WrapUp: Our pick of main stories, Friday 16th January

Two deny hacking into bank’s data

The Daily Nation has reported that the two men accused of hacking into a bank’s database and threatening to publish confidential information have denied multiple charges of theft, attempted extortion and blackmail.

Mr Alex Mutungi Mutuku and Mr Stanley Kimeu Mutua sent threats to NIC Bank after hacking into its confidential data storage, the prosecution told a court.

They allegedly demanded Sh6.2 million, failure to which they would make public the confidential information they had accessed, the prosecution told court.

The court heard that the suspects sent threatening emails to the bank on December 18, with the aim of defrauding and extorting money if their demands were not met. They allegedly demanded that the ransom be paid in virtual currency.

BAKE condemns harassment of online dissenters and bloggers by Kenyan government

Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE) has released a statement condemning the move by the Kenyan Government to prosecute dissident citizens online.

According to the statement posted on the BAKE Website, the umbrella bloggers’ organisation that it represents the interest of bloggers in Kenya, they are concerned with the process followed in the jailing and prosecutiing of Kenyan Bloggers and Online Content Creators. “The Kenyan Government is seemingly becoming quite intolerant of voices of dissent and dissident Kenyans who have taken to Social media platforms to exercise their freedom of speech,” read the statement.

With an emphasis on the three internet users/ bloggers who are facing charges that is, Allan Wadi who was served with a two year jail sentence for hate speech offense against President Uhuru Kenyatta due to updates on his Facebook page, Kenyan Blogger Robert Alai who is currently out on bail for a case brought against him for undermining the President due to his tweets published from his twitter handle and Nancy Mbindalah, a 24 year old student at the Mt. Kenya University who is in police custody for allegedly insulting the Embu County Governor on her Facebook page, BAKE stated that the recently assented Amendment to the Security Law not only targets the traditional media and professional Journalists, but it is also seeking to curtail the freedoms of ordinary citizens’ speech through online platforms including Blogs, Twitter and Facebook.

Colombia’s first Latin America country to access Internet.org app

First came Zambia, then Kenya and later on Tanzania now Facebook has launched its internet.org app in Colombia making it the first Latin America country to get the app. The move by Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is part of a drive to bring developing markets online.

Colombia is the first nation in Latin America and the fourth in the world to receive the new Internet.org service, in partnership with local mobile phone provider Tigo.

In a statement posted on his Facebook page, Zuckerberg said, “I just met with the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos – Presidente, and we announced the launch of Internet.org in Colombia to connect the whole country.”

He also added that only about 50 per cent of Colombians had access to the internet and by launching the Internet.org app on the Tigo network, people will get free access to basic internet services for jobs, health, finance and communication.

“By partnering with the Colombian government, we’re also able to include e-government services for the first time, for education and agriculture,” he concluded.

The mobile app, is aimed at low income and rural users, offers more than a dozen tools via the Android operating system – like encyclopedia Wikipedia, weather websites, job listings and health information, as well as Facebook’s own social network and messaging service – without the user incurring any data charges.

Kenya’s Busia County Controversy Over ICT Centre

Kenya’s Busia County executives are still in doubts over the effectiveness of a one-stop ICT centre so as to monitor and regulate operations within the County which will serve both public and private entities.

According to TechMoran, the county government allocated Ksh 60 million towards ICT development; which is stil not enough..

Bernadette Muyomi, County Executive Member for Public Service, ICT, Publicity and Intergovernmental Relations said that the County Integrated development Plan (CIDP) initiative is aimed at enhancing transparency accountability and operational efficiency in service delivery.

Insights on Kenya’s digital TV switchover

GeoPoll’s Media Measurement Service produces daily ratings and audience size for TV, radio, and print in Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, and Tanzania, so we have been closely following news around the switchover from analogue to digital television transmission in Kenya.

This transition, which has already started to occur in the capital city of Nairobi, will mean that by June 2015 all households in Kenya will need a set-top-box to access television stations. Currently, many people in Kenya access TV stations through free-to-air analogue signals, which do not require additional equipment to receive.

Digital signals have several benefits to analogue: digital signals provide clearer pictures and sound, a wider selection of channels, and use less bandwidth to transit, which will enable Kenya to use more bandwidth for other services. However, the required set-top boxes are expensive, an average of around 5,000 Kenya shillings, or about US $55. To assess the knowledge and perceptions of the switchover, GeoPoll conducted a mobile survey with 400 Kenyans from across the country on January 12, 2014. This sample equals a margin of error of 4.9 per cent at the 95 per cent confidence level.