I am sure for many people accessing information online, all you want is knowledge and for some it does not matter how you get it- its just information.

Some may ask; so what if they picked it from one site and reproduced it on another?

Well, am usually a bit liberal, I allow people to just pick from my blog so long as they honor the source but a news organization such as www.computerworld.co.ke has its own rules on that.

So, whats the problem?

Well, for most news sites, they pride themselves in giving you first-hand information written by their analysts and all that. They pay those analysts to write because they have to make calls this and that.

So, what happens when one site copy-pastes your work and does not want to admit it, using flimsy excuses to get away with it. If it was just a matter of sharing info, why not just share the link and let people go to that other site?

For instance; this article on IT News Africa plagiarized my work, but they defended themselves saying that they quoted The Citizen in Tanzania, which first plagiarized the work.

This is how our email conversations went:

Rebecca

Dear Editor,

I think its rude that you picked from my story and did not care to mention it. While the stuff may have come from Telkom Kenya, I am the only one who talked to Nekessa and the quote in this story http://www.itnewsafrica.com/?p=5552 is similar to this one http://www.computerworld.co.ke/articles/2010/02/11/telkom-kenya-wants-users-jail-broken-phones-prosecuted

Unless you have a way to convince me otherwise.......

From a news organization, I think you ought to do better.

I need an apology...

RESPONSE

Hi Rebecca,

As per introduction, I am Denisa Oosthuizen, editor at ITNewsAfrica.com. We have used the article from The Citizen as a source, here is the link http://thecitizen.co.tz/newe.php?id=17517.

In the future we could use your services directly, should you wish to do so.

Denisa Oosthuizen

Online Editor

MY RESPONSE

Hi,

I dont write for Citizen and if your defense is that since Citizen plagiarized then it's ok....don't you find it odd?

For a long time I thought IT news is a credible site, but just compare the two pieces and my work was not honored

FOLLOW-UP

Hi Rebecca,

Denisa brought this to my attention. As stated in her email, we got the story from The Citizen and gave credit to the source in our story.

Without prejudice - I have instructed her to add your name as a source.

I hope you will continue to think highly of us.

Best Regards


A. Wakama
Publisher

MY RESPONSE

I find the excuse lame; just because Citizen plagiarized that should make it ok?

WAKAMA REPLY

What do you want Madam???

Just notice the question marks on the question, am not sure whether am supposed to be scared or intimidated, I was wronged, not the other way round, the arrogance just baffled me, I did not get even an apology.

So, my question still stands, just because Citizen Plagiarized first, does that make it right?

Ends

FEMNET, the African Women's Development and Communication Network, has launched a book, examining freedom of information legislation and its role in enhancing women's rights in Africa.

The book comprises case studies from Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Zambia and attempts to show how the lack of legislation on FOI has impeded women's right to demand transparency and good governance.

Written in a clear and simple language that is easily understood by those who are grounded in tech and those who are not, the book identifies ways women can benefit be demanding greater access to information from the government as well as the public sector.

Out of all the countries studied, only South Africa has enacted the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) in 2000. The Act is part of more than 800 pieces of legislation since the fall of apartheid, mainly calculated ti address inequities, imbalances and social injustices that had previously existed.

In the countries profiled, the right to freedom of information was seen more like a domain for the media to demand and not the general population. In this case, women have not lobbied hard to have the FOI laws enacted.

While identifying the slow legislative mechanisms in most countries, the book identifies ways women can compel their governments to act.

One legislative glitch which may have hindered the speedy enactment is the constitutional provision on freedom of expression. In this regard, most countries define FOI as part of the wider constitutional guarantees, yet the countries may retain other repressive pieces of legislation.

For instance, in Kenya, the FOI bill is still pending in parliament; the government claims freedom of expression is well provided in the constitution, yet it maintains the archaic Official Secrets Act, which gives government institutions the discretion to decline information requests.

The book is an important resource for organizations that want to deepen their knowledge in advocacy and the nexus between women's rights, FOI and development.

Its always nice to venture out of your comfort zone, that is what I believe, so once in

a while, I get to do things that I will have to struggle to understand or grasp, just to remind me that I still have a long way to go.

So, my comfort zone is ICT and all the tech stuff; I am in Addis for the AU meeting on ICT which starts on Monday, Jan 25th. But before then, there are a flurry of meetings at the AU complex in Addis; one of the meetings is a meeting on AU and gender and I attended.

