February 2017 - isoc - Skunkworks Site

The $24 Billion Data Business That Telcos Don't Want to Talk About (Today's worth?)
by Alex Gakuru 23 Mar '17

23 Mar '17

The $24 Billion Data Business That Telcos Don't Want to Talk About Mobile Carriers Are Working With Partners to Manage, Package and Sell Data By Kate Kaye <http://adage.com/author/kate-kaye/974>. Published on October 26, 2015 U.K. grocer Morrisons, ad-buying behemoth GroupM and other marketers and agencies are testing never-before-available data from cellphone carriers that connects device location and other information with telcos' real-world files on subscribers. Some services offer real-time heat maps showing the neighborhoods where store visitors go home at night, lists the sites they visited on mobile browsers recently and more. Under the radar, Verizon <http://adage.com/directory/verizon-communications/289>, Sprint, Telefonica and other carriers have partnered with firms including SAP <http://adage.com/directory/sap/16447>, IBM <http://adage.com/directory/ibm/4762>, HP and AirSage to manage, package and sell various levels of data to marketers and other clients. It's all part of a push by the world's largest phone operators to counteract diminishing subscriber growth through new business ventures that tap into the data that showers from consumers' mobile web surfing, text messaging and phone calls. SAP's Consumer Insight 365 ingests regularly updated data representing as many as 300 cellphone events per day for each of the 20 million to 25 million mobile subscribers. SAP won't disclose the carriers providing this data. It "tells you where your consumers are coming from, because obviously the mobile operator knows their home location," said Lori Mitchell-Keller, head of SAP's global retail industry business unit. There is a lot of marketer interest in that information because it is tied to actual individuals. For the same reason, however, there is potential for resistance from privacy advocates. WPP units such as Kantar Media and GroupM's Mindshare have "kicked the tires" for three years on Consumer Insight 365, testing and helping develop applications for the service, said Nick Nyhan, CEO of WPP's Data Alliance. The extensive time spent so far partly reflects "high sensitivity to not doing something that would be too close for comfort from a consumer point of view," Mr. Nyhan said. The service also combines data from telcos with other information, telling businesses whether shoppers are checking out competitor prices on their phones or just emailing friends. It can tell them the age ranges and genders of people who visited a store location between 10 a.m. and noon, and link location and demographic data with shoppers' web browsing history. Retailers might use the information to arrange store displays to appeal to certain customer segments at different times of the day, or to help determine where to open new locations. "It used to be that this data was a lot harder to come by," said Ross Shanken, CEO of LeadID, a lead generation analytics firm. In a previous position at data firm TargusInfo 2008 and 2010 he nonetheless partnered with "a very large telco" to validate names, addresses and phone numbers for data appending. *Too risky for the E.U.?* To protect privacy, SAP receives non-personally-identifiable, anonymized information from telcos, and only provides aggregated information to its clients to prevent reidentification of individuals. Still, sharing and using data this way is controversial. Nearly all the players exploring the burgeoning Telecom Data as a Service field, or TDaaS for short, are reluctant to provide the details of their operations, much less freely name their clients. And despite privacy safeguards, SAP is focused on selling its 365 product in North America and the Asia-Pacific region because it cannot get the data it needs from telcos representing consumers in the E.U., where data protections are stricter than in the U.S. and elsewhere. But the rewards may outweigh the possible tangles with government regulators, consumer advocates and even squeamish board members. The global market for telco data as a service is potentially worth $24.1 billion this year, on its way to $79 billion in 2020, according to estimates by 451 Research based on a survey of likely customers. "Challenges and constraints" mean operators are scraping just 10% of the possible market right now, though that will rise to 30% by 2020, 451 Research said. "If I was a CEO of any telecom operator in the U.S., I would be saying to myself I can do the same," said Michael Provenzano, CEO and co-founder of Vistar Media, which teams up with mobile operators to provide anonymized and aggregated data for targeting digital out-of-home ads based on consumers' comings and goings. "That's going to be something these guys are talking about in the boardroom." Perhaps the most prominent recent moves in the burgeoning TDaaS realm are Verizon's $4.4 billion acquisition of AOL <http://adage.com/directory/aol/2727> in May, followed by its purchase of mobile ad