thepeople of a democracy: they have the right to demand and receive informationfrom their government and place an additional obligation on the governmentto pro-actively disclose key information to the public. It also allowscitizens to secure information from private bodies where it is necessary forthe protection or exercise of their rights. It is an excellent tool in thefight against corruption and provides a mechanism for deepening the public'sengagement in development activities and to meaningfully engage andparticipate in democracy. a.. The right must be considered within a broader human rights framework. a.. The right to know should be indicated as a right that is enforceableby the public. It should be a freedom that should not be derogated from bygovernment which must allow for its full enjoyment. a.. That the legislation that emanates from the debate should seek toprotect the free flow of information through e-government and the creationof accountability. a.. That the costs that may be charged on accessing information frompublic bodies should be minimal if at all. a.. That journalists and hence the media should be exempted from payingthe costs that relate to access to information. a.. That the timelines provided under the policy for the access toinformation viz. 15 days are too long and should be reduced. a.. That the practice and culture of secrecy under the Official SecretsAct should be changed if the policy is to allow for the effective use oflegislation. a.. Those private bodies should be required to protect personal data. a.. That the public and private bodies should be required t=o seek onlysuch personal information that is relevant under the circumstances and thatthat which is unnecessary or may cause discrimination should not be requiredof a citizen. a.. That all public bodies should be subjected to the FOI legislationirrespective of the fact that they are run in partnerships with developmentpartners, or not. a.. That when national security is used as a limitation on FOIlegislation, it must be precisely that and not imagined embarrassment to thegovernment. a.. That pro-active publication must take root and e-government used formost or all public pronouncements within a strict timeframe. a.. That the right should extend to all citizens and should not be viewedas a tool only for the media. a.. That all organizations that have the capacity or are directly involvedwith contact with the public and that affect the rights of the public shouldbe designated as organizations that the FOI legislation can affect. a.. A Data protection policy for social cultural and economic reasons mustbe put in place to cater for development concerns.The discussion underscored that the right to know is one that has beendeemed important and has been given to citizens in over 80 jurisdictionsaround the world and that Kenya should join South Africa and Uganda on thisfront in Africa if only to keep pace with especially Sough Africa ondevelopment paths.

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Re: [kictanet] E-Centre in Eastlands-Kimathi Estate
by Jose' 22 Feb '07

22 Feb '07

True that Ritah, we partnering with local organized youth groups in Easlands to train them and give them a chance to learn how to run such a centre. Jericho Estate popularly know to as "JERII" watch out for an e-learning centre soon. Hope Ya'all shall find time to come. Best Regards, Jose' Njuki-Imwe Ngunjiri || +254 722 336754 || ----- Original Message ---- From: munyiva ritah <rmunyiva(a)yahoo.com> To: ngunjirijnr(a)yahoo.com Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 3:20:01 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] E-Centre in Eastlands-Kimathi Estate Cool idea on the E-centre, maybe we could get more of this in Eastlands. Ritah --- Judy Okite <judyokite(a)gmail.com> wrote: > This is soo cool...Jose, > > I need to link up with you of the list...please.... > > Kind Regards, > > On 2/21/07, Jose' <ngunjirijnr(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > > > Checkout, > > > > www.kimathiinformationcentre.com > > > > some of the pages are still under construction > like the forum,chat and > > guest book pages.Oh! also the donation page :-) > > > > We reach out to the Easltands community with free > ICT lessons > > also we are a one stop E-centre. > > > > We are in the process of organizing a youth > symposium that will focus on > > preparing youth in creating business > proposals,business plans and how to > > apply for loans and in particular the Youth loan. > > > > All keep y'all posted > > > > Best Regards, > > Jose' Njuki-Imwe Ngunjiri || +254 722 336754 || > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > > From: John Walubengo <jwalu(a)yahoo.com> > > To: ngunjirijnr(a)yahoo.com > > Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 7:45:48 PM > > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Sasanet not working? > > > > well, am not a subscriber to them - i got jittery > when > > their registration form had too many of what I > thought were > > personal questions without equivalent > demonstration of how > > they would secure my data... > > > > Nway, I just checked their website and it is up > and > > running...so what do you mean when you say they > are no > > longer working? > > > > walu. > > > > --- Alex Gakuru <alex.gakuru(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > > > > Wouldn't you be curious to find out a very > popular free > > > internet-based www.sasanet.co.ke is now no > longer > > > working? I wonder why? > > > > > > /Alex > > > > > > Mike Theuri <mike.theuri(a)gmail.com> wrote: Alex, > > > > > > Thank you for sharing the blog on the > anti-consumer > > > setting in the country. The blog has very useful > > > information that is not being shared with Kenyan > > > consumers and it is key that consumer rights are > upheld. > > > Your blog out to be brought to more attention of > key > > > stakeholders in ICT and to consumers alike. > > > > > > Yes, the Ministry and CCK are best placed to > > > authoritatively comment on such an issue. > However I > > > believe that what AT&T is discontinuing is the > ability to > > > use a "call back" number from Kenya to the US. > It is very > > > likely that the call back numbers which are 0800 > numbers > > > are no longer profitable for AT&T especially > given that > > > they cost as high as $3/min. Technically they > are > > > supposed to be cheaper to use than if one was to > "call > > > back" the US direct from any other country be it > Kenya or > > > the UK. However with AT&T's rate to call the US > from > > > Kenya as high as it is and with local providers > beating > > > their tariffs they may have opted to drop this > service. > > > What this might do, is it might leave AT&T US > based > > > customers unable to call the US using their AT&T > calling > > > cards for what would otherwise be exorbitant > prices. > > > > > > The wording of the AT&T notice on the lack of no > future > > > support for calls originating from Kenya wasn't > very > > > clear and after some digging around it appears > that it > > > referred to users of AT&T who utilize call back > services > > > while traveling overseas, it might just be due > to stiff > > > competition now that VOIP has been deregulated > and > > > tariffs have fallen (though not low enough) and > that no > > > one in their right mind would be willing to pay > $3+ per > > > minute for a call to the US when for a extremely > small > > > fraction one could make the same phone call at a > lower > > > rate. > > > > > > Even then the tariffs in general are not fair > enough for > > > Kenyan consumers and it is an uphill battle to > enforce > > > changes when some of the largest tax payers > happen to be > > > communication providers. It is unthinkable that > the > > > government would do much to jeopardize a large > and steady > > > tax revenue stream to save the honorable > consumer. > > > Increasingly huge profits in a formerly > depressed and now > > > recovering economy like ours raise the question > whether > > > the consumer is getting a fair deal. It is akin > to oil > > > companies making several times over some nations > GDP in > > > profits and claiming that they are struggling > themselves > > > and offering the best prices possible. Price > regulation > > > in the industry is something that should be > looked into > > > to further to try and strike a fair balance > between > > > consumers needs and investors return on equity. > > > > > > Mike > > > > > > On 2/18/07, Alex Gakuru <alex.gakuru(a)yahoo.com> > wrote: > > > Mike: > > > > > > Although this is a consumer issue, you may > notice we have > > > quite some domestic wars with the prevailing > > > anti-consumer setting, > http://ictconsumer.blogspot.com/ > > > for example. > > > > > > By engaging foreign networks, I am afraid the > ICT > > > Consumers Association of Kenya could be > considered acting > > > ultra vires thus the Ministry of Information and > > > Communications, CCK, and perhaps also Foreign > Affairs are > > > best suited to comment. > > > > > > Would a provocative question, like "why has a > private US > > > telco unilaterally cut-off communication from > Kenya to > > > the US jeopardizing both a basic human right and > the > > > national outsourcing strategy" earn a quick > response from > > > government? > > > > > > rgds, > > > > > > Alex > > > > > > Mike Theuri <mike.theuri(a)gmail.com> wrote: As > an after > > > thought, this may mean calls dialed through > this number > > > which by itself is a very expensive option and > which may > > > reflect the effects of voip and lowered costs of > > > international calls: > === message truncated ===> _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/rmunyiva%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Cheap talk? Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low PC-to-Phone call rates. http://voice.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngunjirijnr%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Don't get soaked. Take a quick peak at the forecast with the Yahoo! Search weather shortcut. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/#loc_weather

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eLearning Africa 2007 Launches the TVET Summit
by Rebecca Wanjiku 21 Feb '07

21 Feb '07

Informationen zum Abbestellen des Newsletters finden Sie ganz unten. Press release, February 21, 2007 ************************************************** Berlin, Germany / Nairobi, Kenya - The first African Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Summit "Access and Inclusion for TVET in Africa through new ICT-based solutions" will take place in conjunction with this year's eLearning Africa, the annual pan-African conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training. The Summit will be held on 28 May 2007 in Nairobi. The African TVET Summit will bring together TVET experts, policy makers and practitioners to share experiences, discuss strategies, and implement mechanisms for the promotion and sustainability of best practice. Innovative ICT-based TVET initiatives will be identified by a panel of experts in the field and their developers will have the opportunity to present their work at the Summit. The panel will designate one TVET project as the "African Educational ICT Landmark Project" and it will receive support until the next Summit in 2008, when another landmark initiative will be selected. Discussions and plenaries will investigate how eLearning can be used effectively in technical vocational education and training, how ICT-based training can help bridge the gap between theory and practice, and which best-practice cases from other backgrounds can serve as role models. The event will provide insight into the current status of eLearning in TVET and enable participants to exchange experience. The African TVET Summit is supported by the Kenyan Ministry for Education, the UNESCO International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (UNESCO-UNEVOC), the UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Africa (UNESCO/BREDA), the Commonwealth of Learning, the German Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training and the organisers of the eLearning Africa conference, ICWE and Hoffmann & Reif Consultants. Regularly updated information on the Summit and the eLearning Africa conference programme can be found at www.eLearning-Africa.com. eLearning Africa 2007 takes place from May 28 to 30, 2007, under the patronage of the Hon. Prof. George Saitoti, Minister for Education, Kenya. It is the largest pan-African conference with a focus on ICT for development, education and training on the Continent. It is organised by ICWE GmbH and Hoffmann & Reif Consultants to establish and link a network and community of decision makers from governments and administrations with universities, schools, governmental and private training providers, industry, and important partners in development cooperation. Each year a different African country will serve as the venue. ***************************************** Notes for editors eLA - eLearning Africa, 2nd International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training, May 28 - 30, 2007 Organisers: ICWE GmbH, www.icwe.net, Hoffmann & Reif Consultants, www.hoffmann-reif.com Contact: ICWE GmbH, Tel.: +49-30-327 6140 info(a)elearning-africa.com, www.eLearning-Africa.com Press contact: Beate Kleessen ICWE GmbH Leibnizstraße 32 10625 Berlin, Germany Tel.: +49-30-327 61420 Fax: +49-30-324 9833 press-service(a)icwe.net www.icwe.net Klicken Sie auf die folgende URL, um sich von diesem Newsletter abzumelden oder Ihre Einstellungen zu ändern: http://nl.webmart.de/abo.cfm?K=3122361&E=239643605 _______________________________________________ secretariat mailing list secretariat(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/secretariat This message was sent to: rebeccawanjiku(a)yahoo.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/secretariat/rebeccawanjiku%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sucker-punch spam with award-winning protection. Try the free Yahoo! Mail Beta. http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta/features_spam.html

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Questions whether open source software can covert the software world?
by alice＠apc.org 21 Feb '07

