[kictanet] Has IEBC Voter Register Been Compromised

[Brian Ngure]

Hi All,

More developments on this topic:
http://elections.nation.co.ke/news/PS-accuses-candidates-of-hacking-registrars-database/-/1631868/1692942/-/1y9rn1z/-/index.html


On Wed, Feb 13, 2013 at 11:59 AM, Ali Hussein <ali at hussein.me.ke> wrote:

> +1 Robert
>
> *Ali Hussein*
>
> *CEO, 3mice interactive media ltd*
>
> *Partner, Telemedia Africa Ltd
> *
>
>
>
> Twitter: @AliHKassim
>
> Skype: abu-jomo
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> LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
>
> Blog: www.alyhussein.com
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>
> On Wed, Feb 13, 2013 at 10:51 AM, robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk>wrote:
>
>> Hi Harry,
>>
>> Not being a lawyer please indulge my ignorance, when you get an ID card
>> it is that the public can confirm who you say you are therefore it is not a
>> private but a public record.
>>
>> When you register as a voter you are going to elect public office bearers
>> therefore your voter registration information is public information.
>>
>> I hear you on the issue of getting targeted but which is the greater evil
>> the likelihood of you getting evicted or the likelihood of an election
>> being compromised?
>>
>> My take is that the voter, SIM card, ID, passport, prison, land ownership
>> and motor vehicle information need to be made publicly available for
>> scrutiny by all and sundry with a means to monitor who has accessed the
>> data (IPv4).  All the data I have mentioned is available to a select few
>> which means that the playing field is therefore uneven.
>>
>> With a select few having access to the data is more harmful especially
>> since there is no way of any of us knowing who they are or what is their
>> agenda. It truly pains me when a nation with such great minds at times like
>> this reduce themselves to rock painters.
>>
>> In the run up to the last censors we ran what we called the "tribe Kenya"
>> campaign which resulted in the ministry of planning being forced to define
>> a new tribe called Kenya, whose code is 722, for those who wanted to
>> respond to the tribe question as "Kenya" and not other. In addition the
>> training materials for the enumerators where changed to indicated that no
>> one should be forced to provide a specific tribe and neither where they to
>> make any assumptions based on name.
>>
>> After the results where released it was recorded that 612,000 households
>> across the country are members of the tribe "kenya".  If I had a way of
>> contacting this fellow tribes men/women of mine then we would be in a
>> better position to plan our development and representation, which is one of
>> the reasons that I am an advocate of making this data public.
>>
>> In closing, we keep questioning the results of the various opinion polls
>> done by a myriad of organisations with all of us raising issues on sample
>> distribution, ethnicity, gender and the like and more critically are they
>> registered voters.  This is a very simple issue to solve if the voter
>> register was publicly available and merged with the SIM register, all we
>> would ask you to do is respond to an electronic opinion poll using your
>> mobile phone.  The results could then be tallied and a comprehensive report
>> provided that would answer many of the current contentious issues.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Robert Yawe
>> KAY System Technologies Ltd
>> Phoenix House, 6th Floor
>> P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
>> Kenya
>>
>> Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
>>   ------------------------------
>> *From:* Harry Karanja <kkairo at gmail.com>
>> *To:* robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk
>> *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>> *Sent:* Tuesday, 12 February 2013, 6:35
>> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Has IEBC Voter Register Been Compromised
>>
>> On interrogation of legislation I've actually found that the Kenya
>> Communication (Amendment) Act imposed stiff penalties for unauthorized
>> access of data. So whether it came from retail agents or telcos (which is
>> highly improbable) this MP is not supposed to have my data. I'd also
>> discount the idea of cell broadcasting - which to the best of my knowledge
>> had not been activated in Kenya for commercial use. The SMS originated from
>> a UK number.
>>
>> What is indisputable is that the aspiring MP accessed my personal data
>> without authorization. The next challenge is who should be held accountable
>> and how do I do this?  As mentioned earlier, targeted campaigning or
>> marketing is only one use of this data - but what if someone based on my
>> surname surmises that I do not fit into the electoral map, will there be
>> another form of targeting to evict me from that constituency? (Here lies
>> the futility of SIM registration as these SMS can easily be sent from UK or
>> India)
>>
>> The fears I have are real, for its happened before, and as most on this
>> list can attest, technology has the power to make this process more
>> efficient.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Harry Karanja
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
>> On Feb 11, 2013, at 10:40 AM, Edith Adera <eadera at idrc.ca> wrote:
>>
>>  Harry,
>>
>> Indeed the sources are many as others have said. Do we have a data
>> protection law (and FOI law) in place? Or the 10th parliament left
>> “hurriedly” without enacting it?
>>
>> The scenarios of how an individual voter can be targeted are many and
>> scary, to say the least.
>>
>> Edith
>>
>>  *From:* kictanet [
>> mailto:kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.ca at lists.kictanet.or.ke<kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.ca at lists.kictanet.or.ke>]
>> *On Behalf Of *Harry Karanja
>> *Sent:* February 10, 2013 10:44 PM
>> *To:* Edith Adera
>> *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
>> *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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>> 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.
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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.
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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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