Cabanga Magazine

Zimbabwean Internet service providers (ISPs) are struggling to install costly equipment to monitor the flow of information in the southern African country, according to online activist Web site Kubatana. President Robert Mugabe formally signed the Interception of Communications Act earlier this month. It enables the government to intercept phone calls, e-mails and faxes with the intention of protecting national security. The law stipulates ISPs are under mandatory obligation to pay for and install the monitoring equipment. “The law now stipulates that licensed Internet access providers and their ISPs must install the lawful interception equipment at their own cost,” says Shadreck Nkala, chairperson of the Zimbabwe Internet Service Provider Association (ZISPA). The Act further states an ISP that fails to provide assistance in terms of this section shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years. Nkala says there is a need for di...

Database Driven Most of them are database driven, making it difficult for each entry to be found by search engines like google.com. Most use Cold Fusion, a technology not easily accessible by Google scripts. Google uses Perl. The difference is that Perl dumps information on every query (Client Driven), yet Cold Fusion keeps everything on the server on which the query is being requested (Server Driven). What has influence these web publications • Mindsets o People only read from newspaper classifieds only. o Who would want to invest in a vibrant website? o It’s Zimbabwe anywhere! • Lack of understanding of marketing in cyberspace. • More of a presence issue, for corporate image issue. The Technologies Used Most of the websites were developed by WebDev and Design@7. WedDev is strong on Wed Development (the Database side), hence their sites have that orientation. Design@7 is strong with Graphics, hence their sites have that orientation. Some other sites were developed by small companies, ...