Year: 2018

Internet Solutions pilots pay-per-use Internet

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Data

Internet Solutions (IS), formerly Access Kenya Group, will offer consumption-based billing for businesses as opposed to the traditional fixed billing. The Internet firm is piloting the service that will see businesses pay as per their usage, cutting down on extra costs experienced during down time and off-peak seasons. “Bandwidth is widely considered a utility like power and water and users want it where and when they need it. “Enterprises are demanding convenience and flexible consumption models that respond to their needs,” Internet Solutions managing director Richard Hechle (pictured). According to…

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SEC Suspends Exchange-Traded Bitcoin and Ether Investment Vehicles as market crash continues

olivia Craig

Ether, the second-largest virtual currency, slumped 8.9% from its level at 5 p.m. New York time on Friday, according to Bloomberg composite pricing. Bitcoin lost 2.1%, while the market capitalization of digital assets tracked by CoinMarketCap.com shrank to $197 billion — down about $640 billion from its January peak. Cryptocurrencies have declined for five of the past six weeks amid concern that a broader adoption of digital assets will take longer than some had anticipated. That worry was underscored over the weekend after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission temporarily…

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Majority Facebook users not aware how the site’s news feed works

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A Pew research has revealed that a sizable majority of U.S. adults use Facebook and most of its users get news on the site. But a new Pew Research Center survey finds that notable shares of Facebook users ages 18 and older lack a clear understanding of how the site’s news feed operates, feel ordinary users have little control over what appears there, and have not actively tried to influence the content the feed delivers to them. The findings from the survey – conducted May 29-June 11 – come amid a…

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Apple cracking down on apps store, requires all to define a privacy policy

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Apple is taking an unprecedented step on its store in the fight for privacy. The tech company is cracking down on apps that don’t communicate to users how their personal data is used, secured or shared. In an announcement posted to developers through the App Store Connect portal, Apple says that all apps, including those still in testing, will be required to have a privacy policy as of October 3, 2018. The rules go into effect on October 3rd. Apple says that current software without a policy won’t be removed…

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Google reportedly paid millions of dollars in secret data deal with Mastercard to track retail sales

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Facebook

For the past year, select Google advertisers have had access to a potent new tool to track whether the ads they ran online led to a sale at a physical store in the U.S. That insight came thanks in part to a stockpile of Mastercard transactions that Google paid for. The revelation comes amid heightened concern about how much consumer data is consumed by tech companies like Google. Earlier this year, Facebook was criticized when data on as many as 87 million people was improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, raising…

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Net giants urge court to reinstate repealed net neutrality rules

Representatives of internet giants like Facebook, Google and Amazon on Monday urged a federal appeals court to reinstate the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) net neutrality rules. Net neutrality rules, ideally prohibited internet service providers from blocking, throttling or prioritizing most web traffic. The FCC officially repealed in June causing a huge outrcry. The Internet Association (IA) and the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), two of Silicon Valley’s most prominent trade groups, filed in support of a lawsuit against the FCC for its repeal of the 2015 regulations late last year.…

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Fear of ‘brand damage’ means less than 5% of businesses report online attacks

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emotion

Half of Irish companies have been victims of economic crime within the past two years — up from 34pc in 2016 and 26pc in 2010, according to a recent report from PwC on economic crime (stock image) Brand damage and embarrassment are among the reasons given for the under-reporting of cybercrime by Irish businesses to gardai. But, from a prevention and awareness level, it is important that this crime is reported, according to Michael Gubbins, Detective Superintendent and head of the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau. It is estimated that…

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e-Commerce in Africa could hit US$75 billion by 2025

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COVID 19 Read consumer

How to capitalise on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and develop an African e-commerce strategy for possible adoption by the Africa Union (AU) dominated discussion at a recent AU conference in Kenya. Jean Bertrand Azapmo, Regional Trade Advisor at the AU Trade & Industry Department, said, “The roadmap provides for the mapping of stakeholders and the creation of Multi-stakeholder Working Group/Platforms so as to provide an opportunity for African SMEs and startups to share experiences and best practices, share ideas; which is crucial for e-commerce development.” e-commerce can…

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Users Spent a Record 85 Billion Hours In WhatsApp vs 31 Billion In Facebook In The Past 3 Months

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According to app analytics company Apptopia, among all the social media platforms, people globally spent a whopping 85 billion hours on the Facebook-owned WhatsApp in the last three months. By contrast, we’ve only spent 30 billion hours in Facebook, the company says. “It’s clear WhatsApp is the global messaging app of choice,” says Apptopia spokesperson Adam Blacker. “Apps having to do with communication take up most of our time spent on our mobile apps.” The data does not encompass all of China’s third-party Android app stores, or WeChat and other…

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San Francisco judge orders bail payment in Bitcoin

A federal judge in San Fracisco has ordered a cyber-criminal to pay their bail charges in Bitcoin, inadvertently stimulating cryptocurrency mainstream adoption. The Daily Post – a local Palo Alto newspaper – reports Martin Marisch has been charged with hacking the well-known video games company Electronic Arts, responsible for popular titles like FIFA, The Sims, and Battlefield. Marisch, the Daily Post reports, managed to gain access to EA’s central computer systems, and obtain 25,000 customer records. Had the attack not been caught, Marisch could’ve used this information for substantial financial gain.…

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