Hi Aki, skunkworks, First, let me introduce myself; I'm Stef Magdalinski, and I'm the (UK-born, but SA/Nairobi based) CEO of Mocality. I'm the guy in the techcrunch vid. Let me try to answer your questions... (apols in advance for such a long first post) Aki wrote:
So continuing from the earlier thread and a disclaimer, ( please note that all this research is highly speculative and do disregard as rubbish, as the info is quite limited to go by) .
My assessment puts Mocality as a data mining service to those who are at the back-end of the system.
Mocality is a business directory. We do analysis of the data that business owners submit in order to create the best possible service, search algorithms, etc. We don't sell subsets or aggregates nor analyses to any third party. Sometimes we post cool visualisations online, though: http://blog.mocality.co.ke/visualisation/
Then the questions started flowing.
1) Is the CCK aware of the data mining service?
From your use of the term 'Data Mining', it would suggest that our primary reason for carrying out business is to collect data that we can then 'resell' to other users. This is definitely not our business model. We can concede that as with most businesses engaged in larger scale services e.g. A mobile network, a lot of the data that they collect can potentially be very valuable should it be put to use. But collecting this data is not why they are engaged in business. We cannot therefore classify them as 'data mining' operations. In the same way, as a business directory, we aren't engaged in this effort in an attempt to 'mine' data. But undoubtedly the data we collect can help us in the refinement of our products and in planning. Secondly, as a web-based platform, we do not fall under the control of the CCK, and do not require a 'license' in order to operate. We optimize services for mobile phones and like any other business, make use of mobile tools where we can, to make our user experience better.
2) Where is the data being held?
The data is held on our servers in Kenya and replicated here in Cape Town, in SA.
3) Is Mocality a licensed operation under the CCK guidelines as a mobile services provider ?
We comply with the law. When we launched, our legal advice was that we were not required to.
4) Who has access to the data?
The appropriate members of our team down here, and, of course, everyone on the internet via http://mocality.com :) We do not sell the database to third parties. Our intention is to build a self-sustaining profitable company by connecting consumers and businesses. Ultimately our relationship with our consumers and member businesses is what will make or break us; We might make a fast buck by selling out, for instance, to spammers, but eventually that path would lead to ruin because it would destroy our relationships and alienate our customers. Mocality wants to succeed by helping Kenyan businesses become more successful; I only want to take payment (and at the moment all our services are free) when I can demonstrate to a business that they make more money by using our services, and when I make a consumer's life easier. I am a believer in the win-win scenario.
And my questions really started going downhill :
1) Why would Naspers and MIH develop such a system in KE? Agreed we are a large mobile market but what's the local data got to do with South African Companies?
MIH is a global company with operations (primarily in developing markets) on 5 continents. (there's a quite-out-of-date org chart here: http://www.naspers.com/company-structure.php) Until recently, despite being an 95 year old African company, MIH wasn't very active on their home continent (apart from DSTV, obviously). Mocality is one of a number of projects taking advantage of the transformation that the internet, and mobile telephony are making possible, to change that. I up-ended my very comfortable life in London to come and take part. Eventually, I hope that Mocality exists in every major city in Africa. We chose Nairobi first because of size, english speaking, good entrepreneurial culture, ease of doing business, has a telephony environment as sophisticated if not MORE sophisticated than anywhere else in the world, and because M-PESA makes it possible for our paid crowdsourcing model to work. If those things are a conspiracy, then it's one of your own making ;)
2) The J2ME software obviously installed on the handset must have some cookie that picks up info. Has the software been looked at and approved locally?
I'm not sure how to clarify on this one. We haven't had the software approved locally (by whom?), but the J2Me app is an optional download, and doesn't do anything without explicit user action.
As I said earlier, am not an expert on these issues but a whole confused about the product. I hope clarifications are possible for the general good of the public who use the services. I think Mocality are doing an excellent job with their project, just hope that am very wrong on the points raised so far by an amatuer like me.
Thanks for the kind words. Healthy skepticism is a valuable trait. I hope I can reassure you that Mocality takes privacy concerns very seriously and our philosophy is to only do things that benefit our member businesses, and with their informed consent. In case you're interested, in the UK, in my personal capacity, I'm one of the founders of http://www.openrightsgroup.org, and have been campaigning on digital rights and privacy issues for over 12 years. I also founded http://www.theyworkforyou.com and http://www.writetothem.com, probably the two leading independent sites for keeping the UK Parliament in check. Now, past performance is no guide to future behaviour, but I can assure you; I'm not about to abandon some of my most deeply held beliefs and become Africa's biggest spammer. I'll be in Nairobi the week of the 20th September, if anyone wants to meet with myself and Josh and discuss these issues further. Stef ps. Other people know me as 'Chocolate iPad Guy' :) http://aheadrobot.com/2010/06/12/ipad-unchocolateboxing/
Rgds
-- /* Stefan Magdalinski CEO, Mocality.com +27 82 0431230 (SA) +254 716607737 (KE) smagdali (IM/twitter/flickr/dopplr/skype/etc) */