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Your thoughts and feedback on Aggregator Platforms for Digital Services in Agriculture.
by John Kieti 30 Mar '21

30 Mar '21

Dear Esteemed Listers, Reports by AGRA and Disrupt Africa consistently position Kenya as the global leader in the number of tech ventures and digital solutions for agriculture (DSAs). By GSMA's 2020 report which tracked 713 active DSAs, more than half (437) were in sub Saharan Africa. Kenya led with 95 and Nigeria was at a distant second with about half of Kenya's number. Studies have questioned the ability of these DSAs to scale out so as to significantly impact a sector that is the mainstay of most sub Saharan African economies (including Kenya). My co-authors and I sought to contribute in diversifying the thinking about efforts to unlock the promise of digitalisation and digital transformation of agriculture in sub Saharan Africa. We conceptualised an aggregator platform for digital services in agriculture (AP4DSA). This is a special type of digital platform for agriculture whose characteristics can partially be observed in nascent platforms such as Safaricom's DigiFarm, EcoFarmer in Zimbabwe, Bayer's Climate FieldView, and an "imaginary instance of Google play store for agriculture". Such a platform can be expected to address DSA discoverability challenges including fragmentation of the digital agriculture ecosystem, absence of a one-stop-shop, and an unmet desire for comprehensiveness. We proceeded to examine the underlying structure of value creation sources in such a digital platform as perceived by likely users in Kenya. We recently published our findings in the Digital Business Journal on the link below (pdf downloadable) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666954421000065 (see also attached graphical abstract) I take this early opportunity to invite listers' review of our findings. I am particularly wishful for feedback about the issues of value chain coverage and digital inclusivity, which our research finds as sub-themes of platform inclusivity, a major theme on amplifying the value of such a platform. Kind regards.

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TRADEMARK & DOMAIN NAMES WEBINAR _ MONDAY 29TH MARCH 2021
by Vincent Nyaga 26 Mar '21

26 Mar '21

Dear Listers, KeNIC is inviting you to this Webinar scheduled for Monday 29th March, 11.00 am - 12.30 pm EAT. Register here [ http://bit.ly/TechPolicyAfrica | http://bit.ly/TechPolicyAfrica ] Thank you. Kind Regards, Vincent Nyagah, Marketing & Communications Executive Tel: +254 713 116 353

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The most invasive apps: which apps are sharing your personal data?
by Victor Kapiyo 25 Mar '21

25 Mar '21

This article identified which apps shared the most of your private data with third parties, and those which gathered the most for their own benefits, to find the most invasive overall. Top on the list are Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Uber Eats which were found to share the most data (79%, 57%, 50% and 50% respectively, of the data they collected) with third parties. Read more: https://blog.pcloud.com/invasive-apps/ *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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Safaricom to launch 5G network Friday in Nairobi and western Kenya
by Victor Kapiyo 25 Mar '21

25 Mar '21

Finally! Safaricom will Friday launch Kenya’s first fifth-generation (5G) mobile internet services targeting major urban centres, making it the inaugural operator to offer commercial and superfast services in the region. The firm last year completed testing and trials for the upgraded network as the company seeks to capitalise on burgeoning mobile Internet use in the country. The leading telco Thursday revealed the Friday launch of the 5G technology that will be supplied by Nokia Corporation and Huawei—which has been the subject of increased scrutiny in the Western world over the introduction of the high speed networks. *Read more: * https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/corporate/companies/safaricom-5g-net… *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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Kembi Gitura’s appointment to CA board challenged in court
by Victor Kapiyo 25 Mar '21

25 Mar '21

The appointment of former deputy Senate Speaker Kembi Gitura to chair the board of the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has been challenged in court, setting the stage for another protracted battle for leadership at the key State agency. President Uhuru Kenyatta on March 10 gazetted the appointment of Mr Gitura as the new CA board chairman starting April 18, 2021. He is set to take over from Mr Ngene Gituku whose term as chairman of the CA board is due to expire. However, the appointment has now been challenged at the Employment and Labour Relations Court by a Mr Benedict Kabugi Ndungu, who says the president failed to form a select panel to conduct the recruitment of the board’s chairman as required by Sections 6 and 6B of the Kenya Information and Communications (Amendment) Act (KICA) and the amendments done in 2013. https://nation.africa/kenya/news/uhuru-choice-of-gitura-for-ca-job-challeng… *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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List subscribers cleanup - Yahoo Troubles
by Odhiambo Washington 18 Mar '21

18 Mar '21

Hello Listers Of late, we have been experiencing technical challenges in particular with YAHOO addresses, which for some reason has to lead to YAHOO classifying messages from the mailing list as spam. To deal with this challenge, there is a need to clean up the list of all dormant YAHOO addresses and I only have THREE possible options: 1. To send a probe mail to all the subscribed Yahoo addresses and request that they *please respond to this probe mail within three (or five) days.* 2. To disable delivery to ALL subscribed YAHOO addresses and wait for those who are active to raise a flag that they are not receiving posts to the list, and then re-enable their subscriptions. 3. To unsubscribe ALL the subscribed YAHOO addresses and let those who are active in the list re-subscribe either by going to https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet or by reaching out to the List Moderators. Given the number of addresses to deal with in this case (135), option 3 above comes out as the most efficient way to handle the issue. This is important as it will facilitate the sorting out the technical challenges we are experiencing. Regards Odhiambo Washington *KICTANet List Admin* +254 7 3200 0004 - Call/SMS/Sosomedia +254 7 2274 3223 - M-Pesa :-) "Oh, the cruft.", grep ^[^#]

