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Webinar today: BPF on AI, Big Data and Internet of Things - 01 April 12:00 Noon UTC
by Alex Comninos 01 Apr '19

01 Apr '19

Dear All, the next virtual meeting of the next IGF BPF on Internet of Things, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (IoT-BD-AI) will be held Today on Monday April 1st at noon (12PM) UTC. At the first virtual meeting we defined a (working) title for the BPF: “ Justified Trust in IoT, Big Data, AI to stimulate their use to address societal challenges “, and provided a high level verbatim for this year’s work: ’The BPF as platform for multistakeholder deliberation to discuss best practices … [View More]

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The anti-competitive forces that foil speedy, affordable broadband
by Nanjira Sambuli 31 Mar '19

31 Mar '19

Interesting politics of broadband stateside... https://www.fastcompany.com/90319916/the-anti-competitive-forces-that-foil-… Sent from Flipboard Regards, Nanjira. Sent on the move.

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Apply for a Mozilla Fellowship
by Alice Munyua 30 Mar '19

30 Mar '19

https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/03/12/apply-for-a-mozilla-fellowship/

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[Good news for MSMEs & indigenous innovators] MPs seek to regulate Mobile Money & limit the scope of Telecommunication licenses
by Patrick A. M. Maina 30 Mar '19

30 Mar '19

[Link at bottom] This will be fantastic - if they succeed! Here's a quick recap of how the Telecommunications / Fintech Apps sub-sector is exploiting consumers and stifling local innovation. 1. Predatory practices: The mobile money sector has reached a point where lack of adequate regulation is leading to retrogressive practices that add hidden costs / friction to the economy - including: a. Price-gouging via ridiculous pricing methodologies: Mobile "money" is just text data moving … [View More]from A-B. There is no credible justification for pricing to be based on the transaction value or amount sent / received / withdrawn - other than, imo, ruthless exploitation of consumer ignorance! The ethics of any company that earns super-profits in a poor third world country and still continues to do this are worth debating. At scale, I would wager that each P2P or bill payment message costs a telecoms provider less than Ksh. 0.01 per transaction. There needs to be an independent public-interest driven audit of the cost v/s pricing methodology given the essential and imperative nature of the service and the lack of viable alternatives due to lock-in effects. Very clear anti-trust issues at play, imo. b. Usurious loans, predating on the financially insecure with exorbitant fees; c. Aggressive CRB listing (thousands of young Kenyans punitively listed, some reportedly for as little as 200/-, which results in a tarnished record that denies youth access to other opportunities - for half a decade!); d. Promoting poor financial habits by encouraging people to borrow for consumption and/or to borrow "from Peter to pay Paul"; e. Aggressive collection methods - including blatant violations of privacy and shaming tactics - in violation of the Constitution; 2. Macro-economic stability risks: As payments go digital/cashless, unchecked dominance by one entity has resulted in a single point of failure scenario in the economy where the country's retail and service sectors are increasingly at the mercy of one private corporation that does not appear capable of guaranteeing 100% uptime year-round (and is not keen to guarantee just compensation for traders / customers for loss of business during down-times or service delays). 3. Unfair use of market power to crowd out MSMEs and young indigenous innovators: CA's broad-scope licenses have created a scenario where large IT corporations with mega budgets and market monopoly are "competing" with (more accurately, pulverizing) innovative indigenous MSME startups. It is sad to see a company that makes billions in profits apparently even engaging in vegetable business (among others) to deny mama mboga a livelihood. 4. Money laundering risks (Unregulated Loan Apps): Some foreign-funded apps could be a possible channel for international money laundering. The in-bound capital might not follow regulated channels. 5. Hot money risks: Foreign payday loan apps are using hot money models (short term capital allocation) to extract wealth from the country in the form of usurious interest without creating real sustainable value. This can have adverse effects e.g. on monetary policy. 6. Data sovereignty risks: Concentration of sensitive national economic data in the hands of a single private corporation (with foreign ownership). A mobile money monopoly is a bulls-eye target that attracts global hackers and saboteurs due to high payoff potential. 7. Big tech is no longer innovating: It is important for Government to note that, contrary to their PR claims, Big Tech players are no longer innovating - they just copy what is there and then leverage capital, network effects and media monopoly to scale even the most mediocre of ideas, distorting market forces and denying consumers the power to choose the best ideas. In healthy economies, governments solve this by create enabling environments for a new wave of innovations to emerge - via disruptive, independent startups. 8. Big tech are no longer creating new jobs (they are destroying jobs): HR-wise, big tech are already operating at maximum efficiency with single-digit ratios (e.g. 5%) of manpower costs to revenue. At macro-level, they are not creating more new jobs in the economy than they are destroying e.g. this hidden cost is indirect e.g. when their aggressive practices demotivate innovators and/or deny startups a chance to gain traction and grow which would attract investors. 9. Big tech anti-trust practices are delaying the next wave of innovations: In order to promote innovations in ICT (and other sectors), create jobs, and give a chance for the next "big wave of African innovation" to emerge, it is important for Government to step in and restrict Telecomms to their core business: Voice, Data and SMS. Otherwise we will only be showcasing the same old financial inclusion innovations, long after the rest of world has moved on. It looks like parliament is very much on the right track, and the proposed measures - if successful, will go a long way towards creating an enabling environment for indigenous startups and innovators. Kudos to Parliament for putting public interest at the forefront! =============== Article Excerpts ================ 1. "If MPs have their way, the telecommunications regulator, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), will be compelled to ensure that mobile money services like Safaricom’s M-Pesa, Airtel Money and Telkom’s T-Kash are licensed as banks." 2. "The telecommunication firms will then be licensed to only offer voice, data and SMS services." https://www.nation.co.ke/news/MPs-seek-CBK-regulation/1056-5047788-2wdi1l/i… Best Regards, Patrick A. M. Maina[Cross Domain Innovator | Independent Public Policy Analyst - Indigenous Innovations] [View Less]