21 Feb '07

>From Panos ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For many people in developing countries, commercial software packages are not an option because they are expensive, do not come in local languages and cannot be shared or adapted. Advocates of the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) movement argue that the tools of information and communication should be in the public domain. But commercial software companies say they spend huge sums of money on research and development, and need to recoup their investments. This latest media briefing on the information society explores how these opposing views can be reconciled in the interests of millions of potential software users in the developing world. Visit: http://www.panos.org.uk/PDF/reports/wsistoolkit5.pdf

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Fw: [DigAfrica] African VoIP Markets: Answers to pressing question
by alice＠apc.org 21 Feb '07

21 Feb '07

>From Balancing Act: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ African telcos are having to react either to price pressure from the grey market or newly legal VoIP service providers. The impact of VoIP on international prices is only the beginning: in newly legal VoIP markets, the arbitrage opportunity is moving to the national level. Many operators are seeking to remain competitive by simply offering cheaper prices to their customers, either through a specific VoIP service offering or to all customers. But in any price war with the grey market there is only way one for prices to go: downwards. But VoIP is the precursor of much larger changes for operators and they need to create new strategies to remain in the game in more competitive markets: Price cutting cannibalises existing income but also increases volumes: in other words, increased volumes may cover income losses from higher rates. Do you know what has happened to the traffic volumes of those carriers who have lowered prices? A small number of African countries have more or less legalised VoIP for a new generation of VoIP service providers. Further countries are in the queue to do the same and some countries have an anomalous use of VoIP for certain carriers. Do you know which these countries are and how it will affect your business? There has been much talk of NGN networks but for nearly all carriers this is a much more complicated process of transition. Do you know where you are in that transition process and where your competitors have got to? A number of African carriers have convinced themselves that "triple play" is one strategy to combat leakage of customers to the new VoIP service providers. You might think that these carriers have got a clearly defined strategy. But do you know what the rates and market potential is for a service like this that includes VoIP? African VoIP Markets is a 170 page report with 28 tables that looks at all aspects of VoIP in the region. Can you answer the questions facing your business? go to: http://www.balancingact-africa.com/voipmarks.html

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Re: [kictanet] Sasanet not working?
by Jose' 21 Feb '07

21 Feb '07

Hi Walu, What Alex is expressing is the free sms service that sasanet gives.Everything else is up and running except the free sms service thats why we use it. I copied and pasted this from the site FYI "Due to a system upgrade that is currently in progress, the Sasanet Free sms service and purchase of sms credits are temporarily unavailable. Please check back again later." We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused, but strive to continually improve our service to you. Best Regards, Njuki-Imwe ----- Original Message ---- From: John Walubengo <jwalu(a)yahoo.com> To: ngunjirijnr(a)yahoo.com Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 7:45:48 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Sasanet not working? well, am not a subscriber to them - i got jittery when their registration form had too many of what I thought were personal questions without equivalent demonstration of how they would secure my data... Nway, I just checked their website and it is up and running...so what do you mean when you say they are no longer working? walu. --- Alex Gakuru <alex.gakuru(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Wouldn't you be curious to find out a very popular free > internet-based www.sasanet.co.ke is now no longer > working? I wonder why? > > /Alex > > Mike Theuri <mike.theuri(a)gmail.com> wrote: Alex, > > Thank you for sharing the blog on the anti-consumer > setting in the country. The blog has very useful > information that is not being shared with Kenyan > consumers and it is key that consumer rights are upheld. > Your blog out to be brought to more attention of key > stakeholders in ICT and to consumers alike. > > Yes, the Ministry and CCK are best placed to > authoritatively comment on such an issue. However I > believe that what AT&T is discontinuing is the ability to > use a "call back" number from Kenya to the US. It is very > likely that the call back numbers which are 0800 numbers > are no longer profitable for AT&T especially given that > they cost as high as $3/min. Technically they are > supposed to be cheaper to use than if one was to "call > back" the US direct from any other country be it Kenya or > the UK. However with AT&T's rate to call the US from > Kenya as high as it is and with local providers beating > their tariffs they may have opted to drop this service. > What this might do, is it might leave AT&T US based > customers unable to call the US using their AT&T calling > cards for what would otherwise be exorbitant prices. > > The wording of the AT&T notice on the lack of no future > support for calls originating from Kenya wasn't very > clear and after some digging around it appears that it > referred to users of AT&T who utilize call back services > while traveling overseas, it might just be due to stiff > competition now that VOIP has been deregulated and > tariffs have fallen (though not low enough) and that no > one in their right mind would be willing to pay $3+ per > minute for a call to the US when for a extremely small > fraction one could make the same phone call at a lower > rate. > > Even then the tariffs in general are not fair enough for > Kenyan consumers and it is an uphill battle to enforce > changes when some of the largest tax payers happen to be > communication providers. It is unthinkable that the > government would do much to jeopardize a large and steady > tax revenue stream to save the honorable consumer. > Increasingly huge profits in a formerly depressed and now > recovering economy like ours raise the question whether > the consumer is getting a fair deal. It is akin to oil > companies making several times over some nations GDP in > profits and claiming that they are struggling themselves > and offering the best prices possible. Price regulation > in the industry is something that should be looked into > to further to try and strike a fair balance between > consumers needs and investors return on equity. > > Mike > > On 2/18/07, Alex Gakuru <alex.gakuru(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Mike: > > Although this is a consumer issue, you may notice we have > quite some domestic wars with the prevailing > anti-consumer setting, http://ictconsumer.blogspot.com/ > for example. > > By engaging foreign networks, I am afraid the ICT > Consumers Association of Kenya could be considered acting > ultra vires thus the Ministry of Information and > Communications, CCK, and perhaps also Foreign Affairs are > best suited to comment. > > Would a provocative question, like "why has a private US > telco unilaterally cut-off communication from Kenya to > the US jeopardizing both a basic human right and the > national outsourcing strategy" earn a quick response from > government? > > rgds, > > Alex > > Mike Theuri <mike.theuri(a)gmail.com> wrote: As an after > thought, this may mean calls dialed through this number > which by itself is a very expensive option and which may > reflect the effects of voip and lowered costs of > international calls: > > Kenya 0-800-2201-15 (608) > > On 2/18/07, Mike Theuri <mike.theuri(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Does anyone know why the below might be the case ? AT&T > printed this in small print on bills sent to customer in > January. Considering > that AT&T is the largest telco in the US this is a > serious issue : > > International Call Origination: > Effective March 1, 2007, our International Call > Origination service will change. Current access > numbers for calls originating internationally > will change. Please visit att.com/dialing-guide > to print the new dialing-guide for your reference; > or call the number on your bill to order a new > dialing guide. Calls from Kenya to US will > no longer be supported. International to > international calling from St. Martin will no > longer be supported. Also, International > service will be expanded to over 60 additional > countries. To find out rates and countries where > we provide service, please visit > att.com/intl-rates. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alex.gakuru%40yahoo.com > > > --------------------------------- > The fish are biting. > Get more visitors on your site using Yahoo! Search > Marketing. > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/mike.theuri%40gmail.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alex.gakuru%40yahoo.com > > > --------------------------------- > Sucker-punch spam with award-winning protection. > Try the free Yahoo! Mail Beta.> _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jwalu%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Finding fabulous fares is fun. Let Yahoo! FareChase search your favorite travel sites to find flight and hotel bargains. http://farechase.yahoo.com/promo-generic-14795097 _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngunjirijnr%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ We won't tell. Get more on shows you hate to love (and love to hate): Yahoo! 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3 3

Re: [kictanet] E-Centre in Eastlands-Kimathi Estate
by Jose' 21 Feb '07

21 Feb '07

Thanx Judy, Yeah its n awesome centre. How is the website? out of 10?let me know what y'all find it.Is it opening fast at your end?Am being told that in some places it aint opening I wonder why :-( Give me a call we shall organize a mtg.It will be exciting to show what we do through empowering the youth. Best Regards, Jose' Njuki-Imwe Ngunjiri || +254 722 336754 || ----- Original Message ---- From: Judy Okite <judyokite(a)gmail.com> To: ngunjirijnr(a)yahoo.com Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 2:52:08 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] E-Centre in Eastlands-Kimathi Estate This is soo cool...Jose, I need to link up with you of the list...please.... Kind Regards, On 2/21/07, Jose' <ngunjirijnr(a)yahoo.com> wrote: Checkout, www.kimathiinformationcentre.com some of the pages are still under construction like the forum,chat and guest book pages.Oh! also the donation page :-) We reach out to the Easltands community with free ICT lessons also we are a one stop E-centre. We are in the process of organizing a youth symposium that will focus on preparing youth in creating business proposals,business plans and how to apply for loans and in particular the Youth loan. All keep y'all posted Best Regards, Jose' Njuki-Imwe Ngunjiri || +254 722 336754 || ----- Original Message ---- From: John Walubengo < jwalu(a)yahoo.com> To: ngunjirijnr(a)yahoo.com Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 7:45:48 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Sasanet not working? well, am not a subscriber to them - i got jittery when their registration form had too many of what I thought were personal questions without equivalent demonstration of how they would secure my data... Nway, I just checked their website and it is up and running...so what do you mean when you say they are no longer working? walu. --- Alex Gakuru < alex.gakuru(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Wouldn't you be curious to find out a very popular free > internet-based www.sasanet.co.ke is now no longer > working? I wonder why? > > /Alex > > Mike Theuri <mike.theuri(a)gmail.com> wrote: Alex, > > Thank you for sharing the blog on the anti-consumer > setting in the country. The blog has very useful > information that is not being shared with Kenyan > consumers and it is key that consumer rights are upheld. > Your blog out to be brought to more attention of key > stakeholders in ICT and to consumers alike. > > Yes, the Ministry and CCK are best placed to > authoritatively comment on such an issue. However I > believe that what AT&T is discontinuing is the ability to > use a "call back" number from Kenya to the US. It is very > likely that the call back numbers which are 0800 numbers > are no longer profitable for AT&T especially given that > they cost as high as $3/min. Technically they are > supposed to be cheaper to use than if one was to "call > back" the US direct from any other country be it Kenya or > the UK. However with AT&T's rate to call the US from > Kenya as high as it is and with local providers beating > their tariffs they may have opted to drop this service. > What this might do, is it might leave AT&T US based > customers unable to call the US using their AT&T calling > cards for what would otherwise be exorbitant prices. > > The wording of the AT&T notice on the lack of no future > support for calls originating from Kenya wasn't very > clear and after some digging around it appears that it > referred to users of AT&T who utilize call back services > while traveling overseas, it might just be due to stiff > competition now that VOIP has been deregulated and > tariffs have fallen (though not low enough) and that no > one in their right mind would be willing to pay $3+ per > minute for a call to the US when for a extremely small > fraction one could make the same phone call at a lower > rate. > > Even then the tariffs in general are not fair enough for > Kenyan consumers and it is an uphill battle to enforce > changes when some of the largest tax payers happen to be > communication providers. It is unthinkable that the > government would do much to jeopardize a large and steady > tax revenue stream to save the honorable consumer. > Increasingly huge profits in a formerly depressed and now > recovering economy like ours raise the question whether > the consumer is getting a fair deal. It is akin to oil > companies making several times over some nations GDP in > profits and claiming that they are struggling themselves > and offering the best prices possible. Price regulation > in the industry is something that should be looked into > to further to try and strike a fair balance between > consumers needs and investors return on equity. > > Mike > > On 2/18/07, Alex Gakuru < alex.gakuru(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Mike: > > Although this is a consumer issue, you may notice we have > quite some domestic wars with the prevailing > anti-consumer setting, http://ictconsumer.blogspot.com/ > for example. > > By engaging foreign networks, I am afraid the ICT > Consumers Association of Kenya could be considered acting > ultra vires thus the Ministry of Information and > Communications, CCK, and perhaps also Foreign Affairs are > best suited to comment. > > Would a provocative question, like "why has a private US > telco unilaterally cut-off communication from Kenya to > the US jeopardizing both a basic human right and the > national outsourcing strategy" earn a quick response from > government? > > rgds, > > Alex > > Mike Theuri < mike.theuri(a)gmail.com> wrote: As an after > thought, this may mean calls dialed through this number > which by itself is a very expensive option and which may > reflect the effects of voip and lowered costs of > international calls: > > Kenya 0-800-2201-15 (608) > > On 2/18/07, Mike Theuri < mike.theuri(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Does anyone know why the below might be the case ? AT&T > printed this in small print on bills sent to customer in > January. Considering > that AT&T is the largest telco in the US this is a > serious issue : > > International Call Origination: > Effective March 1, 2007, our International Call > Origination service will change. Current access > numbers for calls originating internationally > will change. Please visit att.com/dialing-guide > to print the new dialing-guide for your reference; > or call the number on your bill to order a new > dialing guide. Calls from Kenya to US will > no longer be supported. International to > international calling from St. Martin will no > longer be supported. Also, International > service will be expanded to over 60 additional > countries. To find out rates and countries where > we provide service, please visit > att.com/intl-rates. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alex.gakuru%40yahoo.com > > > --------------------------------- > The fish are biting. > Get more visitors on your site using Yahoo! Search > Marketing. > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/mike.theuri%40gmail.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alex.gakuru%40yahoo.com > > > --------------------------------- > Sucker-punch spam with award-winning protection. > Try the free Yahoo! Mail Beta.> _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jwalu%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Finding fabulous fares is fun. Let Yahoo! FareChase search your favorite travel sites to find flight and hotel bargains. http://farechase.yahoo.com/promo-generic-14795097 _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngunjirijnr%40yahoo.com It's here! Your new message! Get new email alerts with the free Yahoo! Toolbar. _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/judyokite%40gmail.com -- Judy Ann Okite, +254-721237507 P.O. BOX 2228 00100, NAIROBI,KENYA. "Even if you are on the right track, you'll still get run over if you just sit there." _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngunjirijnr%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Want to start your own business? Learn how on Yahoo! Small Business. http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/r-index

