Sierra Leone’s New Cybercrime Bill Could Turn a Phone Into a Crime Scene

By Alhaji Koroma|
Digitization has been a huge boost to Sierra Leoneans in recent years, making new spaces available online to freely express and share sensitive views and information on the country’s political and socio-economic issues.
But Sierra Leone’s current laws on free speech in digital spaces do not adequately protect citizens from targeted harassment or arbitrary threats and arrests.
Now, a proposed cybercrime…

Kenyan Police Officers Now Required to Undergo a 6-month Compulsory ICT Training

By Titilola Oludimu |

In line with its vision to digitise the Kenyan Police Service, the government wants its police officers to undergo a compulsory ICT training for a maximum of six months.

The training, according to Fred Matiang’i, the country’s Interior Cabinet Secretary, is aimed at equipping police officers with basic ICT knowledge to be able to use the newly launched National Police…

Half the World is Online. Now We Must Make the Web Work for Everyone, Everywhere.

News Update |

Just over one month ago, the Web Foundation made headlines when we revealed that less than half of the global population was online. The shocking statistic was a rallying point for the launch of the Contract for the Web — a new collaborative project that brings together governments, companies, civil society organisations and citizens around the world to collectively define our responsibilities towards…

African govts ‘Unlawfully’ Blocking Cyber Space

By Jean-Pierre Afadhali|
IN SUMMARY

Shutting down the Internet, blocking websites and expunging online content are among the tactics governments in Africa are using to stifle citizens’ voices, even as online platforms increasingly become the go-to places to denounce bad governance.
Shutting down the Internet, blocking websites and expunging online content are among the tactics governments in Africa are using to stifle citizens’ voices,…

Ethiopian Authorities Shut Down Mobile Internet and Major Social Media Sites

By Endalk|

All mobile internet services have been shut down in Ethiopia for the last seven days, amid increasingly violent protest scenes and a recently declared a “state of emergency”.

Demonstrations have taken place with regular frequency in Ethiopia’s Oromia region since November 2015, with protesters demanding greater self-rule, freedom and respect for the ethnic identity of the Oromo people, who have experienced systematic marginalization and persecution…