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30Apr

Privacy & Protection: Do Ugandans Care What Happens to Their Data?

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By Neema Iyer |

Let’s be honest.

When was the last time you read the “Terms and Conditions” before you signed up for a new service online?

We don’t blame you. It’s easy to get lost in the legal jargon.

But do you know what happens to your personal data every time you click on “I have agreed to terms and conditions”? Did you know at the mere click to accept, you could have given a way a portion of your vital information and put your data privacy in absolute jeopardy?

Today, it’s hard to raise the issue of data privacy without putting a thought on the recent Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal that made many people realize the power of data. Even with as much information spewed out explaining what the scandal was about, very few took a note to learn from.

A recent allegation from the Cambridge Analytica scandal pins the Uhuru Kenyatta presidential campaign to have employed social media surveillance results to target campaign messages to different profiles of voters. This was possible because Facebook monitors your social media activity and can predict your behavior from that, hence such information is used to target messages that speak to your interests and emotions to sway major decisions such as election outcomes. This isn’t just happening on our doorsteps, allegations claim similar outcomes in the United States and the UK.

The EU revised as much on data privacy and protection in Europe and promised to give users more power over their data. While Europe seems to take quick action, down in Uganda and Africa at large, we continue to grapple with weak data privacy and protection laws, a citizenry that is not well-informed on data privacy, a delay in passing necessary bills and weak implementation processes. Unfortunately, a majority of African countries lack the necessary mechanisms for the inclusive participation of citizens and other stakeholders in the processes of formulating the very laws on internet and digital rights that directly affect them.

Do we care about Data Privacy and Protection?

In December 2017, Unwanted Witness, an activists group petitioned the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) to compel Parliament to speed up the enactment of privacy and data protection law.

They argued that without a governing law, citizens’ personal data is exposed to abuse without collection and protection safeguards. They further asked UHRC to prioritize privacy and recognize it as a fundamental right under attack in the country. However, to date, we are yet to see significant action taken to build an informed citizenry on their digital rights and to provide appropriate protections.

When talk about data arises, many are not really willing to delve further into the ethics surrounding the topic. This can and will still be attributed to the high illiteracy levels in the country and because many don’t know what data is or how valuable it might be on the long run, they will give it away easily. Funny as it may sound, a majority internet users think ‘data’ is the a term tied to the internet bundles that the ISPs provide and it’s that school of thought that has stuck with them. Whether their data gets in the hands of the wrong or the right people, it’s the least of their concerns.

Data Protection basically means to ensure the right to privacy, respect to confidentiality principles in various relations such as doctor patient, employer-employee and service providers with their clients generally.

Did you know that privacy is your human right?

The right to privacy refers to the concept that one’s personal information is protected from public scrutiny. It is essentially, your right to be left alone. Privacy is a core aspect of human dignity and values such as freedom of association and freedom of speech.

One would wonder, even with the data privacy breaches, are there really laws in place to curb and punish those that are misusing people’s data and evading on their privacy or we are simply looking while our data gets tampered with and is easily handed to the wrong hands.

Are there Laws in Place?

Yes! There is a Ugandan Data Protection and Privacy Bill that was tabled before parliament in 2015 and although the Bill needs to be revised and aligned better with human rights provisions, comments have been raised on the need to balance civil liberties, national security and data protection and privacy.

According to a paper published a couple of years ago by Dr Ronald Kakungulu Mayambala a Senior Lecturer of Human Rights and Peace Centre at Makerere University, Article 27 of the Constitution guarantees the right to privacy of person, home and other property. In particular, article 27(2) of the Constitution provides that a person shall not be subjected to interference with the privacy of that person’s home, correspondence, communication or other property.

Unfortunately there is no comprehensive law giving effect to article 27, yet a lot of data concerning individuals are collected, stored or processed regularly by various institutions in the private and public sector, including banks, hospitals, insurance companies, the Uganda Citizenship and Immigration Control Board, the Uganda Revenue Authority, Uganda Registration Services Bureau, the Electoral Commission, utility service providers and telecommunications companies under the SIM card registration exercise

The Bill seeks to protect the privacy of the individual and personal data by regulating the collection and processing of personal information. It provides for the rights of persons whose data is collected and the obligations of data collectors and data processors; and regulates the use or disclosure of personal information.

However even with these laws and bills in place, further questions continue to be raised on whether they even hold any solid ground in implementation, especially, if there has not been enough sensitization of the bills and data literacy.

