News Update |
COVID-19 has shown the internet is not a luxury but a lifeline, and underscored why affordable, meaningful internet access must be a basic human right
2020 has been the year of digital salvation and of digital deprivation. Just as the world has turned to the internet to work from home, keep businesses alive, go to school online and stay connected…
By Ayang Macdonald |
A project to set up a unique digital library that will connect Cameroon’s eight state-owned universities is in the pipeline. This was at the center of discussions when heads of the concerned universities as well as authorities of the country’s Higher Education Ministry met for two days in the capital, Yaounde, last week.
During the meeting, stakeholders brainstormed on various operational modalities…
By the United Nations Human Rights |
GENEVA (25 June 2020) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Thursday called on States and businesses to ensure that new technologies, including facial recognition and so-called ‘less-lethal weapons,’ are developed and used in ways that do not disrupt and prevent people’s ability to exercise their fundamental rights to peaceful assembly and…
By CIPESA Writer |
Following a seven-year, windy journey, on November 8, 2019, Kenya got a data protection law. The Data Protection Act, 2019 has various positive elements and can go a long way in addressing the live issues in protecting the privacy of data in Kenya.
The law came at a time of widespread concern about privacy in the country, including…
By Bekezela Phakathi |
Business, mobile operators and the DA welcome the news, citing the bill’s impingement on privacy and deleterious effect on the economy.
The government has shelved a controversial proposed law aimed at regulating infrastructure sharing in the telecommunications sector.
One of the contentious proposals in the Electronic Communications Amendment Bill was the establishment of a wireless open-access network (WOAN), which…
By Juliet Nanfuka |
The tax which the Uganda government introduced on use of social media last July has slashed the number of internet users in the country by five million in three months, according to figures from the industry regulator, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC). The numbers also show that revenue from the tax is far from the windfall which government had predicted…
News update |
Internet Without Borders launches an international campaign against Internet censorship in Chad, to act against the blocking of social media and the high cost of Internet access in this landlocked country located in Central Africa.
Deployed online and offline, the campaign will begin on January 19, 2019 with demonstrations in Paris, N’djamena, a fundraising to purchase VPN access for Chadian…
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…
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…
By Daniel Mwesigwa |
At its founding, in the late 80s, the internet promised to democratize information, level uneven grounds, and the destroy barriers associated with distance, space, and time. Through promoting communication, coordination, integration at a pace and scale beyond the ability of any government to halt, the connectivity set a foundation for dichotomies so often aligned with colonialism, imperialism,…