Is Paypal Flagging Ugandan IP Addresses?

This morning I accessed my PayPal account for the first time since arriving in Uganda only to be asked a number of security questions to verify my identity. I’m not sure if this was done because I’m in Uganda or if it’s simply because I was accessing my account from outside of my home country but I think it’s interesting. When I went traveling in Eastern and Western Europe in 2006 I didn’t have to do this. Either it’s a new site-wide policy or Uganda (and probably a number of other African countries) have been targeted due to the somewhat accurate stigma of cyber-criminals using the region to operate. Take a look at the screenshots below:

While I appreciate PayPal’s attempt to protect my identity and accounts, it’s a little odd. The process was easy enough to complete and caused no trouble to me but it may be yet another indication of how African countries are penalized by the western world for the actions of a few bad seeds. Of course the blame is shared. Lax laws on cyber-crime in Sub-Saharan Africa have made it an ideological safe-haven for hackers and phishers who scam the international community while hiding behind developing nation diplomacy. This, however, is actively being worked on by state representatives in Uganda and elsewhere in Africa.

Davis Weddi of New Vision wrote today:

Today three bills await tabling in Parliament: Electronic Transactions Bill, Electronic Signatures Bill and Computer Misuse Bill. If passed, these will become Uganda’s cyber laws.

It is one thing to have these laws, but it will be another thing to enact them. Dr. Ham Mulira ICT Minister says, “We need the legal-techno-power, there is need to create awareness within the legal side.”

Mulira wants institutions of higher learning to train students capable of dealing with cyber-crime.
The draft of these upcoming laws states: Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) are technologies that provide an enabling environment for physical infrastructure and services development of applications for the generation, processing, storing disseminating and transmission of information.

These include Communication Technologies (CTs) for example telephones and wireless satellite and the Information Technologies (IT) which include Computer hardware, software, applications and data structures.

The draft further explains that: The convergence of technologies in telecommunications, broadcasting and computers has created a new market place with a two-way flow of information involving the processing and transmission of data, including text, sound and video in diverse activities including electronic trading of goods and services.

Online delivery of digital content includes, electronic fund transfers, electronic share trading, electronic bills of lading, commercial auctions, collaborative design and engineering, online sourcing, public procurement, direct consumer marketing and after-sale service.

The draft bills have tried to explain and demystify the jargon-shrouded cyber-world. Each of the three bills clearly defines its boundaries.

The draft Electronic Transactions Bill defines “Electronic Transaction” as a transaction of either commercial or non–commercial electronic communication by means of data messages.

Under the draft Electronic Signatures Bill, there are two aspects explained namely the Digital signature and the Electronic signature.

The Digital signature is a transformation of a message using a wireless medium such that a person having the initial message can accurately determine: whether the transformation was created using the private key that corresponds to the signer’s medium; and whether the message has been altered since the transformation was made.

The bill clarifies that the philosophy behind the Electronic Signatures Bill shall recognise the technology of digital signatures as a secure one.

For those who misuse computers, there is the bill on Computer misuse which if made law, will stop their activities. If the law is enacted as is, offenders will be in trouble. Those who like pornography should get ready to defend their desires.

The draft defines computer misuse as unauthorised access to private computers and network systems.

Deliberate corruption or destruction of other people’s data, disrupting the network of others; as well as the creation and forwarding of defamatory material, infringement of copyright and the transmission of unsolicited advertising or other material to outside organisations.