1 0

Re: [kictanet] Sasanet not working?
by Jose' 21 Feb '07

21 Feb '07

I think they are just maintaining there systems.I use the Sasanet not only to send free sms' but also store my names in their address book this is one way of making your mind at ease when Mathira's crew do the "needful" to your "Hallo Moto!" phone. Lets give them a chance.we wait.Patience is a virtue. Best Regards, Jose' Njuki-Imwe Ngunjiri ----- Original Message ---- From: Judy Okite <judyokite(a)gmail.com> To: ngunjirijnr(a)yahoo.com Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 2:46:43 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Sasanet not working? In simpler English, Sasanet gives its subscribers an opportunity to send 10 sms's free to the local network(celtel or safcom)a total of 90 characters...then an advert takes up the rest of the characters,to make 160(a norm sms). For this service to be provided..sasanet fully depends on the sposnsors(adverts),like any other business definately you cannot give your clients the real reason as to why the services are not available.........but there are no sponsors...as per now to support the free sms......if any one one has been using this services,frequently,then you can agree that it has been an ON/OFF...kind of service...but since its free why make noise? just keep checking till it works......So there's no need to panic, it has nothing to with AT&T or something fishy,reading between the lines..... Kind Regards, On 2/21/07, Jose' <ngunjirijnr(a)yahoo.com> wrote: Hi Walu, What Alex is expressing is the free sms service that sasanet gives.Everything else is up and running except the free sms service thats why we use it. I copied and pasted this from the site FYI "Due to a system upgrade that is currently in progress, the Sasanet Free sms service and purchase of sms credits are temporarily unavailable. Please check back again later." We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused, but strive to continually improve our service to you. Best Regards, Njuki-Imwe ----- Original Message ---- From: John Walubengo <jwalu(a)yahoo.com> To: ngunjirijnr(a)yahoo.com Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 7:45:48 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Sasanet not working? well, am not a subscriber to them - i got jittery when their registration form had too many of what I thought were personal questions without equivalent demonstration of how they would secure my data... Nway, I just checked their website and it is up and running...so what do you mean when you say they are no longer working? walu. --- Alex Gakuru <alex.gakuru(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Wouldn't you be curious to find out a very popular free > internet-based www.sasanet.co.ke is now no longer > working? I wonder why? > > /Alex > > Mike Theuri <mike.theuri(a)gmail.com> wrote: Alex, > > Thank you for sharing the blog on the anti-consumer > setting in the country. The blog has very useful > information that is not being shared with Kenyan > consumers and it is key that consumer rights are upheld. > Your blog out to be brought to more attention of key > stakeholders in ICT and to consumers alike. > > Yes, the Ministry and CCK are best placed to > authoritatively comment on such an issue. However I > believe that what AT&T is discontinuing is the ability to > use a "call back" number from Kenya to the US. It is very > likely that the call back numbers which are 0800 numbers > are no longer profitable for AT&T especially given that > they cost as high as $3/min. Technically they are > supposed to be cheaper to use than if one was to "call > back" the US direct from any other country be it Kenya or > the UK. However with AT&T's rate to call the US from > Kenya as high as it is and with local providers beating > their tariffs they may have opted to drop this service. > What this might do, is it might leave AT&T US based > customers unable to call the US using their AT&T calling > cards for what would otherwise be exorbitant prices. > > The wording of the AT&T notice on the lack of no future > support for calls originating from Kenya wasn't very > clear and after some digging around it appears that it > referred to users of AT&T who utilize call back services > while traveling overseas, it might just be due to stiff > competition now that VOIP has been deregulated and > tariffs have fallen (though not low enough) and that no > one in their right mind would be willing to pay $3+ per > minute for a call to the US when for a extremely small > fraction one could make the same phone call at a lower > rate. > > Even then the tariffs in general are not fair enough for > Kenyan consumers and it is an uphill battle to enforce > changes when some of the largest tax payers happen to be > communication providers. It is unthinkable that the > government would do much to jeopardize a large and steady > tax revenue stream to save the honorable consumer. > Increasingly huge profits in a formerly depressed and now > recovering economy like ours raise the question whether > the consumer is getting a fair deal. It is akin to oil > companies making several times over some nations GDP in > profits and claiming that they are struggling themselves > and offering the best prices possible. Price regulation > in the industry is something that should be looked into > to further to try and strike a fair balance between > consumers needs and investors return on equity. > > Mike > > On 2/18/07, Alex Gakuru <alex.gakuru(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Mike: > > Although this is a consumer issue, you may notice we have > quite some domestic wars with the prevailing > anti-consumer setting, http://ictconsumer.blogspot.com/ > for example. > > By engaging foreign networks, I am afraid the ICT > Consumers Association of Kenya could be considered acting > ultra vires thus the Ministry of Information and > Communications, CCK, and perhaps also Foreign Affairs are > best suited to comment. > > Would a provocative question, like "why has a private US > telco unilaterally cut-off communication from Kenya to > the US jeopardizing both a basic human right and the > national outsourcing strategy" earn a quick response from > government? > > rgds, > > Alex > > Mike Theuri <mike.theuri(a)gmail.com > wrote: As an after > thought, this may mean calls dialed through this number > which by itself is a very expensive option and which may > reflect the effects of voip and lowered costs of > international calls: > > Kenya 0-800-2201-15 (608) > > On 2/18/07, Mike Theuri <mike.theuri(a)gmail.com > wrote: > Does anyone know why the below might be the case ? AT&T > printed this in small print on bills sent to customer in > January. Considering > that AT&T is the largest telco in the US this is a > serious issue : > > International Call Origination: > Effective March 1, 2007, our International Call > Origination service will change. Current access > numbers for calls originating internationally > will change. Please visit att.com/dialing-guide > to print the new dialing-guide for your reference; > or call the number on your bill to order a new > dialing guide. Calls from Kenya to US will > no longer be supported. International to > international calling from St. Martin will no > longer be supported. Also, International > service will be expanded to over 60 additional > countries. To find out rates and countries where > we provide service, please visit > att.com/intl-rates. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alex.gakuru%40yahoo.com > > > --------------------------------- > The fish are biting. > Get more visitors on your site using Yahoo! Search > Marketing. > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/mike.theuri%40gmail.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alex.gakuru%40yahoo.com > > > --------------------------------- > Sucker-punch spam with award-winning protection. > Try the free Yahoo! Mail Beta.> _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jwalu%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Finding fabulous fares is fun. Let Yahoo! FareChase search your favorite travel sites to find flight and hotel bargains. http://farechase.yahoo.com/promo-generic-14795097 _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngunjirijnr%40yahoo.com TV dinner still cooling? Check out "Tonight's Picks" on Yahoo! TV. _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/judyokite%40gmail.com -- Judy Ann Okite, +254-721237507 P.O. BOX 2228 00100, NAIROBI,KENYA. "Even if you are on the right track, you'll still get run over if you just sit there." _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngunjirijnr%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Don't get soaked. Take a quick peak at the forecast with the Yahoo! Search weather shortcut. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/#loc_weather

