As Facebook and Google collect more data on Africans, their governments will seek to exploit that — Quartz
Listers The trend towards less internet privacy is spreading the world over. Western Countries unfortunately have been at the forefront of this worrying trend. Africa is simply catching up. Does this mean that we in Africa should simply give up and let our governments across the continent borrow a dark leaf from their counterparts in Europe and the US (as a lister seemed to suggest last week)? Let us continue to be vigilant and if we are unable to stop them let us at least shine a light on those who will strive to limit our freedoms in the name of 'National Security'. https://qz.com/914708/as-facebook-and-google-collect-more-data-on-africans-t... Ali Hussein Principal Hussein & Associates +254 0713 601113 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
The trend is worrying, shut downs are not new; they are just getting sophisticated by the day owing to new technologies which get better by the day. Having worked in some parts of Northern Kenya a few years back. I got to experience this first hand where the connection had been disrupted as a way of cutting off communication among warring villages. The intention is usually justified as "for emergency/security purposes" but then again this can also been used for political purposes. Secondly, this is never documented and most times as I came to learn from the locals, it was the norm for connection to go off during certain seasons. I further noted they could not establish whether this was a deliberate shut down or just another technical glitch as they couldn't tell the difference but the timings raised eyebrows. If indeed deliberate, It is also not clear from which government agency the directive comes from which further raises eyebrows as such a move should be made public for accountability purposes. Governments have not been saints in the past and we should not expect this to change overnight and I agree Ali, vigilance is key, hence the many questions behind the recent move by CA on the DMS system. Having *“all Mobile Operators connect to the DMS system”* a system that is run by a third party opens up many questions especially the fact that this has been done outside of the public eye and the details regarding the system have served to raise more questions than offer comfort to users. Secondly, the silence by Mobile Service Providers on the same raises more questions as there seems to be some level of discomfort otherwise they would be defending the move already. Fact is, the regulator calls the shots and mobile service providers must comply therefore we can only expect so much from them. The way I see it, our best shot at defending this space is in Africa is through through a standardized system of laws that apply in all member states of the African Union i.e pushing for ratification of the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection in Africa and further pushing for data protection laws locally like in Netherlands where even the government needs a court order to take down a website. Regards, Esther Kamande Advocate | Policy Analyst Twitter: @enkamande On Mon, Feb 20, 2017 at 5:33 AM, Ali Hussein via kictanet < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
Listers
The trend towards less internet privacy is spreading the world over. Western Countries unfortunately have been at the forefront of this worrying trend. Africa is simply catching up. Does this mean that we in Africa should simply give up and let our governments across the continent borrow a dark leaf from their counterparts in Europe and the US (as a lister seemed to suggest last week)?
Let us continue to be vigilant and if we are unable to stop them let us at least shine a light on those who will strive to limit our freedoms in the name of 'National Security'.
https://qz.com/914708/as-facebook-and-google-collect-more-da ta-on-africans-their-governments-will-seek-to-exploit-that/
*Ali Hussein* *Principal* *Hussein & Associates* +254 0713 601113
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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The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
Hi Esther, Well put. It is my prayer and hope that the incoming members of parliament will prioritize Data Protection Laws and requisite legal frameworks that will support the information economy. We have a very narrow focus at the moment when it comes to data protection and privacy since we look at it from the lenses of individual rights i think when we start highlighting the impact of some of this omissions on the countries Information economy and by extension the GDP, the situation is likely to change. Best Regards On 2/20/17, esther kamande via kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
The trend is worrying, shut downs are not new; they are just getting sophisticated by the day owing to new technologies which get better by the day.
Having worked in some parts of Northern Kenya a few years back. I got to experience this first hand where the connection had been disrupted as a way of cutting off communication among warring villages. The intention is usually justified as "for emergency/security purposes" but then again this can also been used for political purposes. Secondly, this is never documented and most times as I came to learn from the locals, it was the norm for connection to go off during certain seasons. I further noted they could not establish whether this was a deliberate shut down or just another technical glitch as they couldn't tell the difference but the timings raised eyebrows.
If indeed deliberate, It is also not clear from which government agency the directive comes from which further raises eyebrows as such a move should be made public for accountability purposes.
Governments have not been saints in the past and we should not expect this to change overnight and I agree Ali, vigilance is key, hence the many questions behind the recent move by CA on the DMS system. Having *“all Mobile Operators connect to the DMS system”* a system that is run by a third party opens up many questions especially the fact that this has been done outside of the public eye and the details regarding the system have served to raise more questions than offer comfort to users. Secondly, the silence by Mobile Service Providers on the same raises more questions as there seems to be some level of discomfort otherwise they would be defending the move already.
Fact is, the regulator calls the shots and mobile service providers must comply therefore we can only expect so much from them. The way I see it, our best shot at defending this space is in Africa is through through a standardized system of laws that apply in all member states of the African Union i.e pushing for ratification of the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection in Africa and further pushing for data protection laws locally like in Netherlands where even the government needs a court order to take down a website.
Regards,
Esther Kamande
Advocate | Policy Analyst
Twitter: @enkamande
On Mon, Feb 20, 2017 at 5:33 AM, Ali Hussein via kictanet < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
Listers
The trend towards less internet privacy is spreading the world over. Western Countries unfortunately have been at the forefront of this worrying trend. Africa is simply catching up. Does this mean that we in Africa should simply give up and let our governments across the continent borrow a dark leaf from their counterparts in Europe and the US (as a lister seemed to suggest last week)?
Let us continue to be vigilant and if we are unable to stop them let us at least shine a light on those who will strive to limit our freedoms in the name of 'National Security'.
https://qz.com/914708/as-facebook-and-google-collect-more-da ta-on-africans-their-governments-will-seek-to-exploit-that/
*Ali Hussein* *Principal* *Hussein & Associates* +254 0713 601113
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
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Twitter: http://twitter.com/kictanet Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/
Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/m ailman/options/kictanet/enkamande%40gmail.com
The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
-- Barrack O. Otieno +254721325277 +254733206359 Skype: barrack.otieno PGP ID: 0x2611D86A
participants (3)
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Ali Hussein -
Barrack Otieno -
esther kamande