I used to write on women issues in my early journalistic years but I can not remember why I fell out of love with the whole NGO movement. As a member of the Association of Media Women in Kenya, I covered lots of women stuff but this week, I have been wondering why I fell out of love.

It did not take long for me to remember; on this first day of the gender meeting, I tried to interview one of the AU gender reps and the way she blew me off, you will never believe it.

I introduced myself earlier in the day, because she had two presentations and indicated that I would love to talk to her at the end of it and she agreed. She had presentations, and thats all I wanted.

She will not give me her presentations; even when I said that I wanted to get the facts correct, she refereed me to another NGO member, saying that she understands the jargon better than me.

The AU is known for data hugging or for being stingy with info (look at the website) but I got my own taste.

She had brilliant ideas of what the AU is doing to coordinate with the UN resolution this and that, and I just wanted to get it right, quote her right and not give her an opportunity to say she was misquoted.

She even said that 2010-2020 is going to be a decade for women and there is even a budget and its only fair to get the presentation. Can you imagine if I was asking her to put it on a website? Data hugging at best.

Its just like coming to an Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) meeting where people are saying.....I think its wrong for GAC to take such stand on the AoC which the gNSO, ccNSO and ALAC have shown the changes so far... and the African ccTLDs are doing better than last year.

For many people, the statement is just gibberrish or mumble jumble...but to someone in tech and within internet governance circles, they would understand well or get a drift.

Anyway, I met the other person and explained to her how disappointed I was because Litha heads the gender department at AU and she would have been willing to shed more light or at least share the info.

The incident reminded me of some accusations I have heard; that some people in the NGO movement like to behave like a "secret society" where everything is shared among them, maybe because they understand the issues better and won't ask elementary questions like me.

Others point to the fact that some of the NGOs have had the same leaders for long or the leaders revolve around the same NGO circles. I have no facts to support the argument, just throwing words here and there.

What my first day at the gender meeting taught me is that maybe am better off with my tech circles or the private sector circles.

But the terms, and resolution this and that.... UN security Council resolution, AU protocol, policy this and that; it made me feel like a first year University student in a philosophy class.

I bet today I was at my lowest productivity.

Back to my tech stuff; at least by monday, I will not feel like a fish out of water so much....

Ends

Dr. Bitange Ndemo, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication has a very huge task of convincing Kenyans that the country's technology sector can be as good as the west, that we do not need to look further for exceptional services.

The PS has a Jambo.co.ke account that works, not like other officials that use yahoo, he responds to questions sent via email, and participates in technology forums for the youth and talks to them as a lecturer, not a technocrat.

But the PS has one problem, he is busy preaching technology to others and has forgotten to convert his soldiers, the people working under him.

The PS has been keen on the issue of virtual national resources and why Kenyans need to take up their online rights. one of the resources is the dot ke domain. It is the equivalent of a flag on the internet, alerts people of your nationality or where you operate the services. For instance, www.capitalfm.co.ke shows that Capital is Kenyan, though it is addressing a global audience online.

Some countries like the United Kingdom have managed to convince most corporations to take up dot uk. There are 6 million dot uk domains while Kenya has a paltry 9,000 registered dot ke users.

That is the reason why Ndemo is working hard to promote the uptake of dot ke in every sector.

The PS has been quoted saying that the government is ready to subsidize the acquisition of .ac.ke and .sc.ke accounts for academic institutions if the cost of the domains is reduced.

The PS has gone further to encourage Kenyans to buy the dot ke domain in order to build Kenya.

But Ndemo's message on the dot ke domain is fatally defective because he is yet to convert those under him who are still operating dot com accounts. Let the PS and his officers demonstrate the faith they have in these resources before converting the public.

For instance, Paul Kukubo, CEO Kenya ICT Board, who is supposed to be Ndemo's interpreter of the technology gospel operates www.paulkukubo.com while Al Kags, a program officer at the board operates www.alkags.com.

Picture this; Ndemo at a public meeting, telling people the essence of buying local domains and promoting local businesses, and Kukubo takes the stand and convinces you that a dot ke is as good as a dot com.

The question is: why is he not using it?

Last month, the Kenya ICT board held a one day meeting on local content, dubbed "Tandaa".