1 0

E-Centre in Eastlands-Kimathi Estate
by Jose' 21 Feb '07

21 Feb '07

Checkout, www.kimathiinformationcentre.com some of the pages are still under construction like the forum,chat and guest book pages.Oh! also the donation page :-) We reach out to the Easltands community with free ICT lessons also we are a one stop E-centre. We are in the process of organizing a youth symposium that will focus on preparing youth in creating business proposals,business plans and how to apply for loans and in particular the Youth loan. All keep y'all posted Best Regards, Jose' Njuki-Imwe Ngunjiri || +254 722 336754 || ----- Original Message ---- From: John Walubengo <jwalu(a)yahoo.com> To: ngunjirijnr(a)yahoo.com Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 7:45:48 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Sasanet not working? well, am not a subscriber to them - i got jittery when their registration form had too many of what I thought were personal questions without equivalent demonstration of how they would secure my data... Nway, I just checked their website and it is up and running...so what do you mean when you say they are no longer working? walu. --- Alex Gakuru <alex.gakuru(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Wouldn't you be curious to find out a very popular free > internet-based www.sasanet.co.ke is now no longer > working? I wonder why? > > /Alex > > Mike Theuri <mike.theuri(a)gmail.com> wrote: Alex, > > Thank you for sharing the blog on the anti-consumer > setting in the country. The blog has very useful > information that is not being shared with Kenyan > consumers and it is key that consumer rights are upheld. > Your blog out to be brought to more attention of key > stakeholders in ICT and to consumers alike. > > Yes, the Ministry and CCK are best placed to > authoritatively comment on such an issue. However I > believe that what AT&T is discontinuing is the ability to > use a "call back" number from Kenya to the US. It is very > likely that the call back numbers which are 0800 numbers > are no longer profitable for AT&T especially given that > they cost as high as $3/min. Technically they are > supposed to be cheaper to use than if one was to "call > back" the US direct from any other country be it Kenya or > the UK. However with AT&T's rate to call the US from > Kenya as high as it is and with local providers beating > their tariffs they may have opted to drop this service. > What this might do, is it might leave AT&T US based > customers unable to call the US using their AT&T calling > cards for what would otherwise be exorbitant prices. > > The wording of the AT&T notice on the lack of no future > support for calls originating from Kenya wasn't very > clear and after some digging around it appears that it > referred to users of AT&T who utilize call back services > while traveling overseas, it might just be due to stiff > competition now that VOIP has been deregulated and > tariffs have fallen (though not low enough) and that no > one in their right mind would be willing to pay $3+ per > minute for a call to the US when for a extremely small > fraction one could make the same phone call at a lower > rate. > > Even then the tariffs in general are not fair enough for > Kenyan consumers and it is an uphill battle to enforce > changes when some of the largest tax payers happen to be > communication providers. It is unthinkable that the > government would do much to jeopardize a large and steady > tax revenue stream to save the honorable consumer. > Increasingly huge profits in a formerly depressed and now > recovering economy like ours raise the question whether > the consumer is getting a fair deal. It is akin to oil > companies making several times over some nations GDP in > profits and claiming that they are struggling themselves > and offering the best prices possible. Price regulation > in the industry is something that should be looked into > to further to try and strike a fair balance between > consumers needs and investors return on equity. > > Mike > > On 2/18/07, Alex Gakuru <alex.gakuru(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Mike: > > Although this is a consumer issue, you may notice we have > quite some domestic wars with the prevailing > anti-consumer setting, http://ictconsumer.blogspot.com/ > for example. > > By engaging foreign networks, I am afraid the ICT > Consumers Association of Kenya could be considered acting > ultra vires thus the Ministry of Information and > Communications, CCK, and perhaps also Foreign Affairs are > best suited to comment. > > Would a provocative question, like "why has a private US > telco unilaterally cut-off communication from Kenya to > the US jeopardizing both a basic human right and the > national outsourcing strategy" earn a quick response from > government? > > rgds, > > Alex > > Mike Theuri <mike.theuri(a)gmail.com> wrote: As an after > thought, this may mean calls dialed through this number > which by itself is a very expensive option and which may > reflect the effects of voip and lowered costs of > international calls: > > Kenya 0-800-2201-15 (608) > > On 2/18/07, Mike Theuri <mike.theuri(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Does anyone know why the below might be the case ? AT&T > printed this in small print on bills sent to customer in > January. Considering > that AT&T is the largest telco in the US this is a > serious issue : > > International Call Origination: > Effective March 1, 2007, our International Call > Origination service will change. Current access > numbers for calls originating internationally > will change. Please visit att.com/dialing-guide > to print the new dialing-guide for your reference; > or call the number on your bill to order a new > dialing guide. Calls from Kenya to US will > no longer be supported. International to > international calling from St. Martin will no > longer be supported. Also, International > service will be expanded to over 60 additional > countries. To find out rates and countries where > we provide service, please visit > att.com/intl-rates. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alex.gakuru%40yahoo.com > > > --------------------------------- > The fish are biting. > Get more visitors on your site using Yahoo! Search > Marketing. > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/mike.theuri%40gmail.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alex.gakuru%40yahoo.com > > > --------------------------------- > Sucker-punch spam with award-winning protection. > Try the free Yahoo! Mail Beta.> _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jwalu%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Finding fabulous fares is fun. Let Yahoo! FareChase search your favorite travel sites to find flight and hotel bargains. http://farechase.yahoo.com/promo-generic-14795097 _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngunjirijnr%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ TV dinner still cooling? Check out "Tonight's Picks" on Yahoo! TV. http://tv.yahoo.com/

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AT&T to no longer support calls originating from Kenya
by Mike Theuri 21 Feb '07

21 Feb '07

Does anyone know why the below might be the case ? AT&T printed this in small print on bills sent to customer in January. Considering that AT&T is the largest telco in the US this is a serious issue : International Call Origination: Effective March 1, 2007, our International Call Origination service will change. Current access numbers for calls originating internationally will change. Please visit att.com/dialing-guide to print the new dialing-guide for your reference; or call the number on your bill to order a new dialing guide. Calls from Kenya to US will no longer be supported. International to international calling from St. Martin will no longer be supported. Also, International service will be expanded to over 60 additional countries. To find out rates and countries where we provide service, please visit att.com/intl-rates.

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Accountability Statement
by Wainaina Mungai 21 Feb '07

21 Feb '07

"What Kibaki has doen with your money" http://www.communication.go.ke/development/default.asp ....an interesting read! --- Wainaina Mungai http://www.madeinkenya.org SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

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Re: [kictanet] Sasanet
by Mike Theuri 21 Feb '07

21 Feb '07

Perhaps there is more than meets the eye considering their site seems to be up and running per a visual inspection ? Is there more behind the scenes that might not be obvious ? On 2/19/07, Alex Gakuru <alex.gakuru(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > Wouldn't you be curious to find out a very popular free internet-based > www.sasanet.co.ke is now no longer working? I wonder why? > > /Alex > > *Mike Theuri <mike.theuri(a)gmail.com>* wrote: > > Alex, > > Thank you for sharing the blog on the anti-consumer setting in the > country. The blog has very useful information that is not being shared with > Kenyan consumers and it is key that consumer rights are upheld. Your blog > out to be brought to more attention of key stakeholders in ICT and to > consumers alike. > > Yes, the Ministry and CCK are best placed to authoritatively comment on > such an issue. However I believe that what AT&T is discontinuing is the > ability to use a "call back" number from Kenya to the US. It is very likely > that the call back numbers which are 0800 numbers are no longer profitable > for AT&T especially given that they cost as high as $3/min. Technically they > are supposed to be cheaper to use than if one was to "call back" the US > direct from any other country be it Kenya or the UK. However with AT&T's > rate to call the US from Kenya as high as it is and with local providers > beating their tariffs they may have opted to drop this service. What this > might do, is it might leave AT&T US based customers unable to call the US > using their AT&T calling cards for what would otherwise be exorbitant > prices. > > The wording of the AT&T notice on the lack of no future support for calls > originating from Kenya wasn't very clear and after some digging around it > appears that it referred to users of AT&T who utilize call back services > while traveling overseas, it might just be due to stiff competition now that > VOIP has been deregulated and tariffs have fallen (though not low enough) > and that no one in their right mind would be willing to pay $3+ per minute > for a call to the US when for a extremely small fraction one could make the > same phone call at a lower rate. > > Even then the tariffs in general are not fair enough for Kenyan consumers > and it is an uphill battle to enforce changes when some of the largest tax > payers happen to be communication providers. It is unthinkable that the > government would do much to jeopardize a large and steady tax revenue stream > to save the honorable consumer. Increasingly huge profits in a formerly > depressed and now recovering economy like ours raise the question whether > the consumer is getting a fair deal. It is akin to oil companies making > several times over some nations GDP in profits and claiming that they are > struggling themselves and offering the best prices possible. Price > regulation in the industry is something that should be looked into to > further to try and strike a fair balance between consumers needs and > investors return on equity. > > Mike > > On 2/18/07, Alex Gakuru <alex.gakuru(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > > > Mike: > > > > Although this is a consumer issue, you may notice we have quite some > > domestic wars with the prevailing anti-consumer setting, > > http://ictconsumer.blogspot.com/ for example. > > > > By engaging foreign networks, I am afraid the ICT Consumers Association > > of Kenya could be considered acting ultra vires thus the Ministry of > > Information and Communications, CCK, and perhaps also Foreign Affairs are > > best suited to comment. > > > > Would a provocative question, like "why has a private US telco > > unilaterally cut-off communication from Kenya to the US jeopardizing both a > > basic human right and the national outsourcing strategy" earn a quick > > response from government? > > > > rgds, > > > > Alex > > > > *Mike Theuri <mike.theuri(a)gmail.com>* wrote: > > > > As an after thought, this may mean calls dialed through this number > > which by itself is a very expensive option and which may reflect the effects > > of voip and lowered costs of international calls: > > > > Kenya 0-800-2201-15 (608) > > > > On 2/18/07, Mike Theuri <mike.theuri(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > Does anyone know why the below might be the case ? AT&T printed this > > > in small print on bills sent to customer in January. Considering > > > that AT&T is the largest telco in the US this is a serious issue : > > > > > > International Call Origination: > > > Effective March 1, 2007, our International Call > > > Origination service will change. Current access > > > numbers for calls originating internationally > > > will change. Please visit att.com/dialing-guide > > > to print the new dialing-guide for your reference; > > > or call the number on your bill to order a new > > > dialing guide. Calls from Kenya to US will > > > no longer be supported. International to > > > international calling from St. Martin will no > > > longer be supported. Also, International > > > service will be expanded to over 60 additional > > > countries. To find out rates and countries where > > > we provide service, please visit > > > att.com/intl-rates. > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > kictanet mailing list > > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at > > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alex.gakuru%40yahoo.com > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > The fish are biting. > > Get more visitors<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=49679/*http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/arp/spon…>on your site using Yahoo! > > Search Marketing. > > > > _______________________________________________ > > kictanet mailing list > > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/mike.theuri%40gmail.com > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alex.gakuru%40yahoo.com > > > ------------------------------ > Sucker-punch spam with award-winning protection. > Try the free Yahoo! Mail Beta. > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/mike.theuri%40gmail.com >

3 2

advice if I can place my opinion
by Jose' 21 Feb '07

21 Feb '07

please advice if I can post my opinions because I am getting a bounced mail always. Best Regards, Jose' Njuki-Imwe Ngunjiri || +254 722 336754 || ____________________________________________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta. http://new.mail.yahoo.com

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DAY 5... How would users update their data ? and WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD
by joseph kihanya 21 Feb '07

21 Feb '07

Dear all, Any last views...before we close today's and the entire discussion prior to the meeting on tuesday?... regards Kihanya ____________________________________________________________________________________ Finding fabulous fares is fun. Let Yahoo! FareChase search your favorite travel sites to find flight and hotel bargains. http://farechase.yahoo.com/promo-generic-14795097

4 3

Kenya Telecentre Network Workshop
by chelimo kenneth 20 Feb '07

20 Feb '07

Dear All, The First Kenya Telecentre Network workshop takes place from 21-23rd February, 2007 at Busia Trailer Inn Hotel in western Kenya. The workshop is being facilitated jointly by Ugunja Community Resource Centre (www.ugunja.org) a rural based resource centre in Siaya district, Kenya Telecentre Network and Ugabytes Initiative (www.ugabytes.org) . Ugabytes initiative based in Uganda is the telecentre network support organization in East and Central Africa. It is affiliated to the international network support organization www.telecentre.org a project of IDRC based in Canada. The theme of the workshop is using telecentres to bridge the digital divide between rural and urban communities in Kenya. The workshop has received substantive support from other organizations mainly from Microsoft International which has expressed interest in empowering rural communities with ICTs using telecentres as access points to disadvantaged communities in Kenya. The workshop will be a follow up of East Africa and Africa Leaders Telecentre forums held in Uganda (October,2006) and Benin (November) respectively. Among deliberations expected will be on internet connectivity and ISPs in rural areas, sustainability and management of telecentres, women,youth and ICTs,ICT policy and government involvement etc. Participants will be drawn from various models of telecentres (resource and information centres) based in rural and slum communities across the country . Ken Chelimo National Coordinator, Kenya Telecentre Network --------------------------------- Check out the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta - Fire up a more powerful email and get things done faster.

