Iwriter.com Packs up from Kenya
I have been freelancing on
iwriter.com. I had even made an ecourse to guide friends who wanted to try their hands on online freelancing. I had a rude shock yesterday (July 10th) when I tried to
log in to my account. I could not access the login page from the internet. I
was getting an “Error 403” message instead. It read, "Forbidden, you don't have permission to access/ on this server" I switched off and restarted my
computer at least twice and ran an unscheduled full virus scan. Results,
nothing. I then went on to bradcallen.com, the site that offers support for
iwriter and sent an inquiry via their ticketing system. I asked whether the
problem was general or particular to me. After a few hours, I learnt that they had shut down Kenya because there were attempts to hack the Iwriter money management system on their website. I asked whether the ban was scheduled for a season,
but I was duly informed that it permanent. There goes my free “making moneywith iwriter ecourse”!
This is one of the reasons why every freelancer needs to diversify their portfolio. it demonstrates the fragility of e-commerce and exports something very bad about Kenya. This one move will affect the income of quite a number of Kenyans. Granted, Iwriter pays very little, but its a site you can literally make money within an hour of registering. It was very attractive for that reason. It had no hangups, no elaborate registration procedures and was really a good entry level site to online freelancing. Unless something changes, the milk is spilt so just I am going quit whining and move move on to the next gig.
3 comments:
Well, there are two ways we can speculate. (Speculate because we're Kenyans. Here planes don't crash, they are bombed, lol...) Here is my 2-pence theory:
a) we were taking over iWriter and they needed a way to get rid of us. its that Kenyan thing of 'dominate'.
b) in true 'river-rori' fashion, someone thought they could make an overnight killing by hacking the system. I mean iWriter did not inspire security confidence on the face of it. An idler may have thought they were clueless.
I support you, lets get on to something else. But, yeah, it is sad because it mucks some people up real bad.
My greater worry is this - what other system are these buffons going to try and muck up?
Hey Man.Where did you get that info?I didn't see that myself...
Its true that many Kenyans are affected by this ban. What I do not understand however is why they are closing it down permanently. They could have closed it for a while or at least informed us before they did so that we could be prepared.But I know whining will not help so am moving on.
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