[kictanet] KENIC Board Statement on dot.KE

Mon Feb 3 11:27:41 EAT 2014

Dear Mr Kivuva,

Good morning. I have consulted and wish to respond as follows; Save for what
amounts to your consistent hate-speech against Cofek on diverse occasions,
we do welcome your criticism in good faith. Our concern was on the
commercial end of the stick and not the technical side where you are
certainly an expert without question. We are not as good. But even as an IT
expert, whenever you fall or will ever fall sick, you don't need a degree
from medical school to rate medical services as a consumer of those
services.

On the issue of KENIC, where the rubber meets the road is not their back-end
knowledge of the industry - but the pricing and quality of service as
interpreted by the consumer(s). That it was a mistake for the regulator to
have engaged in "business" as a shareholder of KENIC was wrong. We
appreciate that CAK wish to have its unspecified volume of shares
transferred to KICTA. You probably have seen a separate mail confirming that
KENIC are housed by CAK (full-financed by the taxpayer) and have not been
paying rent. Given the public interest, therefore, it is only fair that the
Kenya National Audit Office will peruse the books of accounts of KENIC and
make them public before the said transfer from CAK to KICTA.

We are, therefore, ready to "embarrass" ourselves by demanding and ensuring,
at all reasonable and lawful costs, that KENIC is made much more competitive
and that the industry is opened up to other interested parties. That is all
we were saying. 

Finally, allow me to urge that dissenting opinion is embraced on this list.
We are ready to learn from each other but let us not dismiss others that
they "know nothing ." which generalizations can't be proven scientifically.
The kind of e-mob-justice is not healthy. As they say, a little courtesy
won't hurt. Good day!

Kind regards,

Japheth Ogutu

www.cofek.co.ke 

From: lordmwesh at gmail.com [mailto:lordmwesh at gmail.com] On Behalf Of Kivuva
Sent: Friday, January 31, 2014 7:32 PM
To: Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK)
Cc: Mwendwa Kivuva; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: [***SPAM*** Score/Req: 05.60/5.0] Re: [kictanet] KENIC Board
Statement on dot.KE

Clearly COFEK knows nothing about the domain name industry.

The registry's work is to maintain all administrative data of the domain and
generates a zone file which contains the addresses of the nameservers for
each domain. Kenic is a registry for .ke. Other registries are ZADNA for
.za, Nominet UK for .uk,  PIR for .org and Verisign for .com and .net. A
domain name registry is a database of all domain names and the associated
registrant information in the top level domains of the DNS of the internet
that allow third party entities to request administrative control of a
domain name. From this explanation, you should understand that any
particular registry cannot have a competitor managing the same database.

A domain name registrar is a commercial entity that manages the reservation
of Internet domain names. A domain name registrar must be accredited by a
registry (KENIC, Nominet UK, Verisign, PIR e.t.c). There are many registrars
in Kenya see http://kenic.or.ke/index.php/registrars/registrar-list and
their work is to market the domains to the end users. For .com, org e.t.c we
have enom, godaddy, 1and1 e.t.c. The registrars do a very important role in
the ecosystem, this being innovation, marketing, and value added services
like emails, website hosting, and website development. A registry will be
overwhelmed doing all this.

And if you can get time to go over the registrar list at
http://kenic.or.ke/index.php/registrars/registrar-list you will find that
you can register a .ke domain online in less than 5 minutes, and pay online.

I'm not sure what you mean by Yahoo and Gmail are insecure. The last time I
checked, cofek.co.ke was not signed. 

Please get somebody who understand the workings of DNS and the web business
in your team before issuing unilateral statements. This way, you will avoid
embarrassing yourself and your team.

______________________
Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya.
twitter.com/lordmwesh

google ID | Skype ID: lordmwesh

On 31 January 2014 07:05, Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK)
<hotline at cofek.co.ke> wrote:

Dear Mr Hussein,

Thank you sir for the insights. Clearly, the answer to your question can be
found in Wikipedia's definition you have generously availed. What you didn't
address yourself to, however, is the quality of service levels, pricing,
among other aspects in the case of a single-seller of an essential service.
They are certainly uncompetitive and anti-consumer. Ask yourself, for
instance, must KENIC's customers in this day and age pay through a registrar
who gobbles up some commission adding to the consumers' woes? Can those
security fears, if real, be addressed in a different way? Why can't people
pay online for instance:
http://www.101domain.com/domain_registration_joburg.htm 

Fair trade and competition policy may not necessarily be universal but it is
about making principles of fairness and decency mean something in the
marketplace especially for the goods/services we buy. Essentially, it offers
a way for all of us to identify products that meet our values - principally
so we can make choices that have a positive impact to the world around us. 