 

What do some people think about data privacy in Uganda?

A chat with a few random Ugandans around town shows you just how long of a way we have to go with the data privacy and protection talk.

“I honestly have nothing to hide with my data and anyone who wants to access it can go ahead and access it. Your data can only be private if you choose to keep it private but if you choose to put it out there and later claim for privacy, then you are playing yourself” — Lisa

“Whatever you put out there is public. I don’t really care who gets my data because once Ipost anything on social media, it’s no longer in any way private. I get a need for data privacy if it comes to my business data like emails. That is when i need some real privacy” — Hans

“Data privacy is not even a topic of debating here in Uganda because people don’t really care what happens with their data. Because we have a huge Internet penetration gap, very many people don’t even know what data is in most parts of africa.” — Emmanuel


 

20Mar

CIPESA-ICT4Democracy Media Fellowship Programme

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Fellowship Opportunity |
About the ICT4Democracy in East Africa network
The network works in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda to achieve two top-line objectives: 1) Increased citizen participation in governance and the realisation of human rights through ICT; and 2) Improved transparency and accountability of governments through ICT. Partners in the network are the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), the Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET), Transparency International Uganda, iHub Research (Kenya), the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG, Tanzania) and Toro Development Network (ToroDev). Read more about the network here: www.ict4democracy.org.
Aim of the Fellowship Programme
The CIPESA-ICT4Democracy Fellowship (Media) aims to raise media understanding of, and its effective and consistent reporting of ICT-for-Democracy issues in East Africa. It is expected that the fellowships will result into increased quality and regularity of reporting, as well as a greater diversity of voices, in coverage related to ICT, democracy and human rights.
Applications will be accepted on a quarterly basis as per the below dates:

Fellowship round Application deadline
May – July April 1st
August – October July 1st
November – January September 1st
February – April January 1st

Duration: The fellowship shall last for up to three months but can in some circumstances be shorter.
Outputs
Participants in the media fellowship programme will be expected to create various outputs, which may include print articles such as features, broadcast content, multimedia content (animations and infographics) and social media content, as will be agreed in advance of the start of the fellowship.
Eligibility
Applicants should be early career print, broadcast, online or multi-media journalists. Individuals passionate about media platforms such as bloggers and social media enthusiasts with relevant skills are also welcome to apply. Applicants must be based in Kenya, Uganda or Tanzania. It is preferred that applicants have experience in coverage of areas that are relevant to the work of ICT4Democracy in East Africa partners, which may include social accountability, gender and youth mainstreaming, technology, human rights and governance.
Compensation
The fellows shall be given a modest allowance to cater for expenses related to producing the outputs of their fellowship engagement.
Application process
To apply, email [email protected] with subject line stating Application for Media Fellowship. Submissions should include:

  • Your CV
  • A statement of interest that mentions the outputs you intend to produce from the fellowship, how they will be disseminated, and how these outputs are beneficial to the work of the ICT4Democracy network or its partner organisation(s), a suggestion of which partner organisation you wish to be attached to, the duration for which you wish to have the fellowship, and anticipated expenses. The statement of interest should not exceed 3 pages.
  • Two samples of your work (written or other)
  • Two reference letters.
20Mar

CIPESA-ICT4Democracy Academia Fellowship Programme

Author admin Posted on

Fellowship Opportunity |

 About the ICT4Democracy in East Africa network
The network works in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda to achieve two top-line objectives: 1) Increased citizen participation in governance and the realisation of human rights through ICT; and 2) Improved transparency and accountability of governments through ICT. Partners in the network are the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), the Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET), Transparency International Uganda, iHub Research (Kenya), the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG, Tanzania) and Toro Development Network (ToroDev). Read more about the network here: www.ict4democracy.org.
 Aim of the Fellowship Programme
The CIPESA-ICT4Democracy Fellowship (Academia) aims to nurture university students’ and early career academics’ understanding of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for governance, human rights and development. By engaging members of the academic community, the programme benefits partners of the ICT4Democracy in East Africa network through placements of individuals with skills in fields such as ICT, mass communication, and informatics, within the partner organisations. Ultimately, the programme aims to grow links between the academic community and practitioners in the ICT field for mutual research, learning and knowledge exchange, so as to create the next generation of ICT for democracy and ICT for human rights champions and researchers.
Applications will be accepted on a quarterly basis as per the below dates:

