[kictanet] Google Statistics on Government Censorship Requests

[Nnenna Nwakanma]

>> mmhhh...talk of technology controlling society.
>
> I can't parse this one, sorry.
>
  I got wind of this in a tweet. Someone tweeted the link as "watch  
Google watching governments watch Google watching you"

But my question is why no data exits from African governments.  It  
certainly is NOT because there is not content out there that is  
offensive to us!

Recently, our attention was called to a blog of guy named Harris  
Kupperman.  adventuresincapitalism.com

This fellow had written not just lies about Abidjan and Côte d'Ivoire,  
but was giving this as professional investment advice.  So we hyped up  
a campaign, among individuals.  The blog was posted midnight April 7th  
and by the next day, the blog was off! I think he got more than his  
fair share of citizen activists giving him a backlash.  I have posted  
my reply and his reply below.

=================



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Harris Kupperman <hkuppy at pracap.com>
Date: Fri, Apr 9, 2010 at 9:33 PM
Subject: RE: Ask Kuppy comment on No Investment Is Worth Dying For....
To: Nnenna <nnenna75 at gmail.com>


Nnenna,



I am writing an investment guide. A how to? I want this to be  
factually accurate. The events that happened to me were accurate. I  
seem to have bungled a bit of the history. I took the article down  
until I could correct it?so your comments are greatly appreciated.



Just because someone is elected, that doesn?t mean he?s popular?look  
at our last president here in the US. I did not realize that Citibank  
did not have a building there. I did see the logo prominently  
displayed on at least one building.



My main mistake is in regard to the gun shots/damage to the city  
downtown. I will correct that. It looked run down, but not blown down.  
My error. Some of the locals had told us the damage was caused by the  
military and I did not ask specific enough questions about that.



I have not been back since November 2007 and I haven?t followed  
current events as closely as I should have, but my understanding is  
that things continue to improve and that I was right to go and look  
there for investments (many have done well) but was inexperienced on  
Africa and scared thoroughly to be held at gunpoint by semi-official  
looking people. I do not know if they were officially military/police  
or some other paramilitary group. Ivory Coast just seemed like  
semi-organized chaos to me. I?m sure if I spent more time there I  
would have felt more comfortable, but I was just scared out of  
town?and I lived for 5 years in New Orleans which is one of the most  
dangerous places in the world.



Thanks for your comments. I am revising the piece.



HK





From: kuppy at adventuresincapitalism.com  
[mailto:kuppy at adventuresincapitalism.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2010 5:36 AM
To: kuppy at adventuresincapitalism.com
Subject: Ask Kuppy comment on No Investment Is Worth Dying For....



And you wrote this on April 7, 2010? Three years later? Is that the  
time it took you to find these pictures? I am not Ivorian but I have  
been here since 1998. So every single 'trouble' I saw. If it is  
Laurent Gbagbo you refer to as the French-backed President, then you  
are more than 100% wrong. If you also think he is unpopular, then you  
did forget that he WON elections. CITIBANK does not have any building  
in Abidjan. The share the same building opposite Pyramide with Swiss  
Embassy. Below it is a pharmacy. There is not a single building in  
Plateau that has gun shots. The only places where guys where shot in  
2002 were military buildings. In 2004, there was an incident between  
the youth and the French army. That happened at hotel Ivoire. There  
was not any kind of looting around there. Oh, by the way, the Annual  
Meeting of the African Development Bank is taking place in that hotel  
later this year. Its renovation is finished. They are now painting the  
outside. I run a consultancy here. I can say it might not be a smooth  
as the people would want it, but it is certainly nothing near what you  
are saying.. I will suggest you delete the blog.

Post: No Investment Is Worth Dying For....
==============================================


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