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Reliance to build submarine cable to rival EASSy
by Rebecca Wanjiku 20 Feb '07

20 Feb '07

some food for thought before the friday meeting........ Reliance to build submarine cable to rival EASSy By A CORRESPONDENT The EastAfrican Reliance Corporation, one of India's largest information technology firms, says that it will construct a submarine cable along the eastern Africa seaboard by 2009. The fibre optic cable, the company said recently, will link South Africa and Kenya, and also serve Tanzania, Mauritius, Mozambique and Madagascar as well as some land-locked countries. The cable link will be laid down by Reliance subsidiary, Flag Telecom Last December, Reliance announced that it would invest $1.5 billion to put up the world s most extensive Internet access network through submarine cables covering more than 60 countries. News of the latest plans to lay a cable along the eastern seaboard are likely to cause a certain level of alarm among the partner states involved with the controversy-prone East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) cable. By last December, only 12 countries out of the targeted 23 stretching from South Africa to the Sudan had pledged support to the project. Proponents of an eastern seaboard fibre optic cable say that it would lower Internet slashing bandwidth costs by as much as a third, and spur the development of outsourcing centres along the eastern coast to compete with similar centres in Asia. Valued at $300 million, EASSy itself is planned to run from Mtunzini in South Africa to Port Sudan in Sudan, with landing points in six countries, and connected to at least five landlocked countries. The thinking is that these countries will subsequently no longer have to rely on expensive satellite systems to carry voice and data services. The project, to be funded largely by the World Bank and the Development Bank of Southern Africa, was initiated on January 2003. Since inception, however, the EASSy project which is now expected to be completed by the end of 2008 has been dogged by disagreements over financing and access among partner states, with Kenya opting to sit the project out. Kenyan officials were reportedly particularly peeved by South African efforts to control the project, reports indicated. Last September, Kenya announced that it would seek funding to finance its own undersea cable running from Mombasa to Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman in a bid to accelerate the emergence of the country a business outsourcing centre. The cable, Nairobi said, would be made available to any interested party along the way. Analysts say that the announcement by Reliance, by introducing a third player, could change the dynamics somewhat, raising the possibility that the Kenyan government may seek a partnership with the Indian multinational to counter-balance the South African-led EAS http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/News/News1902078.htm _______________________________________________ secretariat mailing list secretariat(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/secretariat This message was sent to: rebeccawanjiku(a)yahoo.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/secretariat/rebeccawanjiku%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ It's here! Your new message! Get new email alerts with the free Yahoo! Toolbar. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/toolbar/features/mail/

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FOI meeting Tuesday feb 20
by Rebecca Wanjiku 19 Feb '07

19 Feb '07

just a reminder that the meeting on FOI at KSMS will take place tommorrow please plan to attend KICTANet will present a report of the just concluded list discussion ____________________________________________________________________________________ Get your own web address. Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business. http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains/?p=BESTDEAL

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TYCO WINS CONTRACT TO BUILD KENYAN GOVT’S FIBRE CABLE
by Rebecca Wanjiku 19 Feb '07

19 Feb '07

more background info for the friday meeting....... TYCO WINS CONTRACT TO BUILD KENYAN GOVTS FIBRE CABLE Communication in Kenya is to set for a major revolution, following the start of an undersea fibre optic link to the rest of the world through Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman. American company Tyco last week won a contract to undertake a marine survey that should be ready in two months, at a cost of Sh187 million. The Government will invite bids any time from now for a financial arranger who will design a plan to raise money for the project, tentatively expected to be complete by early next year. The contract will be awarded competitively by April this year. The Government, through Telkom Kenya, is working with Dubai-based Etisalat, a telecoms company, to build the cable. The private sector will be invited to either buy shares, or to prove its capacity to raise funds through plans worked out by the financial arranger. Information and Communication minister Mutahi Kagwe says fast-tracking the East African Marine System (Teams) will ensure that Kenya does not lag behind in information and communication technology (ICT). "The East African coast is the only one without a fibre optic cable. We are racing against time," he said. The cost of data transmission would come down, leading to lower cost of communication. The price of a megabyte is expected to plunge from a high of Sh490,000 (US$7,000) to Sh14,000 (US$200). All East Africa countries are part of the project, while Ethiopia wants to join them. The project was conceived by the Kenya Government after it became evident that a similar one from South Africa to Port Sudan, popularly called East Africa Sub-Marine Cable System (EASSY) would not take off. Kenya declined to sign the EASSY project protocol, citing inclusion of the New Partnership for Africa Development (Nepad) into the programme without specifying its mandate. Also, Kenya opposed Nepad's attempts to own the project, saying the group should not be involved as that would negate its noble concepts. The country also took issue with non-involvement of the private sector as it would be difficult to implement the protocol without it, once it was signed. But Kenya will not pull out of EASSY. It will remain a key participant and use it as back-up should there be any breakdown of Teams project. "We decided to work on a parallel project after it became difficult to make decisions on the EASSY one. The latter had too many players, some of whom were coming in every other day. But we will be involved in the project...The more the cables, the better. That will induce competition, which will bring down the prices". (SOURCE: The Nation) _______________________________________________ secretariat mailing list secretariat(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/secretariat This message was sent to: rebeccawanjiku(a)yahoo.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/secretariat/rebeccawanjiku%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta. http://new.mail.yahoo.com

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NCC DEMANDS US$150M FOR 3G LICENCE IN NIGERIA
by alice＠apc.org 19 Feb '07

19 Feb '07

>From Balancing Act ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NCC DEMANDS US$150M FOR 3G LICENCE IN NIGERIA The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) has placed a reserve price of US$150 million on its Third Generation (3G) licence that it plans to issue in seven categories through public auction from April 2, this year. NCC's Head of Public Affairs, Dave Imoko, disclosed in Abuja that the licence to be offered include universal access, digital mobile, fixed wireless access, and metropolitan fibre cable network licenses. Other spectrum on the card were the national carrier and the private network link licenses. He explained that bidders have up to Feb. 16, to submit their letters of interest, but warned that companies applying for the licence must have no link whatsoever. Imoko said the adoption of the auction process in the issuance of the licence was to ensure fairness and promote competition among existing telecommunication operators in the country. The issuance of the 3G licence has been limited to existing GSM operators and is expected to enhance the quality of GSM services and reduce tariffs on subscribers. The spectrum blocks to be made available for auction include the 40MHz of spectrum within the 2GHz band. The Commission, according to him, would offer the spectrum as four paired blocks of 10 MHz. Spectrum pairs, he added, would be separated by a 90MHz duplex spacing. "Blocks will be allocated as follows, Block A:1920-1930MHz paired with 2110-2120 MHz, Block B: 1930-1940MHz, paired with 2120-2130MHz, Block C: 1940-1950, paired with 2130-2140MHz and Block D: 1950-1960MHz paired with 2140-2150MHz." The statement added that "Spectrum will be allocated on a service and technology neutral basis without the specification of guard bands. Licensees will be required to co-ordinate spectrum use to avoid interference. "However, applicants according to the notice will not be required to submit financial or technical plans in the pre-qualification process, except details of company ownership structure and confirmation of compliance with the rules of the auction. "To participate in the auction, a bidder must be a limited liability company incorporated in Nigeria and must not be involved with any other bidder. "A Consortia according to the statement may bid for a licence subject to the requirement that they include a Nigerian telecommunications licensee. Bidders will also be required to lodge a $15million dollars (i.e.10% of Reserve Price) Intention to Bid Deposit with the Commission. The auctioning process will commence on the second of April following the receipt of the expression of interest on February 16, while issue of information memorandum a week later. (SOURCE: This Day)

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Balancing Act Top Story: THE AFRICAN LAKES SALE – QUESTIONS BEGIN TO PILE UP
by alice＠apc.org 19 Feb '07

19 Feb '07

>From Balancing Act TOP STORY: THE AFRICAN LAKES SALE – QUESTIONS BEGIN TO PILE UP _____________________________________________________________________ The sale of African Lakes (the owner of pan-African ISP Africa Online) has had more twists and turns than a Grand Prix race-track. Everyone involved – those selling the company and the two potential buyers – probably only agree on one thing: the sale ought to have been done by now. Russell Southwood looks at the lengthening number of questions emerging from this deal not yet done. On 28 January 2007 in issue 340 we announced erroneously that African Telecoms Company (ATC) had secured 52.66% of African Lakes and increased its offer to £18.50 a share, giving the deal a total value of GBP5.04 million. So in one corner you have African Telecoms Company, a grouping that includes Richard Bell, Kenyan ISP Wananchi, several local Kenyan investors and the US Schneider Media and Holding Group. And in the other corner is South African incumbent telco Telkom that is trying to put together a regional acquisitions strategy that will equip it to face a competitive future. True to form, it refused to say what it was doing: “The reports linking Telkom SA as a bidder for Africa Online are speculative and Telkom will not comment on media speculation”. Telkom had made no public offer at this point despite having been in discussion since an earlier point in 2006. The African Lakes Board did not recommended the ATC offer on the basis that it could obtain more money for shareholders from another bidder, the as-yet-unnamed Telkom. In the third corner is African Lakes that is chaired by David Montgomery, whose main claim to fame has been cutting the cost base of the UK’s Mirror Newspapers after the death of Robert Maxwell. ATC thought it had secured victory because it had acquired an “irrevocable” on the shares of one of the key shareholders, RAB Capital (18.9% of the total shareholding at that point). On 8 February ATC formally issued notice of its increased offer. The offer expires on 23 February. This triggered two things: a frantic scramble by ATC and African Lakes to sign up shareholders to their cause and the need for the somewhat indecisive Telkom to issue a public bid. In its 12 February press release announcing the Telkom bid African Lakes said it had “received strong support for it from shareholders holding more than 60% of the voting rights of the Company. Unfortunately the Panel ruled on Friday that of this number shareholders holding 18.9% of the voting rights cannot have their support counted in favour of the Telkom disposal as their voting rights have passed to ATC as a consequence of them accepting the ATC Offer prior to the Board concluding its negotiations for the Telkom Disposal. Furthermore, attempts by these shareholders to have their acceptances withdrawn were also deemed invalid under the conditions of the ATC Offer”. The Telkom offer was for what was claimed would be £25 per share, valuing the deal at £9.72m. But it emerged on 15 February that as it would only be buying what must be the controlling Africa Online Company – Africa Online (Mauritius) - it would not be dealing with the historic liabilities of African Lakes as a company. These would be dealt with using the cash from the deal and shareholders would be paid on liquidation of the African Lakes Company. Shareholders were assured that the offer figure of £25 a share had been based on a company audit of liabilities. On the same day it issued a correction saying an audit of liabilities had not been completed. Indeed a review of liabilities had only been started. The fight to gain shareholder acceptances was clearly getting tight as on 14 February African Lakes issued a notice saying that it had exercised various share options and issued more share to T Hoare Nominees, Lesley Davey and Paul West: the latter two are both senior Managers of African Lakes and Board members. Furthermore it issued shares to African Lakes employee, George Ezzat. On being rung by a member of the ATC consortium, it is alleged that Ezzat was unaware that the shares had been issued to him. This has been a dense and often complicated struggle for the company and in the interests of comprehension we have sought to summarise events above. But the number of questions that need answering just keeps getting longer: - If there is no audit of African Lakes’ liabilities, how can the company say with any confidence what the final outcome price of the Telkom offer will be to its shareholders? - What were the circumstances in which shares were issued to George Ezzat? Why (as alleged) did Ezzat know nothing about this share option issue when asked about it by an ATC shareholder? Why were additional share options granted during what was clearly an offer period when at least two offers were being publicly discussed? - It is not clear what number of subscribers Africa Online has but it is certain that it has fewer than the figures named in the last publicly available documents. What is the number and what is the Average Revenue Per User? It is one thing for a group of private investors to take a risk of this magnitude but how does a publicly quoted company like Telkom think that it will make a return on the purchase price? What expertise does Telkom have to run a pan-African retail ISP in competitive environments? What has been the success of its existing pan-African connectivity sales operations? Africa Online has the potential to become a pan-African player in the new competitive landscape that includes both voice and data. But it will need determined and experienced management capable of investing more than the purchase price to take it from where it is now to a successful future. Faced with these two potential buyers, who would you choose to carry out this task? ____________________________________________________________________