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Fwd: [Internet Policy] Singapore to table (aka present in British English) fake news bill Monday
by Barrack Otieno 29 Mar '19

29 Mar '19

Listers, Might be of interest. Regards ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Ang Peng Hwa (Prof) <TPHANG(a)ntu.edu.sg> Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2019 17:27 Subject: [Internet Policy] Singapore to table (aka present in British English) fake news bill Monday To: ISOC Internet Policy <internetpolicy(a)elists.isoc.org> Hi. The Prime Minister of Singapore a couple of hours ago announced that the government will present the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill on … [View More]Monday. https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/fake-news-laws-be-tabled-monday-hold-… According to the news report, the bill “will give the Government the power to compel online news sources and platforms to show corrections or display warnings about online falsehoods, and — in extreme and urgent cases — take down an errant article.” There was a Select (aka special and public) Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods https://www.parliament.gov.sg/sconlinefalsehoods that had recommended in September 2018 that the Government take action. Although most of the testimonies were public, there were closed door sessions too and reports about these seem to suggest there were disinformation campaigns targeted at Singapore. Facebook came under withering questioning at the Select Committee hearing. (A two-hour video on Facebook (where else) is at https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10155207544022115.) A couple of observations: 1. Several of us had pointed out that in Singapore, the group that spreads fake news is the elderly, parents and grandparents. And our kind of fake news is laughable by Russian standards—eg plastic rice is sold in the supermarket. And parents and grandparents pass on the hoax out of concern. The Bill does not capture this group. It is apparently not aimed at private but public communication. 2. The power to determine facticity apparently lies with the Government. 3. The sanctions come across as pretty mild—corrections or warnings. And taking down only in extreme and urgent cases. 4. The Bill will not cover the case of the videos of the NZ shooting where Google staffers were manually blocking and deleting the videoclips as they were being uploaded. They were from the live streaming and so were not false even if they were in poor taste. Regards, Peng Hwa ANG [image: id:image001.png@01D31147.941BB3B0]*ANG* Peng Hwa (Professor) | Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information | Nanyang Technological University *|* WKWSCI #02-05, 31 Nanyang Link, Singapore 637718 | Tel: (65) 67906109 GMT+8h | Fax: (65) 6792-7526 | Editor, Asian Journal of Communication | Web: http://research.ntu.edu.sg/expertise/academicprofile/Pages/StaffProfile.asp… Past President ICA | ICA 69th Annual Conference Washington DC, May 2019 ------------------------------ CONFIDENTIALITY: This email is intended solely for the person(s) named and may be confidential and/or privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete it, notify us and do not copy, use, or disclose its contents. Towards a sustainable earth: Print only when necessary. Thank you. _______________________________________________ To manage your Internet Society subscriptions or unsubscribe, log into the Member Portal at https://admin.internetsociety.org/622619/User/Login and go to the Interests tab within your profile. [View Less]