network Millennial Media <http://adage.com/directory/millennial-media/3111> for $238 million in September. Many saw the AOL buy as a means for Verizon to turn its data into a viable business, in part because AOL provides ad-tech infrastructure and marketer relationships that Verizon lacks. The level of authenticated information derived from Verizon and other mobile operators is seen as potentially more valuable than some other consumer data because it directly connects mobile phone interactions to individuals through actual billing information. "We're talking about linking a household and a billing relationship with a human being," said Seth Demsey, CTO of AOL Platforms. Verizon's Precision Market Insights division previously stumbled in its attempts to aggregate and package mobile data to help marketers target consumers and measure campaigns. Sprint's similar Pinsight Media division and AT&T's AdWorks—which segments and targets TV audiences—have not fared much better, according to observers. But lackluster results from going it alone have driven telcos toward companies that can facilitate cashing in on data. Along with SAP on the marketer-facing side, others including HP and IBM have stepped in to help phone carriers on the back-end data management and analysis side. When Spanish operator Telefonica embarked on its Dynamic Insights offering, it partnered with consumer insights firm GfK to help package the telco's mobile data for clients including U.K. food purveyor Morrisons. The grocery chain used the service to garner anonymized data connecting consumer demographic data to location visits. Some of these data relationships have long histories. SAP America owns Sybase, a subsidiary it bought in 2010 that serves as a technology hub for multiple mobile carriers and counts Verizon as a partner. The Sybase business has provided "deep relationships with mobile operators around the globe," said Rohit Tripathi, global VP and general manager of SAP Mobile Services, in an email. AirSage, another firm that has tight integrations with mobile operators, supplies data to municipal planners, retail store developers and city tourism boards. The company integrated its technology with telecom companies in the 1990s to enable 911 call support services. More recently it has signed data deals with Verizon Wireless and Sprint. "Our solution is actually plugged into the network behind the firewall of the carrier," said Ryan Kinskey, director of business development and sales at AirSage. Device IDs tracked by AirSage are anonymized, he added. Verizon and Sprint declined to comment for this story. AT&T and T-Mobile said they don't share consumer or location data with SAP, Sybase, AirSage or Vistar. *Why the secrecy?* Insiders say phone carriers exploring data-sharing businesses are tight-lipped because they don't want to reveal too many details to competitors, but fear of consumer complaints is always lurking in the background. "The practices that carriers have gotten into, the sheer volume of data and the promiscuity with which they're revealing their customers' data creates enormous risk for their businesses," said Peter Eckersley, chief computer scientist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy watchdog. Mr. Eckersley and others suggest that anonymization techniques are faulty in many cases because even information associated with a hashed or encrypted identification code can be linked back to a home address and potentially reidentified by hackers. Unlike other types of location tracking, such as beacon technologies that work only with mobile apps that people have agreed to let track them, many services employing telco data require no explicit opt-ins by consumers. Companies like SAP instead rely on carriers' terms and conditions with their subscribers, calling acceptance of the terms equivalent to opting in. Verizon's privacy policy, for example, says that information collected on its customers may "be aggregated or anonymized for business and marketing uses by us or by third parties." Ultimately, for mobile operators, these relationships could reap substantial income from the data generated by subscribers who already account for their primary revenue streams. The telcos do not break out revenue derived from their data-related sales in their quarterly earnings reports, so just how much money they're making from these deals is not known. SAP will "effectively share the revenue back with the operator, so they get to make money from data that they're basically not utilizing or under-utilizing today," former SAP Mobile President John Sims said at an industry conference in Las Vegas in 2013 as the company introduced Consumer Insight 365. "The mobile operators don't want to reveal this," said Mr. Tripathi, the SAP Mobile Services executive. No matter how much telcos and their partners stress that the data is anonymized and aggregated, he said, "they are fearful people will take this and twist it into something that it isn't." http://adage.com/article/datadriven-marketing/24-billion-data-business-telc…

