[kictanet] Talk to NCIC Day 1: Users and Fake News

Thu Aug 24 12:06:23 EAT 2017

Toilem, Joash and Wangari,

Your  comments are well noted. This will definitely inform the report.

On Thu, Aug 24, 2017 at 10:29 AM, WANGARI KABIRU via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> Warm greetings!
>
> We have a balance to arrive at hopefully. Who has greater rights? The
> sender - freedom of speech or the receiver - right to receive (credible)
> information (is it also considered a human right?).
>
> Whereas it may also be attributed that there is choice of information, is
> information "Information" when it is credible. Also it is choose "Platform
> A" or "in reality no other", choose.Which platform did we say is Kenyan??
> or from Africa? or "buy Kenya, buy Africa" evokes a natural digital silence.
>
> If the platform was mainstream media with "false news", " fake news",
> "hate speech", "defamation", " propaganda", would it be immune? - Or would
> a barrage of sanctions be upon the media house. What makes the Internet
> platforms (and the players including content generators, distributors)
> immune?
> - Would the National Agencies be handling it as they are now? We might be
> breeding a future "clash" driven by deep pocketed business interests versus
> the meek and humble masses of consumers and a few more engaged digital
> citizens.
>
> Not forgetting that there is humanity in the midst of all this. This is
> recipe for lack of peace and ingredient for instability. Perhaps even
> between nations, especially in fragile moments. Wars are known to have been
> started with false information reiterated - until it became "the only known
> truth". The Nazi, the oppression of the Jews should not be too far from our
> thoughts, minds and hearts.
>
> The next war (s) is not on land with horses and chariots, neither with
> man-made guns, or control freak robots, but in the knowledge world, in the
> cyber spaces. The next business relations, diplomatic relations is feeding
> the cyber hungry - perhaps the smarter ones now.
>
> https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/23/silicon-valley
> -big-data-extraction-amazon-whole-foods-facebook
>
> "Personal data is to the tech world what oil is to the fossil fuel
> industry. That’s why companies like Amazon and Facebook plan to dig deeper
> than we ever imagined...."
>
> "... A hundred years ago, you could dig a hole in Texas and strike oil.
> Today, fossil fuel companies have to build drilling platforms many miles
> offshore. The tech industry faces a similar fate. Its wildcat days are
> over: most of the data that lies closest to the surface is already
> claimed...".
>
> We get to appreciate that "false fake news" feeds the cyber hunger with
> what is craves for most - data.
>
> For National agencies based on this topic, such as NCIC, CA , the game is
> already cut out and it is time not just to look inwards into the Kenyan(s)
> sideshows but the global playfield. This may feed what would be the glaring
> future defining the work today.
>
> Thanks to NCIC for stepping into this engaging discourse.
>
>
> Blessed day
>
> ---
> Pray God Bless. 2013Wangari circa - "Being of the Light, We are Restored
> Through Faith in Mind, Body and Spirit; We Manifest The Kingdom of God on
> Earth".
>
>
> On Wednesday, 23 August 2017, 18:45, Joash Moitui via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
>
> Thanks Merci for steering this debate! My two cents!
>
> Why is there an increase in the prevalence of Fake News recently?
> Bending the truth for political gain is certainly nothing new - it’s
> propaganda, and the record of its uses stretch back to ancient times.
>
> Octavian famously used a campaign of disinformation to aid his victory
> over Marc Anthony in the final war of the Roman Republic. In its aftermath,
> he changed his name to Augustus, and dispatched a flattering and youthful
> image of himself throughout the Empire, maintaining its use in his old age.
>
> The rising trend of fake news during 2016 was very different to largely
> state controlled analogue modes of 20th-century propaganda. What we saw
> often here were small groups of people taking advantage of social media
> interaction and algorithms through creating hyperbolic articles around a
> major political event: the US Presidential election.
>
> Propaganda and Internet fake news do, however, hold similarities: both are
> methods of distorting the truth for emotional persuasion, seeking to drive
> action. Although this action appears to be political, the motivation in the
> 2016 US election was not necessarily. Many creators of it were moreover
> looking for a path to quick dollars by distributing content and gaining an
> audience that would view advertising.
>
> Before the Internet, publishing fake news and gaining an audience that
> could be monetized was nearly impossible for three reasons:
>
> Distribution and cost: Distributing information on any kind of scale
> needed a prohibitively expensive logistics operation.
>
> Audiences and trust: Building a large audience took much longer, and