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Day 4: What Data should be exempted from the Act (access) &
by joseph kihanya 19 Feb '07

19 Feb '07

Dear All, Thank you for all your comments over the last 3 days. Today's theme is veru crucial in that FOI as a right is limited for certain public policy/interest considerations in almost all jurisdictions.The question is how many(how far should they go) of these restrictions should we have and why? The list under the policy are; National security Privacy Confidentiality Public safety Decision making processes Article 19 has under this heading in its Principles of FOI said; PRINCIPLE 4. LIMITED SCOPE OF EXCEPTIONS Exceptions should be clearly and narrowly drawn and subject to strict harm and public interest tests All individual requests for information from public bodies should be met unless the public body can show that the information falls within the scope of the limited regime of exceptions. A refusal to disclose information is not justified unless the public authority can show that the information meets a strict three-part test. The three-part test the information must relate to a legitimate aim listed in the law; disclosure must threaten to cause substantial harm to that aim; and the harm to the aim must be greater than the public interest in having the information. No public bodies should be completely excluded from the ambit of the law, even if the majority of their functions fall within the zone of exceptions. This applies to all branches of government (that is, the executive, legislative and judicial branches) as well as to all A complete list of the legitimate aims which may justify non-disclosure should be provided in the law. This list should include only interests which constitute legitimate grounds for refusing to disclose documents and should be limited to matters such as; law enforcement, privacy, national security, commercial and other confidentiality, public or individual safety, and the effectiveness and integrity of government decision-making processes. Exceptions should be narrowly drawn so as to avoid including material which does not harm the legitimate interest. They should be based on the content, rather than the type, of the document. To meet this standard exceptions should, where relevant, be time-limited. For example, the justification for classifying information on the basis of national security may well disappear after a specific national security threat subsides. Refusals must meet a substantial harm test It is not sufficient that information simply fall within the scope of a legitimate aim listed in the law. The public body must also show that the disclosure of the information would cause substantial harm to that legitimate aim. In some cases, disclosure may benefit as well as harm the aim. For example, the exposure of corruption in the military may at first sight appear to weaken national defence but actually, over time, help to eliminate the corruption and strengthen the armed forces. For non-disclosure to be legitimate in such cases, the net effect of disclosure must be to cause substantial harm to the aim. Overriding public interest Even if it can be shown that disclosure of the information would cause substantial harm to a legitimate aim, the information should still be disclosed if the benefits of disclosure outweigh the harm. For example, certain information may be private in nature but at the same time expose high-level corruption within government. The harm to the legitimate aim must be weighed against the public interest in having the information made public. Where the latter is greater, the law should provide for disclosure of the information. Let us have your views Kihanya ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for earth-friendly autos? Browse Top Cars by "Green Rating" at Yahoo! Autos' Green Center. http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/

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OFC meeting on February 23
by Rebecca Wanjiku 19 Feb '07

19 Feb '07

hi, i am glad that you are planning to come for the OFC meeting at the jacaranda this friday, please fwd your confirmation for logistic purposes, some people have confirmed, so theres no need to reconfirm am waiting for that email. Rebecca Wanjiku, journalist, p.o box 33515, Nairobi.00600 Kenya. Tel. 254 720 318 925 blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Cheap talk? Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low PC-to-Phone call rates. http://voice.yahoo.com

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WIRELESS NET NEUTRALITY [Tim Wu]
by Alex Gakuru 17 Feb '07

17 Feb '07

WIRELESS NET NEUTRALITY: CELLULAR CARTERFONE AND CONSUMER CHOICE IN MOBILE BROADBAND [SOURCE: Tim Wu, Professor, Columbia University School of Law] Over the next decade, regulators will spend increasing time on the conflicts between the private interests of the wireless industry and the publics interest in the best uses of its spectrum. This report examines the practices of the wireless industry with an eye toward understanding their influence on innovation and consumer welfare. In many respects, the mobile wireless market is and remains a wonder. Thanks to both policy and technological innovations, devices that were science fiction thirty years ago are now widely available. Over the last decade, wireless mobile has been an infant industry, attempting to achieve economies of scale. That period is over: today, in the United States, there are over 200 million mobile subscribers, and mobile revenues are over $100 billion. As the industry and platform mature, the wireless industry warrants a new look. This report finds a mixed picture. The wireless industry, over the last decade, has succeeded in bringing wireless telephony at competitive prices to the American public. Yet at the same time, we also find the wireless carriers aggressively controlling product design and innovation in the equipment and application markets, to the detriment of consumers. In the wired world, their policies would, in some cases, be considered simply misguided, and in other cases be considered outrageous and perhaps illegal. Four areas warrant particular attention: 1) Network attachments, 2) Product design and feature clipping, 3) Discrimatory broadband services, and 4) Application stall. http://www.newamerica.net/publicati \n \n---------------------------------------------------------- \n WWWhatsup NYC \nhttp://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com \n---------------------------------------------------------- \n \n \n \n\n \n __._,_.___\n \n \n \n \n Messages in this topic (1)\n \n \n \n Reply (via web post)\n | \n \n Start a new topic \n \n \n \n \n Messages \n | ",1] ); //-->ons/policy/wireless_net_neutrality ---------------------------------------------------------- WWWhatsup NYC http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com ---------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------- Need Mail bonding? Go to the Yahoo! Mail Q&A for great tips from Yahoo! Answers users.

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Fw: [COMO Alliance] Oxford Media Law Fellowship
by Florence Etta 16 Feb '07

16 Feb '07

FYI. Sorry for cross posting. Cheers, FE Subject: Oxford Media Law Fellowship Dear Friends, Please see attached and circulate... The time allocated for the process is quite tight! "The closing date is no later than 5.00 pm on the 2nd March. Applications received after this time will not be considered. Please quote reference CX07002 in all correspondence. FAX or e-mail applications will not be accepted. Short-listed candidates will be asked to attend an interview around mid-date." "Mid-date" seems to be mid March! Thanx, Best wishes, David _______________________________________________ COMO_Alliance mailing list COMO_Alliance(a)lists.asc.upenn.edu http://lists.asc.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/como_alliance ___________________________________________________________ How much free photo storage do you get? Store your holiday snaps for FREE with Yahoo! Photos http://uk.photos.yahoo.com

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Day 5: How would users update their data ? and WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD
by joseph kihanya 16 Feb '07

16 Feb '07

Dear All, I am posting this out before Day 5 (tomorrow). It may be that we can take comments on both Day 4 and 5, just as we may take comments on any of the earlier days. No comments are in yet on Day 4. The question of the correction of data held by public bodies and sometimes by private bodies is one that generates interest considering that wrong entries may cause one to suffer hardship or miss on entitlements. Consider the case of retirees and a pension scheme or that of a medical case file.In the latter case, in an emergency, would it be crucial that all your details, including allergies, blood types etc, be absolutely CORRECT? Lets have some views. Kihanya ____________________________________________________________________________________ We won't tell. Get more on shows you hate to love (and love to hate): Yahoo! TV's Guilty Pleasures list. http://tv.yahoo.com/collections/265

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Wirelessweek: It�s All Mobile Now
by Alex Gakuru 16 Feb '07

16 Feb '07

Strange with shillings 1.4 million one WiMAX base station is up and running? ..... Adaptix announced the pricing and availability of its compact mobile base stations and mobile terminals for mobile WiMAX. The companys BX-3000 series of base stations are priced starting at $19,995 for a single-sector configuration, with three-sector configurations starting at $39,995. Adaptix also announced that its BX-3000 base station and San Francisco-300 mobile terminal participated in the recent WiMAX Forum interoperability PlugFest. < http://www.wirelessweek.com/article/CA6379821.html > /Alex --------------------------------- We won't tell. Get more on shows you hate to love (and love to hate): Yahoo! TV's Guilty Pleasures list.

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meetings, please note
by Rebecca Wanjiku 15 Feb '07

15 Feb '07

the ministry is organising FOI workshop on 20th at KSMS registration is thro info(a)information.go.ke the OFC meeting will be held at Jacaranda hotel on 23rd confirmation is thro rebeccawanjiku(a)yahoo.com during this meeting, PS Ndemo will be there to answer questions regarding TEAMS, EASSy, FLAG or any other questions that one may have, starts at 8.30 am to 2pm hope this makes it clear, becky ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss an email again! Yahoo! Toolbar alerts you the instant new Mail arrives. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/toolbar/features/mail/

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Re: [kictanet] OFC meeting, friday 23rd
by Jose' 15 Feb '07

15 Feb '07

Where is the venue of the meeting? Best Regards, Jose' Njuki-Imwe Ngunjiri || +254 722 336754 || ----- Original Message ---- From: Rebecca Wanjiku <rebeccawanjiku(a)yahoo.com> To: ngunjirijnr(a)yahoo.com Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2007 8:34:08 AM Subject: [kictanet] OFC meeting, friday 23rd just to let you know that the OFC meeting was changed from the earlier date (22nd) because the PS was not available then, please note in its next friday, 23rd, Rebecca Wanjiku, journalist, p.o box 33515, Nairobi.00600 Kenya. Tel. 254 720 318 925 blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/ Have a burning question? Go to Yahoo! Answers and get answers from real people who know._______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngunjirijnr%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Expecting? Get great news right away with email Auto-Check. Try the Yahoo! Mail Beta. http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta/newmail_tools.html

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FOI--- how good is it??
by Rebecca Wanjiku 15 Feb '07

15 Feb '07

Kihanya, thanks for the background, some thoughts on some of the questions raised, Right to verses freedom I think it should be freedom of information because in legal terms, the two terms are different. Though am not a lawyer, I read about the positive rights (right to) and the negative rights (freedoms) Now, governments are quick to obey the negative rights as opposed to positive rights. For instance, we can all go and demonstrate about our freedom from torture or detention without trial and the government will easily heed to our demands, (I guess so) But what about other recognized rights like the right to water? Can the government be compelled to honour our right to water, i think the main objective of the FOI should be to protect e-government and accountability but the bill talks about charging a minimal fee to those accessing information, what will happen to those people out of town, it talks about photocopying and perusal charges, but what about provision of such information in electronic format, do we still pay?? and will it serve the overall objective?? Thats my take on it Rebecca Wanjiku, journalist, p.o box 33515, Nairobi.00600 Kenya. Tel. 254 720 318 925 blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Now that's room service! Choose from over 150,000 hotels in 45,000 destinations on Yahoo! Travel to find your fit. http://farechase.yahoo.com/promo-generic-14795097

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Day 3: What Policies should inform the FOI?
by joseph kihanya 15 Feb '07

15 Feb '07

Dear Rose, Indeed. FOI is all about each and every individual's right.In some countries it even extends to non-citizens. The contextualization is important. Kihanya ____________________________________________________________________________________ Any questions? Get answers on any topic at www.Answers.yahoo.com. Try it now.

