Governance

Jun202018 by Lynn WandiaNo Comments

M-Pesa Pushing Against Tax Hike on Mobile Money Services in Kenya

A proposed tax increase on mobile money transfers in Kenya is drawing protests from several services, including M-Pesa. As part of a new tax proposal to raise government revenues, Kenya’s government is pushing to raise duties on mobile cash transfers by 2%. The government expects to net around $270 million in additional revenues and claims the extra income will fund a universal health care program to cover all households by 2022. But Safaricom-owned M-Pesa says the move could take a big toll, as it will “negatively impact mobile-led transfer services and payments” and reverse the gains of financial inclusion by making it more expensive to conduct business transactions and make payments using mobile money services. Since it was launched in 2007, M-Pesa, the largest mobile money

May222018 by Alex ReeceNo Comments

Facebook makes a u-turn, European Parliament grilling of Mark Zuckerberg will now belivestreamed

Governance, Internet

In a change of plan, the public will now be able to livestream and watch Mark Zuckerberg's response to European Parliament leaders' privacy concerns. The body's president, Antonio Tajani, has tweeted that tomorrow's 75-minute meeting would be livestreamed. Earlier, news that the Facebook chief's meeting with the parliament's political group leaders would be in private, had been criticised. Facebook has repeatedly declined to allow British MPs to quiz Mr Zuckerberg about the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which millions of users' personal data was shared with a political consultancy in breach of the social network's rules. "The data breach affected over one million UK Facebook users," tweeted Damian Collins - chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee - over

May172018 by Nasha HarperNo Comments

Computer and Cybercrimes Bill Enacted into Law in Kenya as media and rights groups oppose move

Cyber Security, Governance

President Uhuru Kenyatta enacted Computer and Cybercrimes Bill, 2017 citing a two year jail term or Kshs 5 million fine for spreading fake news. The President’s decision is facing protests with many Kenyans claiming it is a move to suppress not only media freedom but citizens’ freedom of speech. The new law also provided for offences relating to computer systems, cyber espionage, false publications, child pornography, computer forgery, computer fraud, cyber stalking and cyber bullying, aiding or abetting in the commission of an offence. Offences relating to computer systems, a fine not exceeding five million shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or to both. Cybersecurity cost Kenya over Sh21.2 billion in 2017 coming a close second to Nigeria tha

Apr102018 by Nasha HarperNo Comments

EU Court Approves France Ban of Uber Service Without Informing Brussels

Business, Governance

The EU’s top court on Tuesday dealt another blow to US taxi hailing giant Uber by backing the right of France and other member states to ban an illegal taxi service without notifying Brussels regulators. The European Court of Justice ruled in favour of a French ban of the UberPop service that links amateur drivers with customers through a smartphone application, four months after taking a similar decision over a case in Spain. The Silicon Valley firm has been left with its UberX service, which uses licensed professionals, in France and Spain as well as most other European Union countries. In a conciliatory tone, Uber said it is “appropriate to regulate services such as Uber” and pledged to “continue the dialogue” with authorities in European cities where it has met fierce opp

Mar272018 by Lynn WandiaNo Comments

Smartphone penetration and Supportive Government Regulations Boosting Telematics Market Growth

Business, Governance, Mobile

The significant penetration of smartphones, lowered connectivity costs, high speed internet technologies and supportive government regulations is driving the growth of the global consumer telematics market. This is according to a new Consumer Telematics Market – Growth, Trends, Forecast, Demand, Outlook Upto 2024 report by Transparency market research. The reports, also notes that the growing demand of big data analytics and related services is also an important factor influencing the growth of the market. Moreover, proliferation of cloud-based services in order to deliver personalized experience to the end-user is also expected to positively impact the market’s demand. Telematics is the subdivision of information technology that consolidates computers and wireless telecommunica