BYOD #20: A week of social media clampdowns
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.
Zambia to tax internet phone calls
Zambia has announced it plans to tax phone calls made over the internet. Government spokesperson Dora Siliya said the increased popularity of internet telephony services such as WhatsApp, Skype and Viber threatens the local telecommunications industry.
Activists have protested the move warning that this would stifle freedom of expression.
According to The Nation, the daily levy of $0.03 will be collected by mobile phone operators and internet providers, but no date has been set for when this policy could kick in.
This worrying call follows Uganda’s similar move to impose a daily tax of $0.05 on social media sites.
No social media during work hours
The government of Tanzania has banned social media for all its workers during working hours.
The permanent secretary in the office of the president, Dr Florian Ndumbaro, said that social media access during office hours should be banned in all government offices with internet connectivity. This is the second such decree after a similar memo was sent out in 2017 — with little effect.
According to the East African, the decision arose after members of the public complained about poor delivery of services by government officials.
Ugandan CSO fights against social media oppression
A civil society organisation in Uganda dubbed Unwanted Witness has asked security agencies to stop infringing on the internet rights of Ugandans. In a statement posted on their website, the organisation expressed their concerns about the threats being issued by security agencies targeting dissenting opinions on the internet. The threats stem from the #FreeBobiWine campaign following the arrest of a member of parliament, Robert Kyangulanyi famously known as Bobi Wine, together with 33 other people in connection to the Arua municipality by-elections.
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.