Retaining KENIC as a single-seller where multiple-sellers can compete
favourably and profitably won't be in the consumer/KENIC's own interest.
Just imagine, for a second, that a company like Safaricom, Airtel or
AccessKenya ISP has a Yahoo/Gmail address. Or put this way, which Kenyan
company or individual wouldn't die for a Dot Ke address for his or her
business if they can afford? These domains uniquely define "Kenyan-ness" and
a sense of patriotism - why must they be made expensive and a preserve of
Ali Hussein (sorry and others) who can afford a "me.ke"? And how can they be
made cheaper would be the salient question - open up the space to other
sellers. 

Sound macro-economists will tell you, for free, that you don't protect KENIC
market share by locking competitors out especially knowing that they have
been there for a while. They possibly are only exploiting less than 5% of
their market potential. Imagine if all Kenya "emailers" could dump the
insecure Yahoo/Gmails for a Dot Ke . that would be big business for KENIC
and her competitors! As you rightly put it, the captains at KENIC must know
the market thus : "3. In today's hyper competitive world there are few
monopolies left."

Kind regards,

Japheth Ogutu

www.cofek.co.ke 

From: Ali Hussein [mailto:ali at hussein.me.ke] 
Sent: Friday, January 31, 2014 5:28 PM
To: Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK)

Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions

Subject: [***SPAM*** Score/Req: 07.40/5.0] Re: [kictanet] KENIC Board
Statement on dot.KE

Japheth

How do you define a monopoly? In my opinion KeNIC is far from a monopoly. 

Let me just refresh ourselves here.

According to Wikipedia:-

 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly#cite_note-2> [Monopolies are
characterized by a lack of economic
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competition> competition to produce the
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_(economics)> good or
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_(economics)> service and a lack of
viable  <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substitute_good> substitute goods.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly#cite_note-3> [3] The verb
"monopolize" refers to the process by which a company gains the ability to
raise prices or exclude competitors. In economics, a monopoly is a single
seller. In law, a monopoly is a business entity that has significant market
power, that is, the power to charge high prices.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly#cite_note-Orbach.26Campbell-4> [4]
Although monopolies may be big businesses, size is not a characteristic of a
monopoly. A small business may still have the power to raise prices in a
small industry (or market).
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly#cite_note-Orbach.26Campbell-4> [4]

So to put this in context. 

1. If I'm unable to buy a .ke does it mean that I will not be able to have
an email address, access the Internet, have a domain name? 

2. Kenya Power is a monopoly that basically doesn't have a substitute here
in Kenya.

3. In today's hyper competitive world there are few monopolies left.

As the consumer watchdog it would auger well for COFEK to deeply understand
the regulatory and competitive framework that informs the domain space in
general and the ccTLD space in particular.

Ali Hussein

+254 0770 906375 / 0713 601113

"I fear the day technology will surpass human interaction. The world will
have a generation of idiots".  ~ Albert Einstein

Sent from my iPad

On Jan 31, 2014, at 1:37 PM, "Consumers Federation of Kenya \(COFEK\)"
<hotline at cofek.co.ke> wrote:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thanks for sharing. On what basis does the Chairman of KENIC claim that
"KENIC is the best suited entity to continue operating and managing ...."?
Who was this consultant and how was he or she sourced? Was he or she paid
and if yes by whom? When KENIC says it is the "best" who are the lesser ones
that were being compared to it? KENIC is a monopoly under Cap 504,
Competition Act and must be declared as such. It is also single-sourced in
an opaque manner. KENIC should opened to a regulated competition. CAK and
Government must get out of KENIC fast and swift in the consumer interest. 

Kind regards,

Japheth

Japheth Ogutu

Program Officer

Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK)

Meky Place, Block F-45

Ngong Road/Ring Rd Kilimani Junction

P.O Box 28053-00200, City Square, NAIROBI, Kenya 

Tel. 254-20-2615496, 2300859 Fax. 254-20-3861719; Cell phones: 0715555550,
0770700007

E-mail: hotline at cofek.co.ke

Website: www.cofek.co.ke

Facebook: "Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek)" 

Twitter: @ConsumersKenya YouTube: "ConsumersKenya"

13th December 2012 -  President Kibaki assents to the Consumer Protection
Act, 2012 Read it here:
http://www.cofek.co.ke/Consumers%20Protection%20Act%202012.pdf 

-----Original Message-----
From: kictanet
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+hotline=cofek.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf
Of Walubengo J
Sent: Friday, January 31, 2014 12:23 PM
To: The Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek)
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: [kictanet] KENIC Board Statement on dot.KE

Find attached. 

Ofcourse I am just being a messenger here, not necessarily the owner of the
message since I do not have the privilege to sit on the KENIC board :-)

walu.

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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.

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