[kictanet] KICA Amendment- Regulation of Social Media

[Mildred Achoch]

Dear Listers,

First, thank you for the opportunity to discuss this. I have very many
initial thoughts but let me begin with the definition of blogging. I think
it is important to look at the history of blogging as this will expand the
definition of the term beyond just news items. On the ground, many bloggers
like myself don't even concern themselves with news. For example, I have a
poetry blog that is largely inactive but is still a "LOG" of my previous
creative activities.

Wikipedia has outlined what a blog is: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

If we are to follow the definition of blogging that is outlined in this
bill, does it mean then that blogs which do not deal with news will be
exempt? If a blog deals with the history of Kenya, is this still news or
not? What about satire based on news items? Parody? Memes?

Regards,
Mildred Achoch.

On Wednesday, October 23, 2019, kanini mutemi via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> Good morning Listers,
>
> As GG had alerted us last week, there is a bill before the National
> Assembly that seeks to amend the Kenya Information and Communication Act by
> including a part on Regulation of Social Media.
>
> I will lead us on a discussion on this Bill.
>
> Between 2016 to date, we have seen many attempts to regulate social media
> conduct. Interestingly, one such attempt, the Computer Misuse and
> Cybercrimes Act, where many of its sections on regulation of social media,
> have been suspended is coming up for hearing today. Now we tackle yet
> another attempt to ‘fix’ social media.
>
> To start with, I will post the definitions proposed in the bill of the
> word ‘social media platform’ and ‘blogging’:
>
> "*blogging" means collecting, writing, editing and presenting of news or
> news articles in social media platforms or in the internet;*
>
> *"social media platforms" includes online publishing and discussion, media
> sharing, blogging, social networking, document and data sharing
> repositories, social media applications, social bookmarking and widgets;*
>
> What are your initial thoughts? What ‘problem’ is Hon. Injendi trying to
> fix with this bill? Who will fall under those definitions? Contributions
> are welcome.
>
>
> --
> *Mercy Mutemi, Advocate*.
>
>
>
>

-- 
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