I agree Ali; the election period has raised a lot of questions especially of the exercise of freedom of speech (especially on fake news and hate speech) on social media to boost different political agendas. This also brought to light some of the issues deeply dividing our society which can be a positive thing should we choose to learn and positively engage on the same as opposed to burying our heads on the sand hoping the issues will disappear.


In an ideal society we would use such platforms only for good but that is not always the case.  I do not blame the social media companies and further do not expect them to provide the solution as they are really not the problem, we are. At some point and for sustainability purposes, we will have to look into filing the policy gaps resulting from new technology, as Barrack suggested; for purposes of not only safeguarding them from would be abusers but to secure them as opposed to hoping there will be less users in the future or people will be less interested/will not believe what is online. At the end of the day, we are what we feed ourselves on whether we believe it or not. 


Kind regards,


Esther Kamande




On Wed, Nov 8, 2017 at 7:33 AM, Barrack Otieno via kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
To add,

Technology platforms simply exponse gaps in Policy. It is upon the Citizenry through legislative Institutions to decide whether they want to fix the gaps or not. When mpesa (which i am yet to resist ) started there was no legal framework to support it. It was allowed to thrive based on Public Interest.

Regards

On Wed, Nov 8, 2017 at 7:29 AM, Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Ali,

Are you suggesting that we blame the printing press for propaganda and mwakenya's? , the answer is no, people are always the problem, technology is just a medium. History is never complete without  tells of people who solved puzzles and cracked codes to secure victory over their competitors. As Frenchman Jean Baptise Alphonse Karr The more things change the more they remain the same (plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose :-))




On Wed, Nov 8, 2017 at 4:01 AM, Ali Hussein via kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
Listers

An interesting article from the economist. 

Facebook, Google and Twitter were supposed to save politics as good information drove out prejudice and falsehood. Something has gone very wrong

Read on:-

What are your thoughts from a local perspective? 

After one of the most highly contentious electioneering periods in Kenya’s history some hard questions need to be asked. 

1. Is Ezekiel Mutua after all a visionary in his assertions about Social Media? 
2. Have we allowed ourselves to be further divided by these platforms instead of using them to bring us closer together?
3, Have we allowed politicians and other influencers to literally take our freedoms to do what’s right?
4, Shouldn’t the whole world - State and Non-State Players - have taken Internet Governance (especially the Third Party Liability conversation) more seriously?
5. Is it too late to redeem ourselves?

These and more are important issues to ponder.

Regards 

Ali Hussein
Principal
Hussein & Associates

Twitter: @AliHKassim

Skype: abu-jomo

LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim


"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit."  ~ Aristotle


Sent from my iPad

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