this doesnt fall under its mandate. its upto the isps to
regulate/determine what traffic they will allow/disallow.
If you feel that this amounts to a violation of your right to free
speech and access to information, you can send a compliant to UCC
(http://ucc.co.ug/complaint.html)
*Ques*.: What issues can consumers complain about?
*Ans.:* These include the following amongst others: wrong bills,
arbitrary disconnection of lines, nonchalant attitude towards genuine
complaints, poor services delivery, untruthful and deceptive
advertisements, supply of sub-standard equipment, bare-face exploitation
and invasion of privacy, violation or non delivery of mail, delayed
restoration of service, unreliable service, etc.
You can be part of the etc.
*Ques*.: Is UCC a Government agency?
*Ans*.: Yes! UCC is a Government agency with independent status to
effectively regulate the activities of operators, suppliers, and
consumers in the communications industry.
Being a goverment agency, it is in their interests to toe the Goverment
line. I am not sure how independent they can be according to the
consistution or Under section 96 of the Uganda Communictions Act of 1997.
However if you read the licensing regulations from UCC, you will note
that they have the powers to, under Article 15, Section 2, subsection
a(1), to
(a) the Commission may begin an investigation into a complaint under a
number of circumstances-
(i) following a complaint by any person;
(ii) where indicated by matters arising from an investigation of any
person as part of the Commission's performance of its duties; or
(iii) where the Commission obtains information by other means and that
information suggests that a contravention of the licence term or
condition may have occurred or is occurring;
And if found that indeed, the compliant is deserving of action, under
subsection (g), the UCC is supposed to provide an opportunity for public
comment and consultaion, after which it should provide the relavant
guidance. However, subsection (i) clearly states that
(i) the Commission's decision and directions shall be non-discriminatory
and shall treat similarly situated persons in the same manner and on an
equivalent basis;
(j) at any time during an enforcement proceeding, the Commission may
issue an interim order directing the operator to cease and desist from a
specified conduct, if the Commission is satisfied that-
(i) there is prima facie evidence that the operator contravened the
provision of the Act and the regulations or the condition of the licence;
(ii) continuation of the operator’s conduct is likely to cause serious
harm to other operators, consumers or the general public;
(iii) the potential harm in allowing the operator continue its conduct
outweighs the burden on the operator;
(iv) issuance of the order is in the public interest;
In the case of radiokatwe.com, the UCC has not applied its very
regulation and left the general public out of the loop of consultation.
And while, UCC may claim that
what is done is in the interest of the public, it is UCC's role as a
regulatory body to involve the public in the debate of what information
should be available.
In the PracticeandProcedures regulations, if the Goverment or any other
party is dissatisfied with the content of any of the ISPs or telecom
providers, he/she is
to provide the formal complaint and the said telco is tor respond within
15 days. During this period, the service of the telco is not to be
interrupted in any
way. We havent seen this compliant, and given that the site was online
for a little over 20 days now, its inconceivable that the appropriate
summons have been
issued to the telcos in question.
Ernest, B.M (AfriNIC - ZA) wrote:
> Hari Kurup wrote the following on 02/15/2006 09:55 AM:
>
>> UCC told ISPs to block the Website due to "serious concerns".
>
>
> Which brings me to one question:
>
> Is this the duty of the UCC anyway?
>
> rgds
> ernest
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>LUG mailing list
>[email protected]
>http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug
>%LUG is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
>
>The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them
(including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for
them in any way.
>---------------------------------------
>
_______________________________________________
LUG mailing list
[email protected]
http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug
%LUG is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including
attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way.
---------------------------------------