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OFC meeting, friday 23rd
by Rebecca Wanjiku 15 Feb '07

15 Feb '07

just to let you know that the OFC meeting was changed from the earlier date (22nd) because the PS was not available then, please note in its next friday, 23rd, Rebecca Wanjiku, journalist, p.o box 33515, Nairobi.00600 Kenya. Tel. 254 720 318 925 blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ TV dinner still cooling? Check out "Tonight's Picks" on Yahoo! TV. http://tv.yahoo.com/

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Re: [kictanet] Day 3: What Policies should inform the FOI?
by joseph kihanya 15 Feb '07

15 Feb '07

Dear Dorcas, Indeed. The ICT policy does not mention data protection as a key issue at all. The IC Bill 2006 only mention data protection at section 58,62 and 62 but then only making it an offence to "hack" into protected systems. Nothing about.....deliberate disclosures/ sale..etc of data...how long it should be kept etc. Australia has Data protection/Privacy laws on this see ( a bit old but a good summary) http://www.efa.org.au/Issues/Privacy/privacy.html Kenya will soon require to legislate on this. It may be that the FOI policy may only mention this obliquely as it would require that a separate Bill deals with this issue. Kihanya ----- Original Message ---- From: Dorcas Muthoni <dmuthoni(a)gmail.com> To: kihanyajn(a)yahoo.com Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 7:52:31 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 3: What Policies should inform the FOI? Hi Kihanya, Want to draw a poniter to a related matter as is being dealt in a different country. Please see the link below. http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid14_gci1242… Walu had mentioned something related: the protection of consumer data by private companies too. It is important that this is captured. Sorry, cannot find the actual mail on the thread but sure he can relate it. Muthoni On 2/14/07, John Walubengo <jwalu(a)yahoo.com> wrote: Thanx Kihanya for your efforts. Indeed this is a fairly un-convential topic in that it has no obvious or immediate financial connotations - hence the slower responses... But back to my contribution. I think the policy informing the Freedom Of Information bill should look towards empowering the citizens through facilitating their access to knowledge/information. We need to think through how our collective data regarding our heritage, history, social and economic transactions can be harnessed and made to serve the common good. I know this bill has tended to create controversy because it has often been looked at in the narrow terms of the Govt vs the Media i.e. Media seeks info visa-vis Govt sits on Info. True, this could be one of the issues but it should not limit our scope because the bill should be a reflection of broader policy issues that touch on different data sitting on various platforms such as (Private) Media Broadcasters, Mobile service providers, ISPs, eBankers, etc. How for example can KTN be asked to share (or sell) their valuable film clips to the Kenya Archives dept? How can the East African Standard avail their 100years+ data to the public? When or Why should Safaricom/Celtel divulge the SMS transcript of a certain subscriber to the Police, to the Media or the Private Investigator? What kind of data security standards and practices should we place for critical and national data stores such as KRA, KPA, Immigration, etc? What of the Certification Authority (CA) providers that are likely to play a cenral role in a future eCommerce environment, how will they collect, protect and avail their data? So I think these are some of the Policy issues that need to be thrashed out in the process of coming up with the final FOI bill. walu. --- joseph kihanya <kihanyajn(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Dear All, > > I trust we may now move on to day 3. Those with comments > still on day 1 and 2 can still do so. > The themes were... > > Day 1: Why Freedom of Information (FOI) Act? > Day 2: What are the current modalities for accessing data > held by Data Handlers (Govt or Private Sector)? > > > Today's topic really looks as to waht should be the basic > reasoning behind the FOI policy and hence law. > > The principles listed hereunder have been recognized by > Article 19 ( an international organizatioin dealing with > freedomm of te press and related issues) as what should > guide the FOI laws(policy). > > PRINCIPLE 1. Maximum disclosure > > That the law should seek this as its underpinning > philosophy. > > PRINCIPLE 2. Obligation to publish > > That there should be an obligation to publish and > requests should be for non-crucial/ essential / bulky > information. > > PRINCIPLE 3. Promotion of open government > > That the law should promote / recognise the importance > of open government. > > PRINCIPLE 4. Limited scope of exceptions > > That the exceptions should be clear , precise and > allowable in a democratic society/ i,e should not take > away what the law seeks to grant. > > PRINCIPLE 5. Processes to facilitate access > > Clear processes for request should exist. > > PRINCIPLE 6. Costs > > These should be kept at a minimum for the public has > already paid for the creation of the information through > taxation. > > PRINCIPLE 7. Open meetings > > Other than informnation, there should bea promotion of > open dialogue at decsion making level. > > PRINCIPLE 8. Disclosure takes precedence > > The tests that are to be applied by the commssioner and > the appeal tribunal should seek disclosre unless the > exceptions and the public interest demand otherwise. > > PRINCIPLE 9. Protection for whistleblowers > > That those who disclose information that is in the public > interest, inspite of the exceptions should not be > victimised/ should be protected. > > > Lets go! > > Kihanya > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > Finding fabulous fares is fun. > Let Yahoo! FareChase search your favorite travel sites to > find flight and hotel bargains. > http://farechase.yahoo.com/promo-generic-14795097 > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jwalu%40yahoo.com > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Get your own web address. Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business. http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains/?p=BESTDEAL _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/dmuthoni%40gmail.com _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/kihanyajn%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Cheap talk? Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low PC-to-Phone call rates. http://voice.yahoo.com

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Re: [kictanet] Day 3: What Policies should inform the FOI?
by joseph kihanya 15 Feb '07

15 Feb '07

Hi, Thanks Walu. Between my Intro and your post I think that is the summary for the day! Alex, I am making a comment on your post too. Oh well, day 4 approaches. All the three days themes are open to all until friday when I must summarise al comments to present on Tuesday 20th . Kihanya ----- Original Message ---- From: John Walubengo <jwalu(a)yahoo.com> To: kihanyajn(a)yahoo.com Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 3:42:08 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 3: What Policies should inform the FOI? Thanx Kihanya for your efforts. Indeed this is a fairly un-convential topic in that it has no obvious or immediate financial connotations - hence the slower responses... But back to my contribution. I think the policy informing the Freedom Of Information bill should look towards empowering the citizens through facilitating their access to knowledge/information. We need to think through how our collective data regarding our heritage, history, social and economic transactions can be harnessed and made to serve the common good. I know this bill has tended to create controversy because it has often been looked at in the narrow terms of the Govt vs the Media i.e. Media seeks info visa-vis Govt sits on Info. True, this could be one of the issues but it should not limit our scope because the bill should be a reflection of broader policy issues that touch on different data sitting on various platforms such as (Private) Media Broadcasters, Mobile service providers, ISPs, eBankers, etc. How for example can KTN be asked to share (or sell) their valuable film clips to the Kenya Archives dept? How can the East African Standard avail their 100years+ data to the public? When or Why should Safaricom/Celtel divulge the SMS transcript of a certain subscriber to the Police, to the Media or the Private Investigator? What kind of data security standards and practices should we place for critical and national data stores such as KRA, KPA, Immigration, etc? What of the Certification Authority (CA) providers that are likely to play a cenral role in a future eCommerce environment, how will they collect, protect and avail their data? So I think these are some of the Policy issues that need to be thrashed out in the process of coming up with the final FOI bill. walu. --- joseph kihanya <kihanyajn(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Dear All, > > I trust we may now move on to day 3. Those with comments > still on day 1 and 2 can still do so. > The themes were... > > Day 1: Why Freedom of Information (FOI) Act? > Day 2: What are the current modalities for accessing data > held by Data Handlers (Govt or Private Sector)? > > > Today's topic really looks as to waht should be the basic > reasoning behind the FOI policy and hence law. > > The principles listed hereunder have been recognized by > Article 19 ( an international organizatioin dealing with > freedomm of te press and related issues) as what should > guide the FOI laws(policy). > > PRINCIPLE 1. Maximum disclosure > > That the law should seek this as its underpinning > philosophy. > > PRINCIPLE 2. Obligation to publish > > That there should be an obligation to publish and > requests should be for non-crucial/ essential / bulky > information. > > PRINCIPLE 3. Promotion of open government > > That the law should promote / recognise the importance > of open government. > > PRINCIPLE 4. Limited scope of exceptions > > That the exceptions should be clear , precise and > allowable in a democratic society/ i,e should not take > away what the law seeks to grant. > > PRINCIPLE 5. Processes to facilitate access > > Clear processes for request should exist. > > PRINCIPLE 6. Costs > > These should be kept at a minimum for the public has > already paid for the creation of the information through > taxation. > > PRINCIPLE 7. Open meetings > > Other than informnation, there should bea promotion of > open dialogue at decsion making level. > > PRINCIPLE 8. Disclosure takes precedence > > The tests that are to be applied by the commssioner and > the appeal tribunal should seek disclosre unless the > exceptions and the public interest demand otherwise. > > PRINCIPLE 9. Protection for whistleblowers > > That those who disclose information that is in the public > interest, inspite of the exceptions should not be > victimised/ should be protected. > > > Lets go! > > Kihanya > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > Finding fabulous fares is fun. > Let Yahoo! FareChase search your favorite travel sites to > find flight and hotel bargains. > http://farechase.yahoo.com/promo-generic-14795097 > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Please unsubscribe or change your options at > http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jwalu%40yahoo.com > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Get your own web address. Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business. http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains/?p=BESTDEAL _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/kihanyajn%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ No need to miss a message. Get email on-the-go with Yahoo! Mail for Mobile. Get started. http://mobile.yahoo.com/mail

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Day 3: What Policies should inform the FOI?
by joseph kihanya 14 Feb '07

14 Feb '07

Dear All, I trust we may now move on to day 3. Those with comments still on day 1 and 2 can still do so. The themes were... Day 1: Why Freedom of Information (FOI) Act? Day 2: What are the current modalities for accessing data held by Data Handlers (Govt or Private Sector)? Today's topic really looks as to waht should be the basic reasoning behind the FOI policy and hence law. The principles listed hereunder have been recognized by Article 19 ( an international organizatioin dealing with freedomm of te press and related issues) as what should guide the FOI laws(policy). PRINCIPLE 1. Maximum disclosure That the law should seek this as its underpinning philosophy. PRINCIPLE 2. Obligation to publish That there should be an obligation to publish and requests should be for non-crucial/ essential / bulky information. PRINCIPLE 3. Promotion of open government That the law should promote / recognise the importance of open government. PRINCIPLE 4. Limited scope of exceptions That the exceptions should be clear , precise and allowable in a democratic society/ i,e should not take away what the law seeks to grant. PRINCIPLE 5. Processes to facilitate access Clear processes for request should exist. PRINCIPLE 6. Costs These should be kept at a minimum for the public has already paid for the creation of the information through taxation. PRINCIPLE 7. Open meetings Other than informnation, there should bea promotion of open dialogue at decsion making level. PRINCIPLE 8. Disclosure takes precedence The tests that are to be applied by the commssioner and the appeal tribunal should seek disclosre unless the exceptions and the public interest demand otherwise. PRINCIPLE 9. Protection for whistleblowers That those who disclose information that is in the public interest, inspite of the exceptions should not be victimised/ should be protected. Lets go! Kihanya ____________________________________________________________________________________ Finding fabulous fares is fun. Let Yahoo! FareChase search your favorite travel sites to find flight and hotel bargains. http://farechase.yahoo.com/promo-generic-14795097

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SU: Kenyan Anti-Corruption Campaigner Accepts Canadian Fellowship: International Development Research Centre
by harry＠africanedevelopment.org 14 Feb '07

14 Feb '07

harryhare (harry(a)africanedevelopment.org) has sent you a site! "Kenyan Anti-Corruption Campaigner Accepts Canadian Fellowship" - Kenyan Anti-Corruption Campaigner Accepts Canadian Fellowship: International Development Research Centre http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-109139-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html You can see my other favorites here: http://harryhare.stumbleupon.com Thanks, harryhare --- StumbleUpon lets you discover great sites with a single click. Give it a try at: http://www.stumbleupon.com/start.php?friend=2292570&emailcode=yr92pmukdexch…

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Day 3: What Policies should inform the FOI?
by joseph kihanya 14 Feb '07

