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Arrest of a High-Profile Huawei Executive
by S.M. Muraya 20 Dec '18

20 Dec '18

Interesting super power, "devents".. Beyond resisting selling out (infrastructure projects) to foreigners, focus on importance of developing localized intelligence (intellectual property) firms.. http://time.com/5472538/arrest-huawei-executive-trump-deal-china/ http://time.com/5472538/arrest-huawei-executive-trump-deal-china/ How the Arrest of a High-Profile Huawei Executive Could Upend President Trump's Truce with China By DAVID TWEED AND PETER MARTIN / BLOOMBERG Updated: December 6, 2018 10:41 AM ET (Bloomberg)—On the same day Donald Trump and Xi Jinping struck a trade war truce in Argentina, some 7,000 miles away Canadian authorities made an arrest that now threatens to make the U.S.-China conflict much worse. The U.S. is seeking the extradition of Wanzhou Meng, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies Co., after convincing Canada to arrest her on Dec. 1. Canada confirmed she was in custody shortly after the Globe and Mail reported she had been arrested in connection with violating sanctions against Iran. China promptly reacted with outrage after the news broke, demanding that both countries move to free Meng. Later, the foreign ministry said it was waiting for details on why she was arrested, and said trade talks should continue. It’s hard to overstate the significance of her arrest in Beijing: Meng is the daughter of the founder of Huawei, a national champion at the forefront of Xi’s efforts for China to be self-sufficient in strategic technologies. While the U.S. routinely asks allies to extradite drug lords, arms dealers and other criminals, arresting a major Chinese executive like this is rare — if not unprecedented. “The timing and manner of this is shocking,” Andrew Gilholm, director of North Asia analysis at Control Risks Group, said by phone. “It’s not often the phrase OMG appears in our internal email discussions. ” Right now it’s unclear what role Trump played in Meng’s arrest, or if he will intervene at some point. The U.S. leader has spent the past few days seeking to convince the world — and skeptical equity investors — that China has agreed to major concessions, including reducing or removing tariffs on U.S. cars. Stocks fell across Asia on Thursday. Analysts said it’s more likely the case proceeded separately from the trade talks as part of Trump’s efforts to step up prosecutions against Chinese companies that conduct economic espionage and violate sanctions. In October, the U.S. said Belgium extradited a Chinese intelligence official accused of stealing trade secrets from U.S. companies — an unprecedented development. Either way, China is almost certain to view Meng’s arrest as a major escalation in the trade war that will foment fears of a wider Cold War between the world’s biggest economies. As part of trade talks, Trump has insisted that China stop providing government support to strategic sectors including artificial intelligence and robotics as part of its “Made in China 2025” policy. ‘New Game’ “It will definitely complicate the negotiations and they may believe this was done to increase the pressure during this 90-day period,” said Dennis Wilder, a former CIA China analyst and senior director for Asia at the National Security Council under President George W. Bush. “This is sending a signal that there is a new game,” Wilder said of the recent U.S. arrests. “They are trying to deter Chinese espionage and make it clear that there are real consequences.” Perhaps no company better personifies the perceived trade threat than Huawei. It’s overtaken Apple Inc. in smartphone shipments and aims to surpass Samsung Electronics Co. while targeting record sales of $102.2 billion this year — more than Boeing Co. It’s shooting for the lead in fifth-generation wireless networks and preparing to take on some of America’s biggest chipmakers. That’s why Trump’s administration invoked its name in blocking a Qualcomm Inc.-Broadcom Inc. merger that would’ve been the largest deal ever, saying it would hand the lead in 5G to China. Huawei has since been blocked from selling its gear in Australia and New Zealand, got frozen out of a Korean contract, and faces U.S.-led competition even in Papua New Guinea. The latest U.S. action against Huawei may be even more significant. While the company has made advances in developing its own microchips, it still relies on American equipment to make its networking gear and smartphones. ZTE Corp., another Chinese technology company, nearly collapsed due to U.S. penalties for violating Iran sanctions before Trump rescued it following a request from Xi. The ZTE case showed China’s leaders that they needed to become independent from the U.S. when it comes to critical technologies like semiconductors and network infrastructure, according to Graham Webster, coordinating editor of DigiChina at the Washington-based think tank New America. “What makes Huawei important is that it is a leader in developing technologies that will make China less dependent on U.S. or European suppliers,” he said. “Targeting Huawei through seeking the extradition of a top executive is a major move by the U.S. government, whether coordinated or not.” For some analysts in China, it shows that the U.S. national security apparatus isn’t interested in cutting a deal, no matter what Trump thinks. “Their goal is to decouple with China,” said Wang Yong, a professor at the School of International Studies at Peking University. “Negotiations are the wish of Trump and Wall Street.” Contact us at editors(a)time.com.