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Why Bill Gates would tax robots
by WANGARI KABIRU 27 Feb '17

27 Feb '17

Read on... Robots are taking human jobs, so should they pay up for what the human(s) would have? Blessed day. Regards/Wangari --- Pray God Bless. 2013Wangari circa - "Being of the Light, We are Restored Through Faith in Mind, Body and Spirit; We Manifest The Kingdom of God on Earth". The robot that takes your job should pay taxes, says Bill Gates | | | | | | | | | | | The robot that takes your job should pay taxes, says Bill Gates By Kevin J. Delaney The world's richest man is arguing for taxing and slowing automation. | | | | DROID DUTIES The robot that takes your job should pay taxes, says Bill Gates Why Bill Gates would tax robots Quartz VideoWhy Bill Gates would tax robots0:001:40 Share Written by Kevin J. Delaney Obsession Machines with Brains February 17, 2017 Robots are taking human jobs. But Bill Gates believes that governments should tax companies’ use of them, as a way to at least temporarily slow the spread of automation and to fund other types of employment.It’s a striking position from the world’s richest man and a self-described techno-optimist who co-founded Microsoft, one of the leading players in artificial-intelligence technology.In a recent interview with Quartz, Gates said that a robot tax could finance jobs taking care of elderly people or working with kids in schools, for which needs are unmet and to which humans are particularly well suited. He argues that governments must oversee such programs rather than relying on businesses, in order to redirect the jobs to help people with lower incomes. The idea is not totally theoretical: EU lawmakers considered a proposal to tax robot owners to pay for training for workers who lose their jobs, though on Feb. 16 the legislators ultimately rejected it.“You ought to be willing to raise the tax level and even slow down the speed” of automation, Gates argues. That’s because the technology and business cases for replacing humans in a wide range of jobs are arriving simultaneously, and it’s important to be able to manage that displacement. “You cross the threshold of job replacement of certain activities all sort of at once,” Gates says, citing warehouse work and driving as some of the job categories that in the next 20 years will have robots doing them.You can watch Gates’ remarks in the video above. Below is a transcript, lightly edited for style and clarity.Quartz: What do you think of a robot tax? This is the idea that in order to generate funds for training of workers, in areas such as manufacturing, who are displaced by automation, one concrete thing that governments could do is tax the installation of a robot in a factory, for example.Bill Gates: Certainly there will be taxes that relate to automation. Right now, the human worker who does, say, $50,000 worth of work in a factory, that income is taxed and you get income tax, social security tax, all those things. If a robot comes in to do the same thing, you’d think that we’d tax the robot at a similar level.And what the world wants is to take this opportunity to make all the goods and services we have today, and free up labor, let us do a better job of reaching out to the elderly, having smaller class sizes, helping kids with special needs. You know, all of those are things where human empathy and understanding are still very, very unique. And we still deal with an immense shortage of people to help out there.So if you can take the labor that used to do the thing automation replaces, and financially and training-wise and fulfillment-wise have that person go off and do these other things, then you’re net ahead. But you can’t just give up that income tax, because that’s part of how you’ve been funding that level of human workers.And so you could introduce a tax on robots…There are many ways to take that extra productivity and generate more taxes. Exactly how you’d do it, measure it, you know, it’s interesting for people to start talking about now. Some of it can come on the profits that are generated by the labor-saving efficiency there. Some of it can come directly in some type of robot tax. I don’t think the robot companies are going to be outraged that there might be a tax. It’s OK.Could you figure out a way to do it that didn’t dis-incentivize innovation?Well, at a time when people are saying that the arrival of that robot is a net loss because of displacement, you ought to be willing to raise the tax level and even slow down the speed of that adoption somewhat to figure out, “OK, what about the communities where this has a particularly big impact? Which transition programs have worked and what type of funding do those require?”You cross the threshold of job-replacement of certain activities all sort of at once. So, you know, warehouse work, driving, room cleanup, there’s quite a few things that are meaningful job categories that, certainly in the next 20 years, being thoughtful about that extra supply is a net benefit. It’s important to have the policies to go with that.People should be figuring it out. It is really bad if people overall have more fear about what innovation is going to do than they have enthusiasm. That means they won’t shape it for the positive things it can do. And, you know, taxation is certainly a better way to handle it than just banning some elements of it. But [innovation] appears in many forms, like self-order at a restaurant—what do you call that? There’s a Silicon Valley machine that can make hamburgers without human hands—seriously! No human hands touch the thing. [Laughs]And you’re more on the side that government should play an active role rather than rely on businesses to figure this out?Well, business can’t. If you want to do [something about] inequity, a lot of the excess labor is going to need to go help the people who have lower incomes. And so it means that you can amp up social services for old people and handicapped people and you can take the education sector and put more labor in there. Yes, some of it will go to, “Hey, we’ll be richer and people will buy more things.” But the inequity-solving part, absolutely government’s got a big role to play there. The nice thing about taxation though, is that it really separates the issue: “OK, so that gives you the resources, now how do you want to deploy it?”

