From: Laban Mwangi <lmwangi@gmail.com>
To: Skunkworks Mailing List <skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke>
Sent: Friday, March 8, 2013 10:57 AM
Subject: Re: [Skunkworks] IEBC Systems
I guess a lot of these apply
http://devopsreactions.tumblr.com/post/44611270530/checking-the-logs-on-a-server-thats-directlyhttp://devopsreactions.tumblr.com/post/44776341195/bug-reports-after-a-new-releasehttp://martinvalasek.com/blog/pictures-from-a-developers-lifehttp://devopsreactions.tumblr.com/On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 12:39 PM, Dan Kwach <
dan.kwach@kdn.co.ke> wrote:
>
http://intelligencebriefs.com/?p=3413>
> Not sure how accurate the above is though...I think speculation is too rife
> for anyone to know the exact truth..
>
> Rgds,
>
> Dan O.Kwach.
>
> On 3/7/2013 10:18 AM, Bogi Benga wrote:
>
> word round is that the system was
hacked
>
>
http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/kenyan-election-2013/evans-ondieki-iebc-alleges-their-system-was-hacked>
> Anyone who can shed more light on this?
>
> On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 8:45 AM, Martin Chiteri <
martin.chiteri@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Nelson,
>>
>> Thank you for your comments, they are all very sound. I just need to put
>> something small into context:
>>
>> On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 4:02 PM, Adam Nelson <
adam@varud.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> I just wanted to respond to many of the issues raised today about
the
>>> IEBC, the electronic tallying system, and about open access. As one of the
>>> few non-Kenyans on the list (2 months in Nairobi, previously NY where I did
>>> alot of Python work), maybe I have a unique outsiders point of view.
>>>
>>> Of course, this is not my election, but I it is important to the world
>>> that Kenya has strong institutions and the duty to create and maintain those
>>> institutions lies with everybody.
>>>
>>> Hardware is likely not the problem here (disk space comments aside -
>>> which are surely do to logical, not physical errors), the problem is
>>> multifaceted:
>>>
>>> On this list, there is a strong bias towards "Kenyan solutions" or
>>> "Kenyanborn". Aside from finding this kind of offensive, it's also just
>>> petty and
backwards. The reason IEBC exists is not to support the local ICT
>>> industry, it's to facilitate a trustworthy platform on which Kenyan
>>> elections can take place. In addition, there are hundreds of elections a
>>> year around the world and for Kenya to have a one-off system that has never
>>> been used elsewhere and will never be used elsewhere is neither efficient
>>> nor high quality. Maybe the local word processor and spreadsheet apps
>>> should be "Kenyanborn" too?
>>>
>>
>> The general bias towards Kenyan solutions here stems from the fact that
>> most procurements of I.T solutions, for both hardware and software by public
>> institutions in Kenya, is tilted in favour of foreign vending companies. An
>> assumption made is that the imported systems are of higher quality since
>> they were
"done abroad" even though this is not always the case.
>>
>> The issue is that some of the systems end up being done largely by locals.
>> The multi-nationals simply hire Kenyan developers less expensively to do the
>> job right after being awarded the contract but maintain the figures invoiced
>> earlier. In the end they cost a lot of money, for instance the IEBC system
>> that attracted an invoice upwards of 100 million U.S.D. This is not too good
>> especially to our economy's balance of payments.
>>
>> What people are saying is that we can at least do half-a-decent job, that
>> is all.
>>
>> Martin.
>>
>> --
>> .... And now for something completely different: ``A radioactive cat has
>> 18 half-lives.'' [ PyPy ]
>>
>>
>>>
>>> At my last job in the States, almost half
the team was non-American and
>>> that was a strength, not a weakness. We don't know what happened at the
>>> IEBC yet, and kudos to the people working to get that data available, but
>>> the failures here cannot be blamed on 'outsiders'. Some of the commentary
>>> is bordering on xenophobic.
>>>
>>> As for openness at the code level, that would certainly be awesome.
>>> Check out this article
>>> (
http://arstechnica.com/features/2012/11/internet-based-and-open-source-how-e-voting-is-working-around-the-globe/)
>>> and connect with the Brazilians and Australians rather than try to create a
>>> techno-autarky (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autarky).
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Adam
>>>
>>>
https://twitter.com/varud>>>
>>>
>>> +254 712 966 801
>>>
https://twitter.com/varud>>>
https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcnelson>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 3:50 PM, Bwana Lawi <
mail2lawi@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Cool, we have made up. Hugs and shoulder pats.
>>>>
>>>> Can we get back to the issue at hand now?
>>>>
>>>>
:)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 3:43 PM, Rad! <
conradakunga@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Then I wish you had said that to begin with sans the knee jerk
>>>>> reaction.