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Listing Crypto-fund on NSE soon
by Shitemi Khamadi 20 Dec '18

20 Dec '18

Folks, there has been a conversation that NSE has not listed an entrant in some years now. It seems a crypto-based fund is on its way https://businesstoday.co.ke/worlds-first-crypto-based-fund-listed-nse/ -- Kind Regards, Shitemi Khamadi | Programs Manager, Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE). Phone: +254 704090471, +254 733522229 | Personal: +254 -720-175808 Email: shitemi(a)bake.or.ke | Website: bake.co.ke | BAKE Awards: bakeawards.co.ke <http://www.bakeawards.co.ke/> Become a member: bake.co.ke/membership <http://www.blog.bake.co.ke/2015/09/09/how-to-become-a-bake-member/> Follow us: *Twitter*: @bakekenya <http://twitter.com/BakeKenya>, *FB*: fb.com/bakekenya <http://facebook.com/bakekenya> & *YouTube*: youtube.com/bakekenya

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As Facebook Raised a Privacy Wall, It Carved an Opening for Tech Giants
by Victor Kapiyo 20 Dec '18

20 Dec '18

Data is the new oil... For years, Facebook gave some of the world’s largest technology companies more intrusive access to users’ personal data than it has disclosed, effectively exempting those business partners from its usual privacy rules, according to internal records and interviews. The special arrangements are detailed in hundreds of pages of Facebook documents obtained by The New York Times. The records, generated in 2017 by the company’s internal system for tracking partnerships, provide the most complete picture yet of the social network’s data-sharing practices. They also underscore how personal data has become the most prized commodity of the digital age, traded on a vast scale by some of the most powerful companies in Silicon Valley and beyond. Read more https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/technology/facebook-privacy.html *Victor Kapiyo* Partner | *Lawmark Partners LLP* *Suite No. 8, Centro House, Westlands, Nairobi | **Web: www.lawmark.co.ke <http://www.lawmark.co.ke> * ==================================================== *“Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude” Zig Ziglar*

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Emoji Domains Could Be The Next Internet Gold Rush
by Nelson Kwaje 18 Dec '18

18 Dec '18

Something new or too much hype https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGn1VjdxQ9k Nelson Kwaje Team Lead, Tech and Innovation Unit WEB4ALL LTD www.web4all.co.ke Tel : +254711250795 Skype : nelson kwaje Twitter : @nelsonkwaje Building ICT Solutions That Matter

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[CofekDigest] #9: Please Sign Petition Against Toyota Kenya Deceptively Modifying Vehicle Chassis
by Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek) 18 Dec '18

18 Dec '18

Beloved Consumer, Please sign this petition against Toyota for deceptively modifying a 28-seater and passing it off as a 33-seater chassis https://www.change.org/p/akio-toyoda-toyota-co-jp-help-stop-toyota-kenya-dec eptively-modifying-vehicle-chassis What the Cofek forum on competition, dominance and telcos forum will address http://www.cofek.co.ke/index.php/news-and-media/2271-what-the-cofek-forum-on -competition-dominance-and-telcos-forum-will-address New currency images face fresh opposition in High Court dispute http://www.cofek.co.ke/index.php/news-and-media/2266-new-currency-images-fac e-fresh-opposition-in-high-court-dispute Its official. Johnson's Baby Powder is carcinogenic. Never use it on your loved one! http://www.cofek.co.ke/index.php/news-and-media/2260-its-official-johnson-ba by-powder-is-carcinogenic-never-use-it-on-your-lived-one Subscribe to Cofek Breaking News, Send 'Cofek On' to 40408. You can also become a Cofek Member! Kind regards, Pjorn Muriuki PROGRAM OFFICER Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek) Rehema Place, Block F Suite 45 P.O Box 28053-00200, City Square Tel. +2540202615496, 3861718 Mobile: 0715555550, 0733180008 Email : <mailto:[email protected]> hotline(a)cofek.co.ke Web : <http://www.cofek.co.ke/> www.cofek.co.ke COFEK - Restoring Consumer Confidence and Pride _______________________________________________ CofekDigest mailing list CofekDigest(a)lists.cofek.co.ke http://mail.cofek.co.ke/mailman/listinfo/cofekdigest_cofek.co.ke Unsubscribe or change your options at %(user_optionsurl)s

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It's time to take back your data from Google and Facebook's server farms | Giri Sreenivas
by David Indeje 12 Dec '18

12 Dec '18

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/12/its-time-to-take-back…

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Expression of Interest - AfriNIC board
by Walubengo J 12 Dec '18

12 Dec '18

Listers, In case you are interested apply. https://afrinic.net/call-for-expressions-of-interest-for-board-appointments walu.