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Fwd: [Internet Policy] FYI - Joint statement by 50 orgs on proposal to require social media passwords at US border
by Barrack Otieno 22 Feb '17

22 Feb '17

Listers, For your information and attention. Circulate widely ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dan York <york(a)isoc.org> Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2017 14:50:11 +0000 Subject: [Internet Policy] FYI - Joint statement by 50 orgs on proposal to require social media passwords at US border To: Internet Policy External <internetpolicy(a)elists.isoc.org> FYI, today the Internet Society joined with 50 other organizations to issue a joint statement expressing concerns about a proposal to require disclosure of social media account passwords as a condition of entry to the U.S.: https://cdt.org/insight/no-to-dhs-social-media-password-requirement/ We published our own companion statement as a post from our President and CEO Kathy Brown: https://www.internetsociety.org/blog/public-policy/2017/02/internet-society… That has been shared on our @InternetSociety social media channels at: https://twitter.com/internetsociety/status/834044479501959169 https://www.facebook.com/InternetSociety/photos/a.10150120109253239.254763.… https://plus.google.com/+InternetSociety/posts/92XyJvx4yzk Additionally, we also published a supporting post explaining more about why social media accounts are of such a great concern: https://www.internetsociety.org/blog/tech-matters/2017/02/danger-giving-soc… We will be circulating that on our social channels as well. Any assistance with amplifying these messages on social channels would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Dan -- Dan York Senior Manager, Content & Web Strategy, Internet Society york(a)isoc.org<mailto:york@isoc.org> +1-802-735-1624 Jabber: york(a)jabber.isoc.org<mailto:york@jabber.isoc.org> Skype: danyork http://twitter.com/danyork http://www.internetsociety.org/ -- Barrack O. Otieno +254721325277 +254733206359 Skype: barrack.otieno PGP ID: 0x2611D86A

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Fwd: [kictanet] Invitation: Hacks/Hackers Nairobi Meetup, Wed 22 Feb, 6 - 8 pm, Nairobi Garage, Ngong Rd.
by Barrack Otieno 20 Feb '17

20 Feb '17

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Florence Sipalla via kictanet <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2017 11:32:41 +0300 Subject: [kictanet] Invitation: Hacks/Hackers Nairobi Meetup, Wed 22 Feb, 6 - 8 pm, Nairobi Garage, Ngong Rd. To: otieno.barrack(a)gmail.com Cc: Florence Sipalla <flo(a)codeforkenya.org> Topic: Think Before You Post! Date: Wednesday, 22 February 2017 Venue: Nairobi Garage, Ngong Road, Piedmont Plaza, 4th Floor Time: 6 – 8 pm Today, many people can easily access the internet either on their cellphones, through free Wi-Fi at educational institutions or workplaces. The thousands of cyber-cafes that have come up in most urban and some rural areas have also increased internet access. Access to digital media technologies means that everyone can now become a publisher (blog) can create and distribute radio (podcast) and TV (video) far and wide especially through social media platforms. But how many people think of the risks they face when they click that button to share some interesting content they have come across or have created? There have been reports in the media of people being arrested <http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2016/04/08/blogger-david-zawadi-arrested-for…> because of what they post online and others have lost their jobs <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/22/pr-exec-fired-racist-tweet-ai…> as a result of statements made online. When journalists publish online, they are bound by their code of ethics. What issues should other netizens take into consideration before posting information online? Our guests for the February session of Hacks/Hackers Nairobi #HHNBO will help us address the following questions: 1. What ethical considerations do I need to make before posting online? 2. What are the legal ramifications of what I post online? 3. Do my posts pose a risk to my personal security? In addition, Code for Africa will showcase tools to track deleted tweets. Guest speakers: Henry Maina – Article 19 <https://www.article19.org/pages/en/east-africa.html> Grace Githaiga – Kictanet <https://www.kictanet.or.ke/> Hacks/Hackers Nairobi is a forum where journalists and techies meet on a monthly basis to discuss issues that affect their work. Speak out! Let your voice be heard! To participate in the conversation, please sign up here <http://bit.ly/2kx7IA4> and share the invite widely. Follow us on Twitter <https://twitter.com/hhafrica> and Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/HacksHackersAfrica/>. -- Barrack O. Otieno +254721325277 +254733206359 Skype: barrack.otieno PGP ID: 0x2611D86A

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As Facebook and Google collect more data on Africans, their governments will seek to exploit that — Quartz
by Ali Hussein 20 Feb '17