> because it was expensive to acquire and built on trust of information,
> publishing fake news would be damaging to reputation and thus have economic
> consequences.
>
> Law and regulation: Because it was expensive to distribute information,
> there were far fewer players. These abided by media law and could be
> regulated. Publishing fake news would likely end up with the publisher
> being sued.
>
> But this gate of information exchange was unlocked around 2007, with the
> beginnings of the social media revolution. The creation of social networks
> like Facebook and Twitter allowed people to exchange information on a much
> greater scale than ever before, while publishing platforms like WordPress
> allowed anyone to create a dynamic website with ease.
>
> What is the role of different categories of users in combating Fake News?
>
> Governments, as one of the largest users of the internet,  have a role to
> play. They can compel providers of social media to take action of fake
> news, illegal and misinformation shared in their platforms. In 2016, The
> German authorities are targeted Internet giants like Facebook, and plan to
> require them to take action against fake news posted on their sites failing
> which fines of up to 500,000 euros can be imposed.
>
> In Britain, there is a parliamentary committee looking into the issue. The
> Singapore Government announced last month it is studying the matter and
> looks likely to introduce new laws. Why are governments stepping in, and
> will they succeed?
>
>
> Is Fake News a manifestation of deeper societal issues and if so, are
> there ways of combating it other than resolving the societal issues?
>
> Misinformation can be very difficult to correct and may have lasting
> effects even after it is discredited. One reason for this persistence is
> the manner in which people make causal inferences based on available
> information about a given event or outcome. As a result, false information
> may continue to influence beliefs and attitudes even after being debunked
> if it is not replaced by an alternate causal explanation. This hypothesis
> has been tested using an experimental paradigm adapted from the psychology
> literature on the continued influence effect and found that a causal
> explanation for an unexplained event is significantly more effective than a
> denial even when the denial is backed by unusually strong evidence. This
> result has significant implications for how to most effectively counter
> misinformation about controversial political events and outcomes. (Nyhan,
> Brendan; Reifler, Jason. Journal of Experimental Political Science, 2015.
> doi: 10.1017/XPS.2014.22)
>
> We have Bloggers who are seen as influencers. Do they have a higher duty
> when communicating?
> In the delivery of information, bloggers are required to be responsible
> morally and ethically. They can become agents of change and bring people to
> a better direction. With the ability to filter, search, and retransmit
> information with their own characteristics, bloggers have the ability to
> translate government language into a language that is easily understood by
> the public.
>
> I believe that bloggers have an important role in fighting hoaxes because
> usually, the content written in blogs are personal and honest, based on
> personal experiences.
>
> Before generating a content, bloggers need to analyze, read a lot of
> sources and include the news source. This will make the news traceable to
> the truth. Through their blogs, bloggers have a vast opportunity in
> offsetting the hoax news.
>
> Best,
>
>
>
> Joash Moitui
> [image: Inline image]
> about.me/jmoitui
> <https://mailtrack.io/trace/link/d6e5d3afecd910e747507b2960b557bdf03ff7f2?url=https%3A%2F%2Fabout.me%2Fjmoitui%3Fpromo%3Demail_sig%26utm_source%3Dproduct%26utm_medium%3Demail_sig%26utm_campaign%3Dgmail_api&userId=521787&signature=c81611197b773ac2>
>
> On Sat, Aug 19, 2017 at 12:40 AM, Toilem Godwin via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
> *Hi Mercy, thank you for keeping th discusions alive.*
>
> *Kindly see my comments below:*
>
> *(a) Why is there an increase in the prevalence of Fake News recently?*
> *"............................. ..............................
> .............................. .................."*
>
> *I have been doing a research on why we have an increase in fake news for
> a few days now and what is suprisingly interesting is  the fact that most
> "upcoming"  journalist/bloggers/ sociologist if I may put it lightly are
> fighting for recognition.*
> */online space. The concept of social media and sharing has made
> people/bloggers/sociologist/ journalists be fast on clicking submit/sharing
> and ignore verifying the info they receive/share. These kinds of
> "joulalists" if i may put it lightly are very fast in to submitting
> unverified news/info for the sake of recognition and receiving receiving
> sociAl recognition as the "origin" fake and legit news. In short they do
> not really care the status of tehe news but to get more "likes/share"*
> *"............................. ..............................
