[kictanet] Under what conditions should we shut down twitter, internet, radio, TV in Kenya?

Wed Dec 5 14:40:26 EAT 2012

Grace, why would you argue that political coverage on TV/in the media can
be less easily monitored than on the internet? If anything, media outlets
have owners and employees and should have (yeah yeah, I know) control
mechanism to check for libel, hate speech etc. On the internet, it's the
Wild West - it's incredibly difficult to hold anyone to account. And you
can take any TV or radio quote from a politician and play that back to
him/her.

On 5 December 2012 10:51, Grace Mutung'u (Bomu) <nmutungu at gmail.com> wrote:

> Sometimes I feel as if Kenya is a unique case that requires tailored
> interventions. For instance, with all due respect to Article 19, and while
> we should never blanket shut down twitter etc, there should surely be a
> fast response mechanism to inciteful speech online as well as broadcasts.
> eg a Commissioner of Assize or a dedicated court so that people do not
> continue to spew, retweet and disseminate hate speech.
>
> At the moment, there are already not necessarily hateful or incitement
> speech but (clever)statements that are building up collective psyche
> towards hardline positions. How long should we leave such statements to
> ethics? Shouldn't we just black them out? The argument that we should
> combat hate speech with massive "love" speech it seems, will not work in
> Kenya unless "love" speakers get the resources that hate speakers have. I
> get so concerned for Kenya every time I watch 7pm news......Can't something
> be done to stem this clever speech that most people would agree is likely
> to lead to hardline positions and God forbid, violence....For example, cant
> media houses limit the duration/coverage of political rallies so that the
> parties have to find other avenues for their messages eg Internet where
> their content can be monitored by we the people (without the risk of the
> parties/candidates saying, "I was misquoted")
>
> And most importantly, especially for March elections, there needs to be
> some regulation of media reporting election results. For example having
> media houses refrain from predicting or calling it (however obvious it may
> seem)
> And is current legislation sufficient? Maybe not (at least not the
> National Cohesion and Integration Act) . And the circumstances are not
> helping, since defining cases are yet to concluded/have been withdrawn...
>
>
>
> 2012/12/5 Victor Kapiyo <vkapiyo at gmail.com>
>
>> Listers,
>>
>> I think the focus should not be on shutting down the Internet, tv or
>> radio stations hence inconveniencing the entire nation and infringing
>> everyone's constitutionally guaranteed rights while at it.
>>
>> There is sufficient legislation to deal with hate speech and related
>> offences and media enterprises that violate the law, hence the responsible
>> regulatory institutions should be focusing on how prepared they are to
>> implement the law by investigating and arresting the specific offenders.
>> Indeed before such drastic action is contemplated, the consequences need to
>> be borne in mind.
>>
>> Victor
>>
>>
>> On 5 December 2012 06:13, Baiju Shah <baiju at tele2media.com> wrote:
>>
>>> There must be a framework within the Kenyan law that outlines what could
>>> be done and not done?
>>>
>>> If there is a violation it is the right of the authorities either deal
>>> with the immediately or the platform provider can comply to the law by self
>>> governing as they do for all aspects in running their businesses. E.g.
>>> Likes Google and Twitter have created in house expertise / legal capability
>>> to build into their systems what one can do and not do by geo location.
>>>
>>> The governance / audit in Kenya now should be do they comply with our
>>> laws? If not then they should be given 2/3 months to include a layer of
>>> business rules that will include for the system / platform provider to
>>> comply, where is KEBS :)
>>>
>>> Best Regard,
>>>
>>> Baiju Shah
>>> Tele2media Ltd
>>> Telemedia Africa Ltd
>>> Tel. +44 7887691570
>>> email: baiju at tele2media.com
>>>
>>> On 5 Dec 2012, at 04:46, McTim <dogwallah at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> On Tue, Dec 4, 2012 at 7:43 PM, Daniel Waweru <daniel.waweru at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> > One case, at least, strikes me as obvious: if you have good reason to
>>> think
>>> > that broadcasting material would lead to a direct threat to the safety
>>> of
>>> > some other person, then there's good reason not to broadcast it.
>>>
>>>
>>> That is true, but that is an editorial judgement on the part of the
>>> media house/radio station/newspaper.
>>>
>>> If they violate the law, then there MUST be consequences.
>>>
>>>
>>> If there's
>>> > a means of communication which persistently puts out stuff that meets
>>> that
>>> > standard, then there's a pretty good case for shutting it down.
>>>
>>> if it is a single radio station for example, then yes, a court could
>>> find them in violation of the law and order them to cease.
>>>
>>> That doesn't mean ALL radio stations should be shutdown.
>>>
>>> that's is my 2 bob anyway.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> McTim
>>> "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A
>>> route indicates how we get there."  Jon Postel
>>>
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>>> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
>>> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
>>> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
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>>> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
>>> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Victor Kapiyo, LL.B
>>
>> ====================================================
>> *“Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude” Zig
>> Ziglar*
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
>> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
>> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
>> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>>
>> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
>> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
>> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
>> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Grace L.N. Mutung'u (Bomu)
> Kenya
> Skype: gracebomu
> Twitter: @Bomu
> Website: http://www.diplointernetgovernance.org/profile/GraceMutungu
>
>
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>
> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>

-- 
Andrea Bohnstedt <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/andreabohnstedt>
Publisher

www.ratio-magazine.com
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