Study: Ethiopia only Africa nation to filter Net

Study:
Ethiopia only Africa nation to filter Net

However, various African countries monitor and restrict
Internet access in some way

08 October, 2009 | By Rebecca Wanjiku (Computerworld Kenya)

Though various African countries

monitor and restrict Internet

access

in some way, Ethiopia is

the only country with a technical

filtering

regime in the sub-Saharan

region, according to a report by

OpenNet

Initiative, a collaborative

partnership between Harvard,

Toronto,

Cambridge and Oxford

universities.

The study, conducted in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Uganda and Zimbabwe
between 2008 and 2009, found that though sub-Saharan Africa has a
history of controlling freedom of expression, Ethiopia was the only
country filtering the Internet.

The research cites sporadic IP blocking of sites, rather than more
sophisticated URL blocking. Most filtering targets political content.
However, many countries in the region also practice other forms of
censorship such as arresting or threatening bloggers, online journalists
and Internet users.

"Ethiopia's filtering regime targets independent media, blogs, and
political reform and human rights sites; many prominent sites that are
critical of the Ethiopian government remain accessible, while some
blocked sites seem harmless," said the report.

According to the study, various blogs as well as the Nazret Web site,
which aggregates Ethiopian content, are blocked. The sites of
opposition political parties, minority ethnic groups, independent news
organizations and Ethiopia-specific human rights organizations
appeared to be a priority for blocking, though many international sites
containing comparable information (such as CNN, Voice of America,
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International) were not blocked.

To ensure compliance with government directives, the Ethiopia
government restricts provision of Internet access to the state-owned
Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) and the Ethiopian
Telecommunication Agency (ETA). The ETA grants the ETC a
monopoly license as Ethiopia's sole ISP (Internet service provider)
and seller of domain names under the country code top-level domain,
".et." Internet cafés and other resellers of Internet services must be
licensed by the ETA and must purchase their access through the ETC.

"In late December 2006, ETA gave a directive requiring Internet cafés
to log the names and addresses of individual customers, apparently as
part of an effort to track users who engaged in illegal activities online.
The lists are to be turned over to the police, and Internet café owners
who fail to register users face prison," the report said.

Zimbabwe has been singled out for "sub-Saharan Africa's most
extensive" surveillance regimes.

"The Zimbabwe Post and Telecommunications Act of 2000 allows the
government to monitor e-mail usage and requires ISPs to supply
information to government officials when requested," the report said.

Due to the political problems that have bedeviled Zimbabwe, the
government strengthened its Internet surveillance policies with the
Communications Bill of 2006, which established a telecommunications
agency called the Monitoring and Interception of Communications
Center. It also requires telecommunications and Internet service
providers to ensure that their systems are technically capable of
monitoring.

After the Sept. 11 attacks on New York City many governments
enacted antiterrorism laws, and in some cases the laws were used to
suppress freedom of expression. Dissident voices were cited for
terrorism or treason.

"The initial draft of Uganda's Interception of Communications Bill of
2007 allowed phone tapping and other forms of electronic surveillance
on people suspected of committing terrorism or crimes against the
State without requiring a court order," said Rebekah Heacock, the
report author.

In Nigeria, the Communications Act 2003 gives the government the
authority to require people to supply any information for the purposes
of national security. Punishment for refusal includes a year in prison
and a fine of US$676.

The report concludes that although the region does not have
widespread Internet filtering, it does not necessarily indicate that the
countries are taking an intentionally open approach to the Internet.

Courtesy