Eight leading American technology companies have joined forces to demand changes be made to US surveillance laws, calling for current laws and practices to be reformed in light of revelations of mass surveillance of Internet users’ activities by the National Security Agency. In a letter
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Kenya and Senegal are leading the continent’s “Internet GDP”, according to a report by McKinsey & Company called “Lions go digital: The Internet’s transformative potential in Africa”. This is despite the two countries not being Africa’s largest economies. According to the report, the countries
It is 7pm in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city, but the streets and highways are well-lit with the snaking car lights of thousands of bumper-to-bumper vehicles. Windows closed against the assault of exhaust fumes, the two hours it takes to drive the 30km from the airport to my hotel is plenty of time to wonder
Airline passengers have already been stripped of their legroom, hot meals and personal space. Now, on American flights, they might also lose their silence. The Federal Communications Commission is considering lifting its longtime prohibition on making phone
Rwanda is hoping for a boom in business with plans to offer free Wi-Fi-based Internet access nationwide, starting with a roll-out in the capital city, Kigali. The Rwandan government started the city-wide roll-out last month, targeting schools, public buildings, bus stations and hotels in the city first. IT minister
The CEOs of Kenya’s four mobile operators, Safaricom, Orange Telkom, Airtel and yuMobile, have been warned they could face arrest for failing to disconnect unregistered Sim cards on their networks. The warning follows reports that police are trying to trace
Malawi is not a country that often makes the international news, particularly not in the realm of connectivity. Economically poor and landlocked, it faces significant challenges in achieving affordable access for all. Although both the incumbent telcommunications operator, MTL, and the electricity parastatal
Liquid Telecom has opened what it’s calling the largest data centre in East Africa, in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi. The data centre currently occupies four floors, with 500sqm of usable whitespace and 160 racks per floor. The facility has been built by a new Liquid Telecom
StarTimes, the Chinese company that recently came to the rescue of On Digital Media’s TopTV pay-television business, has signed a 10-year contract with European satellite operator SES to expand its media footprint in Africa. The contact involves use of the SES-5
Author and technology activist Cory Doctorow has slammed the policies of the National Security Agency (NSA) and bodies like it, saying they’ve deliberately undermined online security without consideration of the long-term impact this will have. “Weakening the