Posts Tagged ‘Nigeria’

The OpenNet Initiative Presents New Findings in Africa

By BHRP

Flickr Creative Commons | Future Atlas

Flickr Creative Commons | Future Atlas

by Jillian York

The OpenNet Initiative (ONI) has released updated reports on Ethiopia and Zimbabwe and new reports on Uganda and Nigeria, where ONI tested for the first time in 2008 and 2009. All four profiles can be accessed at: http://opennet.net/research/regions/ssafrica.

Many governments across sub-Saharan Africa view the Internet as a key tool for development and are developing ICT policies accordingly. While the region has a history of media abuses and restrictions on freedom of the press, ONI testing found evidence of consistent filtering in only one of the countries tested: Ethiopia.

Filtering in Ethiopia was found to be substantial in regard to both political and conflict/security sites. Ethiopian authorities have also blocked two major blogging platforms, Blogger and Nazret, suggesting political bloggers are the prime targets of censure.

Today’s release of new data and analysis follows the ONI’s May 2007 release of its first global survey and the subsequent publication of Access Denied: The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering (MIT Press, 2008), and joins recently updated reports on China and the Middle East and North Africa. In the coming months, ONI will release additional, updated reports on countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States, Europe, and Latin America, as well as on North America and on Australia and New Zealand. These reports will provide the analytical basis for a book to be released in early 2010, Access Controlled: The Shaping of Power, Rights and Rule in Cyberspace.

RSS Open Net Initiative

  • Access Contested: Security, Identity, and Resistance in Asian Cyberspace December 19, 2011
    Description from MIT Press: A daily battle for rights and freedoms in cyberspace is being waged in Asia. At the epicenter of this contest is China--home to the world's largest Internet population and what is perhaps the world's most advanced Internet censorship and surveillance regime in cyberspace. Resistance to China's Internet controls come […]
    rheacock
  • All three of the @OpenNet Initiative books can now be found, free and open access, on a single site (via @jpalfrey) December 19, 2011
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    ashar
  • Better Data for a Better Internet December 2, 2011
    The Berkman Center enthusiastically shares an article from Faculty Co-Directors John Palfrey and Jonathan Zittrain on "Better Data for a Better Internet," published in this month's edition of Science. The piece explores how current debates and discussions about Internet policy can be more effectively informed by better data and research method […]
    ashar
  • Berkman Buzz: November 4, 2011 November 4, 2011
    A look at the past week's online Berkman conversations If you would like to receive the Buzz weekly via email, please sign up here. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * What's being discussed...take your pick or browse below. * Wendy Seltzer reports on last week's ICANN public meeting […]
    rheacock
  • Berkman Buzz: August 12, 2011 August 12, 2011
    A look at the past week's online Berkman conversations If you would like to receive the Buzz weekly via email, please sign up here. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * What's being discussed...take your pick or browse below. * Dan Gillmor cautions against social media surveillance * The Op […]
    rheacock