[kictanet] Has IEBC Voter Register Been Compromised

[eonchari at lynxbits.com]

Harry,

It would be conservative of you to only credit IEBC and the Telcos for this. There is a very high possibility that the MP aspirant of today is refining the 'targeted campaigns' strategy. He/she has access to mobile money transfer transactions records at the shops; retail store transactions databases, of course Telco databases, etc - take all these multivariate data and subject it to some decent data analysis and voila - he/she can establish where  you live or even how you are likely going to vote!

There has to be wider, well thought out and legislated means of protecting personal data. Not sure if any of the 'grand' manifestos launched in last 1 month touch on this sensitive issue at all.

Edwin 

  ----- Original Message ----- 
 From: kkairo at gmail.comTo: eonchari at lynxbits.com
 Cc: kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke 
 Sent: 2/10/13 2:45 PM 
 Subject: [kictanet] Has IEBC Voter Register Been Compromised

   Listers,
This morning I received the oddest message. Through a bulk sms provider, one of the aspirants for MP in my constituency sent me an SMS appealing me to vote for him in the upcoming elections? Now I say odd because to the best of my knowledge I have never communicated to this politician my number and my constituency. In fact the only person I have ever given this dual information is the IEBC during voter registration. 
Which begs the question, could IEBC or its registration clerks be making voter registers available to politicians for consideration or otherwise? I'm also curious if this is an isolated event or its happening elsewhere?
Now I don't need to emphasize on the very serious implications if politicians are in possession of such specific data on the electorate. I previously blogged (http://www.startupkenya.info/2010/08/chopping-up-big-green-giant-safaricom.html) on the dangers of telcos in possession of too much personal data, but it is nothing compared to politicians with this data especially in a country that has experienced deadly post election violence. 
I'm curious what measures IEBC has in place for the protection of our personal information and if my experience this morning portends the compromise of all future governmently held e-data?

Regards, Harry Karanja
Sent from my iPad 
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