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Defend & Deliver Boot Camp
by Johnsey Kivoto 17 Mar '21

17 Mar '21

Dear Listers, Continuing its efforts to accelerate DMARC adoption through advocacy and practical solutions, the Global Cyber Alliance (GCA) is pleased to offer another installment of its DMARC Bootcamp. Beginning May 5th, GCA will conduct five weeks of online technical training focused on what DMARC is and how to implement it. We’ll cover the basics of SPF and DKIM and options of performing DKIM key generation and signing. We will go over each of the tags for a DMARC policy and provide a demonstration of how to create the DNS records for SPF, DKIM, and DMARC on several systems. By the end of the bootcamp, participants will have enough information and confidence to move to the highest DMARC policy level of “reject” immediately or within a few months. [image: image.png] Every step of the way, GCA will assist with resources and guidance, including a weekly one-hour webinar. DMARC is considered the industry standard for email authentication to prevent attacks from malicious third parties sending harmful email using a counterfeit address. By implementing DMARC, you lower the odds of your domains being spoofed and used for phishing attacks against others. Open the link below to register. https://cutt.ly/yz4oYND DMARC is considered the industry standard for email authentication to prevent attacks from malicious third parties sending harmful email using a counterfeit address. By implementing DMARC, you lower the odds of your domains being spoofed and used for phishing attacks against others. DMARC is also an important defense against Business Email Compromise (BEC), which is a growing risk for organizations of all sizes, with more than $1.7 billion in losses last year according to the FBI <https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2019-internet-crime-report-released-021120> . Kind Regards, Johnsey Kivoto Activate link to view larger image.

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Cyber Basics for Small Businesses! A free three-week training series in April 2021
by Johnsey Kivoto 16 Mar '21

16 Mar '21

Dear Listers, [image: Cyber-Basics-Twitter-Post (13)] The Global Cyber Alliance (GCA) in partnership with The Cyber Readiness Institute (CRI), is launching a new three-week webinar series, *Cyber Basics for Small Businesses*, to help small businesses tackle key fundamentals of cyber protection and reduce their risk of cyberattack by up to 85%. The three one-hour sessions will walk attendees through basic cyber hygiene principles in non-technical, bite-sized segments, explaining risks, common attack methods and offering practical suggestions to help avoid falling victim. In between each weekly session, GCA will support attendees in implementing tools from the GCA Cybersecurity Toolkit for Small Business. The series is free to attend and will run weekly throughout April 2021 with the first webinar taking place on April 14. For more information and to sign up please visit: https://gca.globalcyberalliance.org/cyberbasics-2021 <https://gca.globalcyberalliance.org/e2t/tc/VVytjP2tMzcWW8y7mh-67PSmSVXkGBG4…> We are stronger together.

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Exploring White Elephants - KODI
by Twahir Hussein Kassim 12 Mar '21

12 Mar '21

Listers, The Kenya Constitution 2010 provides in Article 35: - 35. Access to information (1) Every citizen has the right of access to-- (a) information held by the State; and (b) information held by another person and required for the exercise or protection of any right or fundamental freedom. (2) Every person has the right to the correction or deletion of untrue or misleading information that affects the person. (3) The State shall publish and publicise any important information affecting the nation. Following this, the Kibaki administration launched Kenya Open Data Initiative (KODI) in 2011. KODI was hailed as the *first such programme in sub-saharan Africa <https://www.centreforpublicimpact.org/case-study/open-data-kenya#:~:text=In….>* by the *Centre for Public Impact*. Unfortunately the focus on updating this data lost steam, as it stands today ONLY 970 datasets have been uploaded to the system. The last update seems to have been made in 2017.Below is a graph of the dataset uploaded between 2011 and 2017: - [image: Capture.PNG] My interest in KODI was to gather information on utilisation of USF. Unfortunately no info on USF is there on KODI. Additionally, KODI seems to be on UPDATE LEAVE since 2017. This initiative is under the ICT Authority, it would be helpful to know why updates are not forthcoming when this is a constitutional right as per Article 35 of Kenya constitution 2010. Is this another White Elephant? Regards Twahir [image: Mailtrack] <https://mailtrack.io?utm_source=gmail&utm_medium=signature&utm_campaign=sig…> Sender notified by Mailtrack <https://mailtrack.io?utm_source=gmail&utm_medium=signature&utm_campaign=sig…> 03/12/21, 02:46:52 PM

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Reminder: Meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on ICT Thur 11, 2021. 9:30am
by David Indeje 10 Mar '21

10 Mar '21

Dear Listers, Further to our meeting today morning. The Senate Standing Committee on Information and Technology is scheduled to have its next Sitting on Thursday, 11th March 2021 on the Zoom Platform at 9:30 a.m. This is to remind KICTANET about the Sitting. The login credentials are as follows: Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82366419552?pwd=K29hclJYbFk3OHFlYnJtcnJ4aUVpUT09 Meeting ID: 823 6641 9552 Passcode: 353183 Best, Indeje

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