>>>>>
>>>>> I absolutely agree with you about the opening up of the software, and
>>>>> not just that - the processes and procedures followed by all the people in
>>>>> the chain
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Wednesday, March 6, 2013, Bernard Owuor wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Skunks,
>>>>>> If I knew that this windows-vs-linux thing was so emotive, I'd have
>>>>>> skipped it
totally.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It is really obscuring the point I'm trying to make - which is -
>>>>>> opening up softwares built in the public interest - not just to strengthen
>>>>>> the systems, but also to foster confidence among the varioius stake-holders.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> @Steve, you're really in agreement with me. We're all speculating, so
>>>>>> treat my "windows 8 server" bashing as just that. Just between you and me, I
>>>>>> know that mysql would complain thus in a Linux system if it ran out of disk
>>>>>> space - because Linux stores locks on the disk. I didn't know the same
>>>>>> happened in windows too. But hey, we're free to speculate in the absence of
>>>>>>
information.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> @Rad, a bad workman 'quarrels' with his tool. Most of those who
>>>>>> 'blame' their tools seldom work, thus they don't qualify to be called
>>>>>> workmen of any type.... A good workman selects the right tool for the job.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ________________________________
>>>>>> From: Rad! <
conradakunga@gmail.com>
>>>>>> To: Skunkworks Mailing List <
skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke>
>>>>>> Sent: Wednesday, March 6, 2013 1:14 PM
>>>>>> Subject: Re: [Skunkworks] IEBC Systems
>>>>>>
>>>>>> See? The last
bastion of "professionals"
>>>>>>
>>>>>> And yet ATMs, MPesa etc run on Windows.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Bad craftsmen blame their tools
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Wednesday, March 6, 2013, Alex Nyalita wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Wait... a Windows platform for a mission critical system? SMDH!!!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ----
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Kind Regards,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Alex Nyalita
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 12:23 PM, Patrick Kariuki
>>>>>> <
patrick.kariuki@gmail.com>
wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Where the experiential learning cycle comes in, when you've got all
>>>>>> the time in the world;
>>>>>> 1. What happened to the system? (we have little or no idea)
>>>>>> 2. What was experienced by the end user? (some error message)
>>>>>> 3. Why did this happen? (come up with all kinds of possible
>>>>>> assumptions on what happened - based on similar error messages you've had
>>>>>> with different production systems)
>>>>>> 4. What is to be done to avoid future occurrences?(give free advise,
>>>>>> we know they're reading this - wait, isn't someone getting paid to do all
>>>>>> these??)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 12:00 PM, Bernard Mwagiru <
bmwagiru@gmail.com>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> What I've noticed I'm my short experience is decimation of lessons
>>>>>> learnt. Between us we have years of technical hands-on, get-your-hands-dirty
>>>>>> experience.
>>>>>> What we should discuss in this thread, IMHO, is potential design
>>>>>> flaws. Without quoting any press on who said what or where. Whiteafrican has
>>>>>> a high level call flow on the various interconnecting elements.
>>>>>> We can use that for starters.
>>>>>>
http://iebctechkenya.tumblr.com/>>>>>> ./bernard
>>>>>> On Mar 6, 2013 10:18 AM, "Tech
List Kenya" <
techlistkenya@gmail.com>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It's our professional duty and responsibility to question this. In as
>>>>>> much as IEBC needs time to sort themselves, and inasmuch as we acknowledge
>>>>>> that things go wrong, we cannot just sweep it under the carpet and shrug it
>>>>>> off. Sorry to say, that's just plain irresponsible.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Most of you know how much clients ride you to deliver, even clients
>>>>>> who don't pay. Especially these ones. Now imagine a client paying 9b! I am
>>>>>> always amused at how much slack we want to cut guys who undercut us.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Anyway,
back to issue at hand.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> @Mwagiru, can you lead a virtual team to conceptualize a proper voting
>>>>>>
>>>>>> @Hans, the doc you posted shows the RFP as of Dec. With screenshots
>>>>>> from both mobile and desktop apps. This means the system had already been
>>>>>> developed. So what is the point of failure? If we say the failure is not in
>>>>>> transmission but rather in processing, does that mean the data is already at
>>>>>> IEBC servers?
>>>>>> What would be the technological reason for the system to stop
>>>>>> processing (this is a very ambiguous term). Data visualization is being done
>>>>>> by google from IEBC servers.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So what exactly is
failing?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 9:55 AM, Shadrack Mwaniki
>>>>>> <
shadrack_mwaniki@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Dear Skunks,
>>>>>> Pole for the delay in results.
>>>>>> These are the kind of things that make people suspicious and not trust
>>>>>> local ICT professionals.
>>>>>> The public has no idea if th system is foreign or local. All they know
>>>>>> is that 9b of their money was spent
>>>>>> on the systems.
>>>>>> The transactions being managed by
IEBC are so small that they can be
>>>>>> managed by a powerful desk top on any
>>>>>> relational database. doin't even talk of concurrent submission of
>>>>>> results because all that is need is a good queue
>>>>>> management algorith.
>>>>>> A separate desktop would handle the incoming traffic from polling
>>>>>> stations
>>>>>> As have al
>>>>>
>>>>>
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