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Modernizing Tertiary Education - some ideas
by Patrick A. M. Maina 29 Mar '19

29 Mar '19

Greetings Listers, The world is changing very rapidly and things that the older generations took for granted no longer apply. There are no jobs waiting for students when they graduate - that era ended decades ago (I believe in the 70s and early 80s). Yet, for some reason, academia appears to be stuck in time, doing things that no longer make sense. Here are some thoughts / ideas on what can be done to reform and rescue our tertiary education sector. (PhD holders might be interested in … [View More]debating point No. 6. - is it too harsh or the right approach in principle? HR Policy practitioners might be interested in point No. 5..): 1. There is need for Government to strategically position TVETs and Universities as direct implementers of Vision 2030 and Big 4 objectives. Example - academia role should include creating sustainable jobs directly, and taking measures to guarantee high employment of graduates; instead of mechanically preparing our young people for jobs that may, or may not exist, then leaving them trapped in debt. 2. Expand CUE mandate to cover TVETs (as Commission for Tertiary Education); and then Implement a Universal Credit Accumulation and Transfer System - that creates multiple pathways *of equal status* towards higher qualifications (i.e. including transferable credits for TVET education and/or credits for demonstrable on-the-job / startup experience). This calls for a national skills mapping database that is derived from, and/or supports strategic national objectives (as outlined in vision 2030 & Big 4 master-plans). Accelerate regional accreditation to leverage intra-Africa synergies in view of AfCFTA. 3. Require *all* form 4 / grade x leavers to first attend TVETs for at least 2 years to gain hands-on technical skills for real world self-sufficiency, before they (i.e. those who wish to do so) attend university. Rationale: We need to keep our eye on the goal. The goal of education, imo,is not to create "paper churning, hands-off, intellectual elites" who lack real-world-relevant skills, but to create a competent, grounded, hands-on, innovative and future-proofed workforce that is capable of applying knowledge by making or doing things that help solve, in tangible and measurable ways, very specific challenges faced by our country (primarily) or to help solve global problems in a way that primarily and tangibly benefits our country (enhancing our global brand / jobs creation / high-value exports / attracting high quality FDI etc). 4. De-eliticize university education by creating high-value technical specialist pathways via TVETs (for high paying jobs and societal status / recognition). This would temper the belief held by the general public that a university degree is the only path to success and social mobility / status. 5. Employers to emphasize and primarily rely on real-world achievements for competence signalling - rather than relying on academic papers. For example, job advertisements should stop asking for academic qualifications. This is a pointless, tick-box requirement that only creates a market for "River Road degrees". For regulated roles, like medicine or engineering, having a valid practicing license should be a sufficient indicator of academic achievement as the license (hopefully) cannot be issued without verification of the required academic background. We now have the indigenous capacity to implement competency-based hiring painlessly with technology (e.g. via ongoing programs of supervised, automated technical screening assessments to create a national pool of vetted job candidates - which incidentally would eliminate a lot of wastefully redundant HR activities - at macro level). Hopefully tenderpreneurs / MNC lobbyists will not hijack and subvert this idea. Shindwe! :-) Incidentally implementing the above suggestion will reduce incentives for cheating or cram & dump learning. 6. Using policy and regulation to strictly limit career pathways for PhD holders such that they primarily engage in research and academia. Government and corporations should stop hiring PhD holders for full-time administrative roles, for example. It is wasteful, short-sighted and counterproductive (considering the massive resources expended to educate people to that level, as well as the need to productively leverage the intellectual potential of earned PhD holders as a super-scarce resource in Africa). PhD holders should be primarily dedicated to pushing the boundaries of knowledge for the benefit of our country - and they should be rewarded very well for it and accorded top societal honors / as well as status (so they are not tempted to seek jobs that do not develop / challenge their intellectual abilities / potential). The only exception would be for very specific, short term, high-impact, research-reliant-projects or initiatives with very precise and highly specialized objectives, where exceptionally high levels of real expertise is needed. The PhD designation should have (3-5) designation levels that signify real-world achievement at post-doctorate level. PhD holders, other than retirees, who wish to permanently engage in non-research work (or work that can be done by Masters / Bachelors degree holders) should be required to permanently relinquish their PhD qualification and lose the "Dr." designation. There needs to be a distinctive high-status designation for non-academic honorary doctorates e.g. "Exceptional Life Achiever Degree" with the title "Lx." in recognition of non-academic transformational achievements with high societal impact. 7. Academic institutions should form corporations to engage in intellectual property businesses for profit (e.g. IP licensing / manufacturing & distribution) to raise research funds. This requires a pragmatic expansion of institutional mandate as well as strengthening and contextualizing the indigenous IP framework. 8. Pedagogy should be driven by a projects-based learning paradigm with deep integration of learning and real-world work. Removing artificial (and retrogressive) boundaries or demarcations between industry and academia: a. Why should learners first graduate before they can start working? This is a mindset problem. Does it make sense to have schoolwork and employment / MSME startups kept separate (yet they are complementary and interdependent)? b. Why allow someone without real-world paid work (not industrial attachment, but a real job or real MSME startup experience) to graduate? c. Why can't students learn and gain academic credits on the job (doing real, paid work for someone or in their own startups)? d. Why ask our children to choose the projects they want to work on without setting a strategic real-world context that is mapped to real world goals (e.g. Big 4) and real career prospects. Projects-based learning can solve this - with emphasis on projects that can create sustainable wealth for the country (sold to regional governments or the consumer public). We need to train a generation of self-starters who can survive by creating their own opportunities - irrespective of the economy or jobs market. Students should incorporate real startups (with seed funding from Government) during 2nd year - to make and sell products that solve real-world problems in our country / region - and then earn transferable academic credits for demonstrable experience. Employers like Government, MSMEs and corporations can embed academia into the workplace by adopting an apprenticeship approach in partnership with Universities and TVETs to hire 2nd year students and assign them to projects that enable them to earn "on-job learning credits". By the time they graduate, at least 99% ought to be gainfully employed (or running real businesses). This is how you tackle poverty and unemployment in a sustainable way. So what really prevents us from doing this - other than mindset? I know the above might read like heresy to traditionalists - but before you grab the pitchforks and light the torches, look around you... status quo is not working, that's the reality - and things will get worse as 4IR gradually kicks in - if we don't effect radical transformation. I'd be happy to have a round-table with the faculty of any tertiary institution that is interested in discussing / debating the above points. Have a great evening! Patrick A. M. Maina[Cross Domain Innovator | Independent Public Policy Analyst - Indigenous Innovations] [View Less]