Fellowship round Application deadline
May – July April 1stst
August – October July 1st
November – January September 1st
February – April January 1st

Duration: The fellowship shall last for three months but can in some circumstances be shorter or longer by up to a month.
Role of the fellows
Provide skills in their field of competence to enhance the work of ICT4Democracy in East Africa Network partner organisations. During the subsistence of the fellowship, the fellow will be expected to produce outputs, such as blog posts, commentaries, briefs, curriculums, multimedia content, and journal articles, as will be agreed in advance of the start of the fellowship. The skills of the fellow will guide the role assigned to them.
Eligibility
Applicants should be university students or early career academics. While there are no limitations on where the university is located, it is preferred that the students be from African universities. Applicants should have competence in areas that are relevant to the work of ICT4Democracy in East Africa partners, which may include ICT4D, Computer Science, Journalism, Informatics, Gender Equality, Development Studies, Human Rights and Governance.
Compensation
The fellows shall be given a monthly stipend to cater for their expenses during the duration of the fellowship. The amount may vary depending on location, outputs and on the qualifications of the fellow.
Application process
To apply, email [email protected] with subject line stating Application for Academia Fellowship. Submissions should include:

  1. Your CV
  2. A statement of interest that mentions the areas of competence that you wish to contribute to the fellowship programme, a suggestion of which partner organisation you wish to be attached to, the duration for which you wish to have the fellowship, the proposed outputs from your involvement in the programme and breakdown of expenses. The statement of interest should not exceed 3 pages.
  3. Copy of transcript or letter confirming university affiliation.
  4. Two samples of your writing.
  5. Two reference letters.
05Dec

Solving Uganda’s Challenges through Data & Service Design

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By Neema Iyer|

Last week, we asked “What is Service Design?” and answered our question with “Service design is the process of taking a service and better tailoring it to the needs and wants of the end user, whether that’s a client, customer or in the case of civic service design, the citizen. It could be improving an existing service, or creating a new service totally from scratch.”

On December 5th, Pollicy and the Collaboration in International ICT Policy for Eastern and Southern Africa (CIPESA) brought back the civic technology community in Uganda, but this time, with a focus on data and design. As issues of data ownership, digital security, censorship become more pertinent in our society, so does the need to appropriately harness the benefits of big data. Through a series of interesting panel discussions, lightening talks and a hands-on design training, we took participants through a journey on how data can be used to revolutionize how citizens and governments interact for mutual benefit.

We first tackled the hard issues around the ethics of data in improving service delivery in Uganda through a panel discussion analyzing the issue from the perspective of the Ugandan Police Force, human rights defenders and the healthcare industry. Mr.Jimmy Haguma, the Acting Commissioner of Police — IT & IM, Mr.Neil Blazevic from DefendDefenders Tech Unit and Mr.Samson Jarso from Andromeda Innovations led the panel moderated by Pollicy’s own Patricia Navvuga.

 Next, we engaged the private sector on how they use big data to improve how they deliver services to Uganda citizens. Engaging lightening talks from Umeme, Viamo and Fenix: Uganda’s electricity company, a mobile technology company bringing information to the last mile and one of the biggest home solar system companies in Uganda.


In the afternoon, after a networking lunch we came together as a group to tackle challenges using the principles of service design, facilitated by Design without Borders. Using a process of iterative prototyping, our faciliators Lawrence and Rachit discussed how they conduct user research, ideate and convert their ideas in prototypes which they extensive test with their end users until completely satisfied with the user journey.

Service design creates better citizen and staff experiences while at the same time reducing inefficiencies and increasing value to society. Think of all the time, money and mental energy saved by improving upon the processes listed below.

As small groups 6–7 participants, we tackled three main challenges:
1. Public Transport in Kampala in quite inefficient
2. Obtaining a new passport is troublesome
3. There is a lack of monitoring of public complaints


From our discussions, we realized that the solutions could be readily implemented by thinking of the issues holistically. In the previous blog post, we looked at the example of acquiring a new passport here in Uganda, and quite fittingly worked on the same issue in one of the small groups.

The group, working through the National ID or a temporary National ID, presented a simple online solution for registering linked information and obtaining feedback throughout the process via e-mail, SMS and by logging into the online portal to check on the status of the submission.

