[kictanet] Vodafone admits that some governments have a direct link to their network for snooping

Fri Jun 6 21:24:04 EAT 2014

I think we are ignoring international politics with this here situation.
The decision was not taken lightly and is more of a signal than a seasoned
plan of action. It all reeks of the silly war on terror and plays well into
the narrative that the west is flogging.

The assurance that the security situation is still firmly with the Brits
and by extension the west as opposed to the Chinese needed to be made. Let
us not lie to ourselves that blackflag operations do not happen.
Instigating an incident to provoke policy direction is not beyond some
capitals.

On Fri, Jun 6, 2014 at 2:47 PM, Ngigi Waithaka via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> Ali,
>
> This is the way I see it:
> 1. It's almost a forgone conclusion that Governments will listen in on
> communications between citizens; if the NSA could collect Americans private
> communications without court-orders and this with all the Bills of Rights
> in place, then what chance do other countries & Angela Merkel have?
>
> 2.What worries me more about the Vodafones of this world is that, their
> primary allegiance is not to the countries where they do business, but to
> their motherland, UK. Who would like to bet whether #G#H#C#Q# listens in on
> private communications from the Safaricom/Vodafone Network? Every
> Government Officials communication including our President's is fair game.
>
> 3. If then we contract the same Safaricom/Vodafone to build for us a
> 'Secure' Communications Network, you can bet that every router, switch, and
> Server that will be deployed with have pre-built backdoors just in-case
> they will need to be used in the future.
>
> So, if indeed we know all the above, why go ahead and contract
> Safaricom/Vodafone to build our security network? Is it the lesser evil?
>
> 4. One of the reasons cited by GoK to single-source with Safaricom is that
> it is the only organization that is affliated to GoK that can do this.
> Which is exactly not true as I believe we do have a pretty significant
> shareholding in Orange and there is nothing as good as a competing offer to
> get you best value.
>
> And a different angle to this, does our police really need an independent
> network (which also happens to be the bulk of the Ksh 15B that we'll be
> paying for?). Instead of building a single network and putting all our
> anti-terrorism 'eggs' in it, would it not have been more prudent and less
> expensive to use the already existing networks but with an added security
> layer and achieve the exact same result?
>
> Rent the networks from anyone who has capacity (Safaricom, Orange, Yu etc)
> build your layer on top and you don't have to worry about 4G, 5G, 6G... As
> they upgrade, you upgrade.
>
> Regards
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 6, 2014 at 12:46 PM, Ali Hussein via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
>> Listers
>>
>> In view of the debate about the security tender awarded to Safaricom and
>> now in contention within the parliamentary committee responsible for this
>> its incumbent upon all of us in the industry that we understand this issue
>> deeper.
>>
>> See below:-
>>
>>
>> http://www.businessinsider.com/r-vodafone-says-governments-have-direct-access-to-eavesdrop-in-some-countries-2014-06
>>
>> I'm also curious to know what the TOR for this tender was. I'm all open
>> to the government securing our borders against our enemies but we also must
>> know what these parameters of 'snooping' are.
>>
>> *Ali Hussein*
>>
>> +254 770 906375 / 0713 601113
>>
>> Twitter: @AliHKassim
>>
>> Skype: abu-jomo
>>
>> LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
>> <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim>
>>
>> Blog: www.alyhussein.com
>>
>> "I fear the day technology will surpass human interaction. The world will
>> have a generation of idiots".  ~ Albert Einstein
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> *Regards,*
>
> *Wait**haka Ngigi*
> Chief Executive Officer | Alliance Technologies | MCK Nairobi Synod
> Building
> T + 254 (0) 20 2333 471 |Office Mobile: +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737
> 811 000
> www.at.co.ke
>
>
>
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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.
>

-- 
Regards,

Mark Mwangi

markmwangi.me.ke
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