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Pwani Innovation Week Think Piece
by Simeon Oriko 11 Dec '18

11 Dec '18

* Dear Listers, Some of you may be aware that the inaugural Pwani Innovation Week <http://pwaniinnovationweek.co.ke> was held last week at Swahilipot Hub. I’d like to share with you a Think Piece - an analysis of the discussions we had at the event: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bnRAVuG7Y1HQMqkDcIXriofwanQPnYjDtUcicuk… free to use the comment feature to share additional thoughts or insights you may have. For convenience, I’m also attaching a PDF version of the document to this email. I’d also like to share photos of the event: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jV8jGGnGDG_L0VKD1Eqtp61mWrX6nm5s?us… These are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/>(CC BY) license. We look forward to your involvement in developing the innovation ecosystem in the Pwani region. Kind Regards, Simeon Oriko Board Member - Swahilipot Hub Chairman - Pwani Innovation Week Steering Committee *

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M-Pesa is a critical resource that should never fail
by Barrack Otieno 11 Dec '18

11 Dec '18

Listers In Summary M-Pesa has grown from an option to literally being a must-have financial service for millions of Kenyans. It has also become integrated in the lifestyles of Kenyans in terms of paying for anything, ranging from groceries to school fees and even bribes. With over 25 million mobile money subscribers, the platform's going down translates into the economy slowing down. The regulator must require additional and external information security checks to provide assurance that the potential risks and threats have been identified and mitigated. The regulator should also demand that Safaricom facilitate business continuity for its subscribers rather than telling them to be patient until services are restored. https://mobile.nation.co.ke/blogs/1949942-4889230-6roifmz/index.html It would be interesting to know what is in the mind of listers. Best Regards -- Barrack O. Otieno +254721325277 +254733206359 Skype: barrack.otieno PGP ID: 0x2611D86A

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How Safaricom lost its way
by Mwendwa Kivuva 11 Dec '18

11 Dec '18

It was evening of 7th December 2018. Consumers had challenges using mpesa from around 6.40pm. I tried paying for a product, but did not get a response for around 40 minutes. Then, I got this SMS: "M-PESA is not able to process your request. Go to M-PESA>My account>Update menu>M-PESA PIN>Send. Then try again." Then this "MPESA is experiencing delays, and is not able to accept your request. Please wait for 10 minutes before trying again." Then finally after an hour, reality hit home: "MPESA is currently unavailable. We apologize for any inconvenience caused." At this point, people were stranded in weird places. Car owners were stranded at petrol stations having ordered full tank hoping to pay with the often reliable MPESA. They had to park their car as they sought alternative ways to settle their bills. Revelers at the many entertainment joints had extended hours trying to pay their bills. Patients at hospitals were turned away. Queues and queues of Shoppers at supermarkets left their full baskets at tills. Online platforms were not spared either. The shopping carts were abandoned. I was stranded like the rest, and finally managed to pay with the mpesa at 8.08pm. See, I was determined. I had consumed products, and I did not have any alternative way to pay. That is how successful Safaricom has managed to make Mpesa part of our lives. At around 9.24pm, Safaricom sent this SMS "M-PESA is undergoing scheduled maintenance." Of course that downtime was not a scheduled maintenance. So now a respected company with a top notch communications team had resorted to small lies that add no value to their brand. Desperate times truly calls for desperate measures. An unexpected downtime is not the same as scheduled maintenance. Scheduled maintenance is communicated early in advance to all parties. This was not the case with this particular scenario. Back to my payment, I manged to sneak in the payment in the midst of the "scheduled maintenance". But the deductions of my mpesa balance were completely off. I informed the establishment. They investigate from their system (which is just mpesa SMSes from their feature phone), and them too had got one message indicating my payment. My previous balance did not add up when the current purchase is included. It was way less. The mpesa statement could also not reconcile where the difference of my balance had gone. It only showed one transaction. So for example, if I had a balance of Ksh20,000, and make a purchase of Ksh5,000, the balance should be Ksh15,000. But now my balance read Ksh10,000. Today is Tuesday, 11th December, and I'm yet to be united with my funds. It's good the CS Hon Mucheru has asked for a systems audit of the mpesa platform. In the audit, they should capture how many transactions were eronouse, and where users' balances disappeared to. It may be mischievous individuals carting our balances the NHIF and KPC way.

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