Greetings, The Kenyan Internet Governance Forum ( IGF) will be held on 31st July 2015 from 8.00am at the Stanley Hotel, Nairobi. We encourage you to confirm attendance through the eventbrite page http://www.eventbrite.com/e/kenya-internet-governance-forum-2015-edition-tic... Before the forum, there shall be online discussions from 20th to 25th July whose outcome will form a basis for the physical meeting. We intend to use these lists during the discussions. kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke, skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke, isoc@lists.my.co.ke. For the Cybersecurity and Trust theme, we will also use the list security@lists.my.co.ke The online moderators will be Barrack Otieno and Grace Mutung'u. Each day, we will strive to get domain experts to help balance the debates and give them perspective. If there are any questions you would like answered during the online discussions or physical meeting, don't hesitate to reply to the list. Below are the sub-themes for the online discussions and a prologue of what to expect. Day One: 20th July 2015 Inclusiveness and Diversity: Is the ICT environment in Kenya inclusive—that is, with an atmosphere in which all people feel valued and respected and have access to the same opportunities? There have been several court cases in ICT/Internet space in the recent past where litigants lodged complaints about the processes used to constitute public bodies. A good part of the digital migration process also played out in the public galleries and in court. Looking at Kenya's past journey in ICT/Internet governance, has it been inclusive? Are we presently adhering to Article 10 on public participation in local Internet governance matters? Do the present mechanisms facilitate participation of all including those with disabilities? What is the state of Universal Access and implementation of Universal Service Fund in Kenya? Are the USF Council members representative of the Internet community in Kenya? Are all stakeholders' interests taken into consideration in forming the USF council? Day Two: 21st July 2015 Cyber Security and Trust: Kenya has had its fair share of high profile cyber threats, hacking etc, the latest being the alleged compromise of the IFMIS system at NYS. The country and Africa at large is making efforts to assure cyber-security. These include among others her involvement in the Africa Union Convention on Cybercrime and a proposal for a Cybercrime law, an initiative led by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Significant financial resources have also been earmarked by government for security and cyber security in particular. There are also partnerships between government and private sector in deploying cybersecurity centers. The private sector has employed practical measures to protect their businesses. However, businesses such as mobile money providers and banks have been shy to divulge their cyber security concerns to protect their interests. Civil society on the other hand has raised concern about the line between protecting the cyber space and creating a facilitative environment for innovators as well as protecting the rights of users. Are our efforts at deterring cyber-crime the correct way to assure cyber security? Are fears about a partnership between government and private sector and the general fears about stifling innovation and human rights in the name of cybersecurity legitimate? Are there other practical approaches that different stakeholders can take to enhance cyber security? Day Three:22nd July 2015 Internet Economy: The rise of the Internet economy in Kenya has been defined by different strokes. On the one hand there are small entrepreneurs doing their side hustles from offices, small shops and car boots. They advertise their merchandise and services on social media and in a rudimentary form, some deliver merchandise in backpacks from door to door. Enter the bigger players who have large websites from where goods and services are purchased. Their business models differ. There are those such as OLX that provide a platform for users to interact. They make their money from adverting. Others such as Rupu and Jumia offer services and merchandise on reduced prices. Is there an adequate legal framework to protect consumers from fraud, deficient goods and services and to assure consumer rights in the Internet economy? Since the larger companies are doing well, is time ripe for the local Internet economy to be taxed to raise money for government services? Should other services in the Internet economy such as cloud services, international online purchases etc be taxed? Day Four:23rd July 2015 Critical Internet Resources: Is there an over arching national policy to guide infrastructure deployments within the country? What is the current state of fiber optic cables across the country? Is there any redundancy on the cables laid across the country? Are there policies in place for infrastructure sharing to avoid each operator laying their own cable thus passing the cost to the end user? What is the state of IXPs in Kenya? Where are we in keeping local traffic local as compared to say 2 years ago? Communications Authority requires all .ke registrars and the registry to be licensed by it before they commence business. Why is the registry being licensed? What would happen if CA withdrew the license for the registry? Why are registrars licensed twice, first by KENIC, then CA? Will over regulation hurt the industry? With the eminent depletion of IPv4 addressees around the world, what is the state of uptake of IPv6 addresses in Kenya? What is being done to ensure there is more uptake of IPv6? Then there is the exhaustion of IPv4 in some regions of the world like ARIN forcing them to go full V6 without dualstacking, what impact does that have to our country where most networks and content is on v4? Day Five :25th July 2015 Emerging Issues This topic attempts to provide the space to discuss a variety of emerging issues in the Internet space. For instance, the mandate of WSIS, a meeting of the UN that took place in 2005 in Tunis is coming to an end. WSIS process, started gave birth to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) which is up for renewal end of this year.
From IGF discussions, there are no concrete proposals to form a permanent UN body for Internet governance. However, the discussions have borne many policies or “soft laws” that have guided relationships various stakeholders. Should the mandate of WSIS be extended for a further 10 years? Should the government of Kenya support a renewal of WSIS?
Day Five and day 6 :25th-26th July 2015 Openness: "The idea of an open Internet is the idea that the full resources of the Internet and means to operate on it are easily accessible to all individuals and companies. This often includes ideas such as net neutrality, open standards, transparency, lack of Internet censorship, and low barriers to entry". We seek to answer questions like: how open is the Internet in Kenya? Is Freedom of Speech Online encouraged or it is suppressed? Are there examples of blocked websites in Kenya? How easy is it to start an Internet business in Kenya? Should Internet service provider (ISP) be allowed to speed up, slow down or block lawful Web traffic from getting to where you, the customer, want it to go? Should ISPs like Orange or Safaricom demand payment from content providers like Facebook or Google because these content providers reap huge profit from the infrastructure provided by ISPs? What is the position of the regulator on net neutrality? What is the position of service providers in Kenya on net neutrality? Sincerely, ______________________ Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya For the Kenya IGF Organizing Committee