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Excel as a Bi Tool:Data Visualization (Dashboard Reporting) in Excel
by Tracy Nyatoro Weru 29 Mar '19

29 Mar '19

Greetings, We have the pleasure to inform you that Sunesis consulting in partnership with I - Lab Africa,Strathmore university is organizing a 3-day training course on Excel as a Business Intelligence Tool (DashboardReporting). The program will take place @iLabAfrica on *24th - 26th April 2019 *at 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. This is a 3-day training that aims at providing business personnel with skills to transform data into decisions using a cost effective tool. The training course is open to … [View More]

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Facebook and Google: This is What an Effective Ad Archive API Looks Like - The Mozilla Blog
by Alice Munyua 28 Mar '19

28 Mar '19

facebook & Google are preparing to release their ad archive APIs. Mozilla & a cohort of independent researchers are publishing five guidelines these APIs must meet in order to truly heighten transparency and curb disinformation. https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/03/27/facebook-and-google-this-is-what-a…

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Data Protection Forum & NIIMS - Friday 29th March
by Linda Bonyo 28 Mar '19

28 Mar '19

Dear Listers Join us this Friday 6 pm as we explore the privacy and data protection issues pertaining to the National integrated Identity Management System- NIIMS popularly known as huduma Namba. We look forward to an open, diverse and engaging discussion whose Speakers include George Kegoro (KHRC), Nanjira Sambuli (Web Foundation), Isaac E.N Okero (Former LSK President), Grace Bomu (Kictanet) , Nzilani Mweu (Tech Lawyer) Registration is absolutely free on eventbrite, limited tickets … [View More]

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[disaster preparedness] cheap wooden disposable cargo DRONES that can be built locally
by Patrick A. M. Maina 27 Mar '19

27 Mar '19

[link below] This is an idea worth copying and a great way to develop a culture of *simple*, *practical* cross-domain innovations. Our woodworking students can team up with electronics and computing students to build, test these simple contraptions. Example use cases include supplying emergency relief to places where aircraft cannot land. Suggested approach: MoED and MoICT to sponsor a nationwide TVETs v/s Universities competition to see which institution designs the best drone prototype … [View More]

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