Still running on IP? Yes!

Suddenly, i realized i have time to blog... again!

Around and about the end of the year 2016, we heard a lot said about Russians and computers and manipulation of stored data to the effect of a claim that the results of the voting were, in a way controlled and biased to the advantage of one candidate in the run for POTUS.

Just a few weeks ago, another election, in another country, Kenya, where i have interests, another claim was made to the effect that the results of the election were controlled by Americans in a way that the candidate of choice was favored by manipulating the data in the computers to reflect and maintain a consistent lead regardless of the votes being counted.

These are issues that can be worrying.

In both situations, there is still no proof to the claims. But suppose they were true? Suppose it happens in future - a world where we are heading to the IoT? In that world, GPS (Global Positioning System) and IP (Internet Protocol) are likely going to integrate way more than we have never imagined. Supposing the GPS device that helps me drive (easily anywhere i have never been) gets data that has been manipulated by haters?

Well, IP is taking center stage every day that passes. We will all be running on IP. Watch out!


~/`~/`.

Kenya elections

In Kenya, "tunawezi wait" - a phrase invented for Ballot 2013 - is cool speak for "we can wait" and it was the text sent to millions of mobile phone users during election week. Repeatedly, word went round that this was the most complex election Kenya has ever had.

Actually, it was a rigorous exercise: six election officials gave six ballot papers of different colours to each voter because there was six elections in one (president, senator, governor, parliamentarian, etc). Having ticked the candidate of their choice, the voter had to drop each of the six ballots in a box that matches its colour.

Day ends and the counting starts. It was tense. The function of tallying and announcing the results by the IEBC went like a scripted last funeral rites ceremony of the thousands of lives lost in the previous election's aftermath. It took days, longer than was expected to finalise the tallying of the presidential results. When the announcer invited a choir for another song, the audience was filled with disapproving voices.

One could see the uneasy peace, the calm that was not natural at all. We in Uganda, like many people in Kenya and elsewhere, kept hoping that all goes well and peacefully.

The winner was announced. He got 6,123,433 votes out of 12,330,028 valid votes cast - that is less than 50 percent. The case is in court.

./