BYOD #19: Digital clampdowns in Chad, Egypt, and Nigeria gets Google Station
This week’s round-up of digital security news and investigative journalism in Africa.
ANCIR’s weekly post offering interesting — or amusing — digital security news from around the world, and tips for newsrooms, journalists and sources on the latest security measures.
Nigeria to get Google Station
Google has made a number of big announcements aimed at making the internet more accessible to Africa. The tech giant announced that it will launch Google Station for Nigeria to provide high quality, high-speed Wi-Fi hotspots in 200 locations within 5 cities in partnership with 21st Century. Speaking at the second Google for Nigeria event, Google Nigeria Country Director, Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor announced that the project will be complete by the end of 2019. Nigeria will be the fifth country to get Google Station after India, Indonesia, Thailand and Mexico.
Lawyers in Chad protest social media ban
Legal practitioners in Chad have gone to court to challenge a social media ban introduced by the government in March. The lawyers want the main mobile service providers in the country, Tigo and Airtel, to restore access to the platforms. According to CGTN Africa, the ban was introduced after a conference which suggested amendments to the constitution to allow the sitting President Idriss Deby to remain in power until 2033.
This is not the first time the Chadian government has restricted internet access. In 2016, social media was suspended in the country for 6 months around the presidential election. The government, however, blamed the outage on technical problems. Some online users in Chad have resorted to using Virtual Private Networks to access social media networks.
Egypt approves law to restrict internet access
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt has signed off on a law tightening internet controls. According to Egypt Independent, the legislation will allow authorities to order the blocking of websites that constitute a threat to Egypt’s national security. Anyone administering such sites whether intentionally or not will be subject to fines and jail time. Rights groups have raised complaints about the law, citing that it infringes on the freedom of expression. In March, lawmakers in Egypt approved another bill allowing for the state’s supreme council to monitor social media users.
BYOD (Bring Your Own Device/Data) refers to owning your data and digital property, and keeping it secure. This newsletter is brought to you with support from Project Shield and Code For Africa.
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The African Network of Centers for Investigative Reporting (ANCIR) is an association of the continent’s best investigative newsrooms, ranging from large traditional media to small specialist units.
ANCIR works to strengthen African investigative journalism by improving the techniques, expertise, the tools used in muckraking newsrooms. This includes providing member newsrooms with the world’s best encryption and semantic analysis technologies, to forensic research support (through the Investigative Dashboard), legal services, and seed grants for cross-border collaboration.
ANCIR is incubated by and receives technical support from Code for Africa.
