<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt"><br><div> <br>ICT lobby group to educate users on their rights<br>Written by Okuttah Mark<br>Friday, 20 April 2007 [NAIROBI]<br><br>Formation of an information and communication technologies (ICTs)<br>consumer lobby group in Kenya, and a tender by the communications<br>regulator for partners to educate Kenyan ICT consumers on their rights<br> point to a shift towards reducing the vulnerability of users.<br><br>As more people rely on ICTs in their daily lives, the more they open<br>themselves up to financial and other abuses.<br><br>According to Alex Gakuru, chairman of Kenya ICT Consumer Association,<br>as the Internet, mobile telephony and other technologies take centre<br>stage in Kenyan life, consumers must be made aware of their rights.<br><br>"Consumers have a right to be
informed about services they are<br>getting," Mr Gakuru said. "Informed people always make informed<br>decisions."<br><br>According to Mr Gakuru, while ICT users remain ill-informed of their<br>rights and have little legal protection against abuses, this is in<br>contrast to corporate clients who often sign service level agreements<br>with ICT service providers. The association alludes to complaints over<br>services from Internet service providers (ISPs) as well as fixed and<br>mobile telephone operators.<br><br>According to Mr Gakuru, telephony users contend with costly local<br>land-line calls, mobile network congestion and poor coverage in some<br>areas, as well as too many failed calls. Some customers, the group<br>adds, have lost pre-paid credit after buying it, or been charged for<br>SMS messages that were never sent.<br><br><snip><br><br><<a target="_blank"
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