The meeting brought together the government, ICT technology experts and the public to discuss issues of generating local content and developing the local technology capacity.

Few days before the meeting kicked off, there were questions raised about the ICT board's decision to host the www.tandaa.com content abroad. How can the board encourage people to host locally while it has no faith in local hosting services?

Kukubo defended the decision, saying that if any local host was willing to give free hosting, the board was willing to migrate the site to a local server. He further argued that to develop locally, you do not need to host locally, arguing that even the laptops and email applications we use are manufactured elsewhere.

The defense merely philosophical as it sounds, does not address the root of the issue.

How does a board, tasked with marketing Kenya as a technology destination, opt to host abroad? Why then do we have the board if not to demonstrate Kenya's ability to perform like other countries?

How can the board convince a local or multinational corporation to host locally while it has no faith in such services or does not see the need to encourage people to host locally?

Even if the board was hosted free, it should be its primary mandate to insist that any hosting must be local, that is the only way services can improve. Not unless the board expects the hosting services to grow overnight without being tried and tested.

In the US, where hosting services are cheap, people started with trial and error and finally they perfected the services. When will Kenya grow if no one wants to give local techies business?

It has been argued that the techies have to prove their ability before Kenyans can have faith that services are consistent and stable. But who will give them the chance to prove themselves if the ICT marketing agency is shipping services abroad.

The messages are contradictory and it is better if the PS ensured that the whole ministry and all attendant agencies are sing from the same hymn book or reading from the same script.

Charity begins at home!

Ends

Background on domains...... I wrote this article earlier this year.....

A domain name is a label separated by a dot, which allows internet users to easily find and communicate with web sites and other Internet Protocol (IP) based communication services.

A domain can use first level extensions e.g. country code Top level Domain (ccTLD) like .ke for Kenya or a generic TLD (.com, .net, .info .org etc).

Domain names are a superb marketing tool, a method to pass information about the business or service being offered. A domain name is a highly valuable resource for any company. Internet domain names are registered on a first-come, first-served basis by registering authorities, such as Kenya Network Information Centre, which administers the .ke name space.

Domain names have become more interesting to marketers because of their advertising and marketing potential, rather than just being used to label internet resources; they are now used in ways that are harmful to some businesses.

For instance, one can register www.moral.co.ke as a pornographic site, which would be contradictory to the known meaning of the word moral. Similarly, one can use a name that is more famous as a domain to drive visitors to the site.

As a result, large corporations use their trademark or brand name as a domain name because it helps customers remember it easily and distinguish it from a competitor’s product, which reinforces brand identity.

Because domain names are registered on the basis of first come, first served, registering authorities do not question whether a proposed domain name will cause likely confusion with another’s brand or trademark. For instance, Verizon, a large international technology corporation revealed that it spends up to 77 million Kenya shillings ($1million) in registering and safeguarding their domain.

This has allowed some unscrupulous people to take advantage of the ignorance and to register domains that are not related to them and drive up traffic in the process infringing on trademarks, trade names, brands or copyrighted characteristics of a company.

Some of the domains are registered with the intention of later selling them or transferring the domain name to another owner for valuable consideration; or simply to engage in unfair competition and misleading advertising by associating their own product or service with a better-known brand.

What would happen if someone registered a domain in the name of your business, then five years from now, the business is a large entity but unable to trade online in its trademark because it is owned by another person?

This would result in a domain name dispute which would be a big concern for a business. It is just like a trade mark that is protected under the Copyright Act of Kenya. Domain name disputes nevertheless remain complex and require separate regulations.

For instance, popular online auction site EBay is engaged in a protracted legal tussle trying to reclaim www.ebay.com.vn , which is registered by an individual.

Jennifer Lopez has also filed a dispute at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) seeking to get back www.jenniferlopez.org from one of her fans.

South Africa is perhaps one of the leading cases where the government had to result to international measures to get back www.southafrica.com which was registered under an individual.

Under Article 30 of the Law on Intellectual Property, which took effect on July 1, 2006, such acts as registering or possessing the right to use a domain name identical or confusingly similar to a protected trade name or mark of another, for the purpose of benefiting from or prejudicing the reputation and popularity of the respective trademark, trade name or geographical indicator is viewed as an act of unfair competition.

Ends...