By Ashnah Kalemera |
Tanzania has issued online content regulations that oblige bloggers, owners of discussion forums, as well as radio and television streaming services to register with the communications regulator and to pay hefty licensing and annual fees.
There are three types of licences. A license for provision of online content services comes at an initial cost of TZShs 1.1 million…
Tanzania News|
Dar es Salaam. Be warned that failure to have a password for your mobile phone is now a crime which might earn you a fine of more than Sh5 million or imprisonment for 12 months or both.
This is in accordance to the newly introduced Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulation 2018 which was signed by Minister for Information,…
Paris, April 5, 2018: Internet Without Borders is alarmed by the current shutdown of social media platforms and messaging services including Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber and important news website such as BBC, in Chad.
This new case of censorship comes just a few days after Internet Without Borders and partners submitted a report to the UN Human Rights Council, on Human Rights violations…
Sierra Leone News Update |
Sierra Leone’s telecom regulatory body, NATCOM, has denied claims it shut down internet access ahead of the country’s presidential elections.
The first round election on 7 March failed to produce an outright winner with no candidate securing 55% of votes as required by local electoral laws. A run-off election was called for Saturday 31 March.
As counting started, internet access…
News Update|
A recent study has found there’s $408 million sitting in unused funds across Africa – money that could be used to get millions more women and girls online. The Alliance for Affordable Internet’s Dhanaraj Thakur explains how.
Africa has the largest gender gap of any region in the world when it comes to internet use: 25 percent fewer women are online than men, and…
By Daniel Mwesigwa |
Uganda has become the latest East African country to threaten access to information and free speech online by putting in place measures that require the registration of online content providers. In a noticeissued earlier this month, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) called for online publishers, news platforms, radio and television operators to “apply and obtain authorization” for provision…
By Juliet Nanfuka |
Many African countries are caught between developing policies that support the unfettered use of the internet as a tool for social, economic and political growth, and laws that threaten citizens’ rights and use of digital technologies. Often, this is partly due to limited evidence upon which to base policies and decision-making, which results from the scant availability…
Egyptian parliamentarians will soon review a draft anti-cybercrime law that could codify internet censorship practices into national law.
While the Egyptian government is notorious for censoring websites and platforms on national security grounds, there are no laws in force that explicitly dictate what is and is not permissible in the realm of online censorship. But if the draft law is approved, that will…
Report|
KAMPALA- Almost 24.8m or 70.9 per cent of Ugandans own mobile phones, a report by the National Information Technology Authority Uganda (NITA-U), has revealed.
The report dubbed the National IT Survey 2017/2018, sampled 2,700 people among government ministries, departments, agencies, local governments and households across the country in 2017.
The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) 2014 Access and Usage of Communication Services Across Uganda…
By Juliet Nanfuka |
The push back against internet shutdowns in Cameroon has recently taken a new turn with advocacy organisations filing formal submissions before the Supreme Court of Cameroon. In their January 2018 submission, AccessNow and Internet Sans Frontières (ISF) highlight Cameroon’s commitment to international and regional human rights law and urge judges to recognise that disrupting or blocking the internet…