E-Business
Internet Society Report Highlights Internet Governance Benefits, Multistakeholder Model
In order to better understand what African nations need to do to reap the full benefits of the Internet, the Internet Society today released the study “Internet Development and Governance in Africa.
The report, issued at the Africa Internet Summit 2015 in Tunis, Tunisia, where Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) also participated, provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of the Internet in Africa and highlights the importance of the multistakeholder model of Internet governance as an essential part of Africa’s Internet ecosystem.
In light of the rapid growth experienced by the continent in the past ten years, the report finds that the time is right to maximize that potential.
“As Africa’s user base grows, the need to coordinate and manage the growth and development of the Internet becomes increasingly important,” said Dawit Bekele, Internet Society regional bureau director for Africa.
“If Africa has to make the progression towards a digital economy to reap the full benefits of the Internet, it needs to transition from basic connectivity to interconnectivity of networks and to interoperability of systems, and enable the development of applications and services that drive economic and social well-being.”
The report highlights steady adoption of this transformative technology since the introduction of the Internet to Africa in 1991, reaching just over 20% continent-wide, but these aggregate indicators mask glaring disparities in Internet development levels from country to country.
Morocco, for instance, has Internet penetration rates above 50%, while other African countries have penetration rates just under 2%.
The majority of countries have Internet penetration below 10%–well below the 20% threshold found to be critical for countries to reap economic benefits.
IXPs
One of the ways, identified by the report, to improve the interconnectivity of networks is to establish Internet eXchange Points (IXPs) at the local level.
Africa now has more than 30 IXPs and is well on the way to achieving the goal of at least one IXP per country.
The establishment of IXPs can catalyze the build-out of terrestrial infrastructure which in turn would make access to the Internet cheaper and faster.
One example of this effort is the East African Backhaul System (EABS), which will serve Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi.
Through this infrastructure, the landlocked countries of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi have established backbones that gain access to submarine fiber almost at the same price as that of the coastal countries
Digital Broadcasting
An area that could be transitioned faster is the migration from analogue to digital broadcasting, which offers more opportunities to increase Internet access by freeing up unused spectrum.
By June 2014, only 19 countries had started on the digital transition and by December 2014 only three countries (Tanzania, Rwanda and Mauritius) had completely switched off their analogue signals.
As such, the majority of countries will not meet the ITU’s June 2015 deadline.
IPv6
Another recommendation contained in the report is that the transition to and adoption of IPv6 in Africa should be accelerated.
By ensuring that there are enough IP addresses to cater to current and future expansion of the Internet, IPv6 will enable the Internet-of-Things (IoT) or the Internet of Everything (IoE), which refers to the ability to connect to the Internet anything capable of having an IP address.
Statistics show that South Africa and Egypt account for 97% of the uptake to date, which means all other countries are lagging behind with regards to IPv6 adoption.
Internet Governance
As Africa’s infrastructure and user base grows, the need to coordinate and manage the growth and development of the Internet becomes increasingly important.
Several institutions and processes have emerged over the last 15 years, each playing a role in strengthening Africa’s Internet ecosystem.
Africa has embraced the multistakeholder model of Internet governance, which enables policymakers to draw from the expertise of the relevant stakeholders to develop sustainable Internet public policy approaches that can meet the policy challenges of the digital age.
This year has seen several significant milestones for Internet governance and development.
Among these, the African Union has launched its Agenda 2065, which outlines development objectives for the next 50 years, and the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals, which end in 2015, will now be replaced by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Further, the UN General Assembly will make a determination on whether or not to extend the mandate of the Internet Governance Forum, an outgrowth the World Summit on the Information Society, which marks its 10th anniversary this year.
“The growth in Internet access in Africa since 2005 can be attributed in part to the strengthening of existing institutions, the emergence of regional and national IGFs and the increased commitment of African governments to ICT development,” concludes the report.
“As Africa continues to make further strides in building its Internet economy, the multistakeholder model will continue to be an important element of helping Africa reach a critical mass of access and usage that can translate into sustained economic benefit,” according to the report circulated by African Press Organization.
The Internet Society is the trusted independent source for Internet information and thought leadership around the world. It is also the organizational home for the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
With its principled vision, substantial technological foundation and its global presence, the Internet Society promotes open dialogue on Internet policy, technology, and future development among users, companies, governments, and other organizations.
Working with its members and Chapters around the world, the Internet Society enables the continued evolution and growth of the Internet for everyone.
Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has commenced a forensic investigation into the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Lotus Bank and Hackerbella Ltd over alleged violations of data protection laws involving students’ personal information.
The investigation follows public complaints alleging that students’ personal data were used to open bank accounts without a lawful basis.
Dr Vincent Olatunji, national commissioner and chief executive officer of the NDPC, directed the investigation team to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the circumstances surrounding the collection, processing, use and disclosure of the affected students’ personal data.
The investigation will also determine the respective roles and responsibilities of UNILAG, Lotus Bank and Hackerbella in the alleged processing of the data.
According to the Commission, the investigation will assess the data protection compliance obligations of the parties under the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023 (NDP Act), as well as potential risks posed to the rights and freedoms of the affected data subjects.