For public transportation, a colour-coded and numbering system for public minibuses and buses was offered as a solution to ease unruly drivers, unknown bus routes and improve connections between routes. For public complaints monitoring, the AskYourGov system was offered as a potential solution by engaging numerous government officials through one centralized portal.

What we took away from the session was that even though we were able to come up with these ideas in 1–2 hours, the solutions seemed readily implementable. But looking at the service design processes, we need to do further research with end user and to first prototype these concepts with small groups of users to perfect the process.

Getting to work hands-on on current pressing issues in Uganda was an eye-opening experience and we hope to bring in more members of the civic technology community together with government to problem solve some of these challenges using data and design principles.

For more information on service design, check out the Service Design Toolkit: http://www.servicedesigntoolkit.org/ and content from Interaction Design Foundation: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/service-design

We’re thankful for everyone who showed up and remained engaged the entire time, and for our partner CIPESA on making this event possible!
On to the next!

31Oct

Study Reveals that a Culture of Secrecy Among Public Officials Hinders Media Work in Tanzania

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By MISA Tanzania Correspondent |
A prevailing culture of secrecy among public officials in Tanzania at both central and local government levels is hindering the work of journalists, according to findings by a recent study. This is affecting access to information necessary for media reporting towards increased civic participation, transparency and accountability in governance.
The study which was conducted by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Tanzania Chapter in partnership with the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) assessed the responsiveness of local government authorities (LGAs) and central government offices in Tanzania to citizens’ information requests.
The study found widespread laxity among officials in processing information requests, with many claiming to have misplaced or lost filed requests. “If you received someone’s documents, why would you say you can’t see them just a week later?” wondered Haika Kimaro, a newspaper correspondent in Mtwara town in the south-east of Tanzania. In the port town of Kigoma, Rhoda Ezekiel, a correspondent with Uhuru Newspaper, recounted how the secretary of the Ujiji Municipal Council once claimed to have misplaced her information request when she followed up on a query she had submitted.
Radio journalist George Binagi shared a similar experience from the town of Mwanza: “I submitted my questions in writing to the Regional Commissioner’s Office. I went back 10 days later and did not get the answers. They looked for my letter and [claimed they] never saw it.”
But it is not only the media affected by limited access to public information. Researchers are affected too. During the study, Jacqueline Jones, a mass communication graduate and intern at MISA Tanzania, went to the Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner’s office posing as a student researcher. She requested for information pertaining to the office’s functions, ongoing projects, income and expenditure. However, she was turned away for lack of an introduction letter from a university, with officials claiming that work procedures do not allow them to disclose information without such a letter.
“Their customer service is awful and the people at the registry department were quite harsh and rude. One of them actually shouted at me for insisting on getting my answers in a written form,” said Jones.
She submitted a similar request to the Dar es Salaam City Council, which, according to the city’s Information Officer needed approval by at least four different Heads of Sections. The Information Officer provided her with the requested information upon receipt of the approvals.
Alternative platforms for accessing information offered their own challenges. According to Zulfa Musa, a Mwananchi Newspaper correspondent in Arusha, administrative assistants manage the City Council offices’ telephone numbers and getting in touch with the Director or his Secretary to request for information required one to have these officials’ personal phone numbers. It was difficult to make information requests as the administrators were reluctant to provide the personal contact information of the Director or his secretary.
The frustrations faced by the journalists who took part in the study indicates that it is likely that citizens face similar or worse challenges.
It is widely recognised that access to quality and timely information for citizens is crucial in facilitating informed dialogue, monitoring and evaluation of development issues at the local level, thereby accountable governance and improved public services delivery.
Gasirigwa Sengiyumwa, the National Director for MISA Tanzania, stated that whereas an Access to Information Act was passed in 2016, “it appears that both public servants and the general public remain unaware of this Law.” He added: “There is a need for sensitisation about the law through training workshops for both parties [public officials and citizens] to ensure that the rights and responsibilities provided for under the law are realised.”
The study was conducted as part of the ICT4Democracy in East Africa initiative’s objective to document and publicise the utility and effectives of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for government-citizen interaction, proactive information disclosure, and responsiveness to information requests, for the realisation of the right of access to information.
Seven out of Tanzania’s 28 regions were covered in the study, with a total of 28 information requests filed to 14 institutions during March and April 2017. The written requests were emailed as well as hand-delivered to the institutions. Follow ups on approval or denial of requests was conducted through phone calls and physical visits.
Read the full study at here.

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