20 Feb '17

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-… 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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Govt to start phone tapping in war on counterfeit trade - Daily Nation
by Ali Hussein 18 Feb '17

18 Feb '17

Listers From Tuesday, the government wants to be allowed to listen to your calls, read your texts and review your mobile money transactions. The government, through the Communications Authority of Kenya, has ordered mobile phone companies to allow it to tap their computers. Read on:- http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Government-likely-to-start-phone-tapping/1056-… 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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Improving the customer experience to achieve government-agency goals | McKinsey & Company
by Ali Hussein 15 Feb '17

15 Feb '17

Listers A very interesting read on how Government Agencies can improve the citizen experience and gain loyalty (and votes?) to stay in office. Excerpt:- Mastering the concept and execution of an exceptionally good citizen experience is a challenge, but it can help government agencies reach new heights against their stated missions, achieve revenue and cost targets, and improve the overall engagement of their employees. By focusing on the citizen’s overall journey and scientifically applying lessons learned from other customer-experience leaders, public entities can gain significant ground in the satisfaction of the citizens they serve. Read on:- http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-sector/our-insights/improving-the… 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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Save the date for the 3 days of sharing, learning and networking at the 5th Africa Domain Name System- DNS Forum 2017!
by Barrack Otieno 10 Feb '17

10 Feb '17

Save the date for the 3 days of sharing, learning and networking at the 5th Africa Domain Name System- DNS Forum 2017! Date: 26-28 July 2017 Location: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Venue: TBC What is the Africa DNS Forum? The Africa Domain Name System Forum is an annual open event for stakeholders in the Domain Name Industry in Africa organized by Africa Top Level Domains Organization (AfTLD), the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the Internet Society. The objective of the three-day event is to help the African domain name industry in Africa to grow at a competitive rate and ensure that the continent is on par with the rest of the world. Who should attend? Registries, registrars, resellers, registrants DNS experts, government representatives, policy makers from the African region and beyond as well as entrepreneurs interested in investing in the African Domain Name space. Why should you attend? More that 200 technical people, business people and government representatives drawn from all over Africa are expected to take part in this multi stakeholder Forum where they will be leading interesting discussions highlighting opportunities in the African Domain Name industry. This will be the fifth African DNS Forum following events in Durban, South Africa (2013), Abuja, Nigeria (2014), Nairobi, Kenya (2015) and Marrakech, Morocco (2016). More information about the event to be shared in the coming weeks Réservez ces dates pour les 3 jours de partage d’informations, d’apprentissage et de networking à l’occasion de la 5ème édition du forum de système de noms de domaine africain de l’an 2017 ! Date : 26-28 Juillet 2017 Pays : Dar es Salaam, Tanzanie Lieu : À confirmer Qu’est-ce le forum de système de noms de domaine africain ? Le forum de système de noms de domaine africain est un évènement annuel ouvert pour toutes les parties prenantes de l’industrie de noms de domaine en Afrique, organisé par l’organisation des domaines africaines de premier niveau (AfTLD), la Société pour l'attribution des noms de domaine et des numéros sur Internet (ICANN) et l’Internet Society. L’objectif de cet évènement de 3 jours est d’aider l’industrie de noms de domaine africain en Afrique à se développer à une vitesse compétitive et à assurer que le continent soit sur un pied d’égalité avec le reste du monde . Qui devrait y participer? Les registres, les opérateurs de registre, les revendeurs, ceux qui se sont enregistrés, les experts de système de noms, les représentants de Gouvernements, les décideurs politiques provenant de la région africaine et d’au-delà ainsi que les entrepreneurs intéressés à investir dans le cadre du nom de domaine africain. Pourquoi y participer? Plus de 200 personnes issues des milieux technique, commercial et gouvernemental de l’Afrique entière prendront part à ce forum à multiples parties prenantes. Lors de ces réunions se tiendront plusieurs discussions intéressantes mettant en évidence les opportunités de l’industrie de noms de domaine en Afrique. Cette version représentera la 5ème édition du forum venant après les éditions de Durban, en Afrique du Sud (2013), d’Abuja, au Nigeria (2014), de Nairobi, au Kenya (2015) et du Marrakech, au Maroc (2016). Plus d'informations sur l'événement seront partagés dans les semaines à venir -- Barrack O. Otieno +254721325277 +254733206359 Skype: barrack.otieno PGP ID: 0x2611D86A

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