14 Feb '07

Dear All, We are really in need of views.....Any views. Kihanya ____________________________________________________________________________________ We won't tell. Get more on shows you hate to love (and love to hate): Yahoo! TV's Guilty Pleasures list. http://tv.yahoo.com/collections/265

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OFC meeting
by Rebecca Wanjiku 14 Feb '07

14 Feb '07

RE: FACE TO FACE DISCUSSION Pursuant to the successful online discussion on Optic Fibre Cable(s), KICTANET has organised a face to face meeting on February 23, 2007. The meeting will be a follow-up to the online discussion and meant to facilitate discussions on areas that may not have been well covered in the online forum. The online forum was calculated to encourage stakeholder input to the OFC debate, analyze the advantages and the concerns of the various sectors. There were contributions from government, private sector as well as academia. The discussions were divided into five themes; Why OFC?, existing business models for OFC provisioning, existing/appropriate regulatory models for OFC, best model (business and regulatory) for East African, projected impact on stakeholders, reconciling stakeholder Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication Dr. Bitange Ndemo will be present to answer any lingering questions or clarifications on the issues discussed. The meeting will be held at the Jacaranda Hotel, Westlands from 8.30 am to 2pm Please plan to attend because your opinion counts. Confirm attendance to Rebecca Wanjiku- rebeccawanjiku(a)yahoo.com Rebecca Wanjiku, journalist, p.o box 33515, Nairobi.00600 Kenya. Tel. 254 720 318 925 blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Don't get soaked. Take a quick peak at the forecast with the Yahoo! Search weather shortcut. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/#loc_weather

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Re: [kictanet] Day 1: Why Freedom of Information (FOI) Act? AND Day 2: What are the current modalities for accessing data
by Rebecca Wanjiku 14 Feb '07

14 Feb '07

there are no laws guarding issues such as chief or police asking for your ID, they say they want to know if one is kenyan or not or if one is a wanted criminal or not... the closest we came to dealing with this as i can recall is the IPPG document which said one does not have to walk with the ID, it was however not made law and therefore no mechanism for enforcement. going to sheria house for info.....hmm that is debatable in regard to confidentiality, i think we have a right to est who owns what, but again this is subject to abuse, the case of logbook information given by times tower suffices, crooks were using the information provided to forge logbooks and sell non existent vehicles, so there need for information that can be supplied, maybe minimal information should be provided and like in the Google/Earthlink case, they should define what is minimal information....to make sure we all secure somehow.. about the speeches being posted on respective websites, that will reduce the amount of requests and make sure all ministries update their websites.... ----- Original Message ---- From: Alex Gakuru <alex.gakuru(a)yahoo.com> To: rebeccawanjiku(a)yahoo.com Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 6:22:19 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 1: Why Freedom of Information (FOI) Act? AND Day 2: What are the current modalities for accessing data This is slightly long contribution and I hope no information overload again... Q: When the police, Chief, etc ask for one's ID, does it expose the individual to tribal discrimination? Q: When one asks Sheria House for registered companies returns, does it breach corporate confidentiality (along the way "babyteleas") ? Q: Is one entitled to archived/historical data within 30 days, for example, the names of all chiefs that served, say, Makadara since independence? Q: Foreign entities operating in government offices, e.g. Maji House, Research Centres, etc must equally be subjected to disclose research information they are collecting.... - "National Interests" must be better defined to safeguard against past abuses. - All government speeches must be published at their respective ministries 'websites within 24 hrs - Companies must disclose personal information collected, the purposes and the uses made - otherwise discriminatory consumer profiling will defeat the spirit of this policy. -------- sorry in case below overloads------ A recent US example on consumer concerns regarding "Information Society, Users Profiling, Privacy and Individual Freedoms" ACLU slams final San Francisco Wi-Fi contract Civil liberties protection group claims the contract EarthLink and Google signed with the city fails to provide ample protection against data collection By Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service February 07, 2007 The ACLU has turned up the political heat on EarthLink and Google's plan for Wi-Fi in San Francisco, telling the city's Board of Supervisors that the proposed contract doesn't have enough privacy or free speech protections. The ACLU of Northern California said in a letter to the supervisors on Tuesday that both EarthLink's paid service and Google's free offering would fall short of most of the group's recommendations on collection and sharing of personal data and possible tracking of users. Among other things, there are no limits on what kind of information EarthLink can or will collect, and terms for the Google service call for requiring "minimal" information on login without defining "minimal," the letter said. In addition to privacy concerns, the group is worried that knowing information is being collected will cause users to limit what they say and do on the Internet. The city and EarthLink agreed on a contract last month, and EarthLink is confident the closely watched project will get off the ground with deployment of a proof-of-concept network starting in April, said company spokesman Jerry Grasso. But the proposal has been under fire since before the contract was completed, and some members of the board have said a municipally owned system would be better for the city. EarthLink negotiated the deal with the city and would build and operate the network, bringing Google in as a tenant providing the free, slower service. Some critics have warned that San Francisco could be giving a virtual monopoly on citywide Wi-Fi to private companies without ensuring user privacy or complete coverage. The ACLU said a municipal Wi-Fi network should let users opt in or out of any service that collects data on what they look at or search for on the Internet, or their e-mail messages. There are no provisions for that in the paid or free service terms, it said. EarthLink can only save location information for 60 days, but there's no limit to how long it can store personal protected information and no limit to how long Google can store any information, the ACLU said. Users of the EarthLink service can opt out of receiving marketing materials, but EarthLink has free reign to share personal information with partner companies that help it deliver or promote the service. Both service providers can hand over users' personal information for law enforcement or national security reasons without a warrant or notification of the user, though they would require "court-ordered documentation" before doing so. If information is sought for a civil suit, EarthLink or Google would have to tell the user first. EarthLink's Grasso declined to comment on the ACLU's letter, saying EarthLink has not seen it. Google and city representatives could not immediately be reached for comment. http://www.infoworld.com /article/07/02/07/Hnaclusfwifi _1.html?source=rss&url=http:/ /www.infoworld.com/article/07 /02/07/Hnaclusfwifi_1.html joseph kihanya <kihanyajn(a)yahoo.com> wrote: Dear all, These is a Summary of the two days posts. Day 1 That FOI should be framed as a right not a freedom. That FOI should seek to protect e-government/ promote accountability That if FOI is through e-government, should it not be at no cost? That FOI will allow for a flow of information thereby eliminating rumours. That the periods of access under the policy are too longi.e 15 and 30 days, the later being after appeal on refusal Day 2 That the current environment for access to information is dictated byb the Official Secrets Act which is understood in government service? that all information is secret.Case in point ICT policy. Thata policy on access( protection) to data held by the private sector is required. ************************* This has come from the two posts which is greatly appreciated by yours truly. The comments are few. The days are going by and it may be that extensions on these tow important themes would have to be extended to tomorrow with the addition of DAY 3's THEME. Does anyone have an idea as to how debate may be stimulated further.The Policy document understandably is not very sassy.....law most times is not...but there must be a way.... Anybody? Also ,Please somebody comment on the Bolivia story.....public interests group persons? Kihanya P.S.I will introduce theme for day 3 tomorrow. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sucker-punch spam with award-winning protection. Try the free Yahoo! Mail Beta. http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta/features_spam.html _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alex.gakuru%40yahoo.com Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta. _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/rebeccawanjiku%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Expecting? Get great news right away with email Auto-Check. Try the Yahoo! Mail Beta. http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta/newmail_tools.html

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Day 1: Why Freedom of Information (FOI) Act? AND Day 2: What are the current modalities for accessing data
by joseph kihanya 13 Feb '07

13 Feb '07

Dear all, These is a Summary of the two days posts. Day 1 That FOI should be framed as a right not a freedom. That FOI should seek to protect e-government/ promote accountability That if FOI is through e-government, should it not be at no cost? That FOI will allow for a flow of information thereby eliminating rumours. That the periods of access under the policy are too longi.e 15 and 30 days, the later being after appeal on refusal Day 2 That the current environment for access to information is dictated byb the Official Secrets Act which is understood in government service? that all information is secret.Case in point ICT policy. Thata policy on access( protection) to data held by the private sector is required. ************************* This has come from the two posts which is greatly appreciated by yours truly. The comments are few. The days are going by and it may be that extensions on these tow important themes would have to be extended to tomorrow with the addition of DAY 3's THEME. Does anyone have an idea as to how debate may be stimulated further.The Policy document understandably is not very sassy.....law most times is not...but there must be a way.... Anybody? Also ,Please somebody comment on the Bolivia story.....public interests group persons? Kihanya P.S.I will introduce theme for day 3 tomorrow. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sucker-punch spam with award-winning protection. Try the free Yahoo! Mail Beta. http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta/features_spam.html

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Summarised THEMES- FOI POLICY DAY 1 AND 2
by joseph kihanya 13 Feb '07

13 Feb '07

Dear all, These are the revised thematic guides for the days courtesy of Walu( Thanks a lot guy!). Day 1 issues/ theme continues today( The background info is included again for ease of reference) and contributions on day 2 are welcome. Day 1: Why Freedom of Information (FOI) Act? Day 2: What are the current modalities for accessing data held by Data Handlers (Govt or Private Sector)? Day 3: What Policies should inform the FOI? Day 4: What Data should be exempted from the Act (access) & Why? Day 5: How would users update their data Day 6: Way Forward. ************************************************************************************************************************************ DAY ONE( 1) Background Info What is FOI? Freedom of information is a fundamental right that the United Nations in a resolution in 1946 declared to be the touchstone of all freedoms. It is generally a right of any individual to access information held by government. Is it a right? Why Access? Why freedom? There are many terms used in relation to this. Freedom of Information Right to Know Right of Access to information Right to information They are referring to the same thing and the important point is that they can be interchanged but require that one be selected for use in a particular jurisdiction for consistency. Which one should Kenya Use? The Moderator will use FOI in this first mail. How would FOI help in a country like Kenya? Arguments exist for and against FOI laws. Arguments for. I. It makes government more accountable. II. Increases public participation. III. Promotes human rights. IV. Allows for good decision making V. Protects privacy VI. Makes private companies more accountable. VII. Promotes health VIII. Strengthens the economy IX. Protects the environment What are the arguments against FOI? What are your views on the principles of FOI Laws? What do they mean essentially? Does the policy agree with these principles? PRINCIPLE 1. Maximum disclosure PRINCIPLE 2. Obligation to publish PRINCIPLE 3. Promotion of open government PRINCIPLE 4. Limited scope of exceptions PRINCIPLE 5. Processes to facilitate access PRINCIPLE 6. Costs PRINCIPLE 7. Open meetings PRINCIPLE 8. Disclosure takes precedence PRINCIPLE 9. Protection for whistleblowers What are / should be the Objectives FOI Legislation? Vision Does this capture the intent of the right/ freedom optimally? Mission Does this optimally capture the implementation/purpose of the right/ freedom? Introduction (Entrenching Openness?) Do the introductions in the following paragraphs reflect this? How should they read? Paragraphs 1.1- 3.2.3 My comments; This is policy and resultant Bill/ Act may be the most important thing to happen to our democracy since independence! I feel honoured to be part of this debate. ************************************************************************************************************** DAY TWO(2) What are your thoughts on the current modalities / Existing Framework for managing information held by public/ private organizations. Is is known? Does it serve a purpose? What purpose should it primarily serve? Should the dat be protected? Accessible? By whom? for what reason? How long should data be held? Lets go. Kihanya ____________________________________________________________________________________ Don't get soaked. Take a quick peak at the forecast with the Yahoo! Search weather shortcut. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/shortcuts/#loc_weather

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