The NDPC said the probe would cover several areas, including Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs), the lawfulness and transparency of credit scoring or profiling activities, and the use of automated decision-making systems.
It will also examine the adequacy of privacy notices, data-sharing arrangements, lawful bases for processing, data minimisation and purpose limitation.
Other areas include data retention policies and the adequacy of technical and organisational measures put in place to safeguard the rights and personal data of affected students.
The Commission reiterated that institutions entrusted with the personal data of students, staff and other members of their communities have a heightened responsibility to ensure that such information is processed lawfully, fairly, transparently and securely.
The NDPC therefore warned educational institutions that are yet to comply with its existing data protection compliance directives to take immediate steps to achieve compliance.
The Commission said it would continue to exercise its regulatory mandate to protect the privacy rights of Nigerians and ensure that organisations processing personal data comply with the provisions of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023.
Microsoft is planning to unveil its new Maia 300 AI chip this fall, potentially as soon as next month, The Information reported on Monday, citing people with direct knowledge of the plans.
The company introduced its Maia AI chip in November 2023 but has lagged rivals such as Alphabet and Amazon in scaling up its in-house chip efforts as it seeks to reduce its reliance on Nvidia’s costly processors.
Google began recognizing revenue from direct sales of its custom AI chips, called Tensor Processing Units, in the quarter ended June, while Amazon has also seen growing adoption of its processors, including its Trainium chips.
Microsoft has been in talks with chipmaker TSMC to secure manufacturing capacity for more than 300,000 units of the chip for delivery in 2027, according to the report. It is also looking to significantly ramp up production and persuade major cloud customers such as Anthropic to adopt the chip.
Microsoft ultimately aims to secure capacity for more than 1 million Maia 300 chips, though component supplies and ongoing capacity negotiations with TSMC could constrain its plans, according to the report.
It unveiled its second-generation Maia 200 in January, built by TSMC using 3-nanometer technology.
Microsoft packed the chip with a significant amount of SRAM, a type of memory that can provide speed advantages for AI systems handling large numbers of user requests.
X has announced plans to discontinue its Revenue Sharing programme and introduce a new Original Content Rewards programme to reward creators for producing original content on the platform.
The social media company announced the changes at the weekend in a post on its X Creators handle, saying the new programme would reward creators who contribute original content.
“Today, we’re introducing the Original Content Rewards Program, a new way to reward creators who bring original ideas, expertise, reporting, creativity, and commentary to X,” the company said.
X said it would stop accepting new enrolments into the Revenue Sharing programme from Friday, while existing participants would continue earning until September 7, 2026.
“Starting today, we’re no longer accepting new enrollments into Revenue Sharing,” it said.
According to the company, existing Revenue Sharing participants will receive three final payouts, with two scheduled for August 14 and August 28, while the final payment for earnings accrued through September 7 is expected around September 11.
X said existing Revenue Sharing participants would begin getting access to apply for the new programme from September 8, subject to meeting its eligibility requirements.
The first payout under the Original Content Rewards programme will be made on August 28, 2026, while existing Revenue Sharing creators who enrol in the new programme from September 8 will receive their first payment on September 25.
Under the new programme, eligible creators will earn from qualified impressions generated by their original content, with payments made every two weeks.
X defined qualified impressions as unique impressions from Premium users on the Home Timeline feed, where at least 50 per cent of a post is visible.
On the other hand, “The following are excluded from qualified impressions: impressions from the same account counted more than once per post; paid, promoted, or artificially generated impressions; and fraudulent impressions,” it said.
To qualify, creators must be at least 18 years old, live in a country where the programme is available, maintain an account in good standing and have either a personal or vusiness account.
They must also subscribe to X Premium, Premium+ or Premium Business, have at least 500 verified followers and record at least 500,000 Home Timeline impressions from verified users within the previous 90 days.
X said creators must also regularly post original content to remain eligible.
“We want to recognize creators who break news, share expertise, tell stories, create entertainment, and contribute meaningful perspectives to the conversation,” the company said.
The platform said original content could include threads, videos, memes, graphics, illustrations, reporting, analysis, commentary and reactions that add meaningful value to existing conversations.
It said creators who use content produced by others would need to add meaningful commentary, context, analysis, humour or creative transformation for such posts to qualify.
“Building on existing conversations is a core part of X, but simply reposting someone else’s content is not enough,” it said.
X said minor edits such as cropping, filters, borders, watermarks, speed adjustments or simple text overlays would generally not qualify as meaningful transformation on their own.
It also warned that content copied or substantially reproduced from another creator, content downloaded and re-uploaded from X or another platform without being the original author’s, automated content, disinformation and misleading content would be ineligible.
The company said accounts that violate the programme’s requirements could be temporarily or permanently removed from it, depending on the severity of the violation.
It added that creators would be responsible for ensuring they had the necessary rights, permissions or licences to use content created by others.
“Original content is content you personally create that reflects your own voice, perspective, expertise, or creativity,” X said.
The company said the new programme was intended to reward creators who make the platform more valuable by bringing original ideas and perspectives to its conversations.
“The Original Content Rewards Program is designed to reward the creators who start them, shape them, and move them forward,” it said.
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