> .............................. .................."*
>
> *(b) What is the role of different categories of users in combating Fake
> News?*
> *"............................. ..............................
> .............................. ....."*
> * IMHO I have three role of user categories.*
> *1. The platform admins: these are admins for different account and mostly
> guys who should control flow of information but due due to many issues
> arising from the restriction of flow of information ( whether verified or
> unverified news) the defaults tend to be " allow all".*
> *2. The posters: These are people who post the news. These are to me
> regarded the most dangerous users and in a way should be restricted or
> Managed by the admins.*
> *3. The consumers*
>
>
> *(c) Have Kenyans given up or are there good practices in combating Fake
> News?*
>
>
>
> *"............................. ..............................
> .............................. .............................. ........"*
> *Not all Kenyans have. IMHO Most Kenyans are consumers of news compared to
> producers of news. Most Kenyans just react to feeds they receive as
> compared to generating the news. Most Kenyans ( just to be subjective based
> on different feeds) to tend to react but initiate most news.*
>
> *(d) Is Fake News a manifestation of deeper societal issues and if so, are
> there ways of combating it other than resolving the societal issues?*
>
> *"............................. ..............................
> .............................. .............."*
>
>
>
> *IMHO I view most fake news are as a deeper societal issues like where one
> has no idea or prefers airing their views that are not verified but to gain
> a social media status. This is one of the main factors of fake and
> unverified news.Kenyans ar now competing to "summit" but rather verify news
> they are sharing.*
>
> *(e) We have Bloggers who are seen as influencers. Do they have a higher
> duty when communicating?*
>
> On Wed, 16 Aug 2017 at 10:10 kanini mutemi via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke > wrote:
>
> Good morning Listers,
>
> Let me start of by thanking NCIC for their willingness to engage on this
> issue. We look forward to a a great discussion and pragmatic proposals.
>
> We had a discussion on this during the PRE KIGF ONLINE DISCUSSION DAY 2-
> FAKE NEWS DURING ELECTIONEERING.
> <https://mailtrack.io/trace/link/d30ff55f90841e2f1223a9773031f1c49f015149?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdrive.google.com%2Ffile%2Fd%2F0BxmvjvsBlX3dUmVfS3IyaTdkZ0U%2Fview&userId=521787&signature=f9b8bbc62dfa72b8>
> I will say at that time, the impact of Fake News was not apparent. Times
> have since changed as we have now witnessed numerous 'Fake News' posts
> which go viral within minutes. Following the election results, posts on
> alleged instances of violence and of government action in parts of the
> country have dominated social media platforms. On several occasions,
> government officials, media houses and diligent citizens have come forward
> to denounce these posts as 'Fake News'. Photos that were first presented as
> true accounts of the situation on the ground were later discovered to be
> old photos of past events. At the same time, there have been instances
> where posts were quickly dismissed as 'Fake News' even when there was
> evidence later on that they were indeed factual reports. There is therefore
> a need for us to navigate through this issue carefully.
>
> Just for the record, it was agreed previously that the definition we are
> working with is Fake News refers to disinformation which GG aptly put as: *fabricated
> news that has no basis in fact, but is presented as being factually
> accurate. *
>
> With this in mind, I invite you to engage on the questions below:
>
>
>
>
> *(a) Why is there an increase in the prevalence of Fake News recently?*
>
>
>
> *(b) What is the role of different categories of users in combating Fake
> News?*
>
>
>
> *(c) Have Kenyans given up or are there good practices in combating Fake
> News?*
>
>
> *(d) Is Fake News a manifestation of deeper societal issues and if so, are
> there ways of combating it other than resolving the societal issues?*
>
> *(e) We have Bloggers who are seen as influencers. Do they have a higher
> duty when communicating?*
>
>
> --
> *Mercy Mutemi*.
>
>
>
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> --
> Kind Regards,
> Toilem Poriot Godwin
>
> *Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness,
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>
>
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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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> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
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> 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,
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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.
>
>

-- 
*Mercy Mutemi, Advocate*.
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