[kictanet] ETHIOPIAN GOVT. BANS SKYPE, GOOGLE TALK AND ALL OTHER VOIP SERVICES

Wed Jun 20 07:58:59 EAT 2012

Yes Tichi. I think it was announced early last week and debate has been going on on other lists. 
RgdsGG

> Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2012 12:43:19 +0000
> From: tnyasani at kulahappy.com
> Subject: [kictanet] ETHIOPIAN GOVT. BANS SKYPE, GOOGLE TALK AND ALL OTHER VOIP SERVICES
> CC: kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> To: ggithaiga at hotmail.com
> 
> 
> 
> Hey Listers,
> 
> Has anyone come across this information?
> 
> Regards,
> Tichi
> 
> 
> 
> ETHIOPIAN GOVT BAN ON SKYPE:
> 
> The Ethiopian government, Al Jazeera  reports, has criminalized the  
> use of Skype and other VoIP services like Google Talk. Using VoIP  
> services is now punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
> This law actually passed last month, but mostly went unnoticed outside  
> of the country. Ethiopian authorities argue that they imposed these  
> bans because of national security concerns and to protect the state's  
> telecommunications monopoly. The country only has one ISP, the  
> state-owned  Ethio Telecom, and has been filtering its citizen's  
> Internet access for quite some time now to suppress opposition blogs  
> and other news outlets.
> 
> 
> USE SKYPE, GO TO PRISON
> 
> 
> As for Skype and other VoIP services, the new law doesn't just  
> criminalize their usage, but the  Ministry of Communication and  
> Information Technology now has the power to supervise and issue  
> licenses to all privately owned companies that import equipment used  
> for the communication of information.? It's worth noting that the new  
> law also prohibits audio and video data traffic via social media. It's  
> not clear how exactly the government plans to enforce this  
> restriction, but a potential 15-year prison term will likely keep most  
> people from using Skype in Ethiopia anytime soon.
> 
> Reporters Without Borders also reports that Ethio Telecom installed a  
> system to block access to the Tor network, which allows users to surf  
> the Web anonymously. The organization notes that the ISP must be using  
> relatively sophisticated Deep Packet Inspection to filter out this  
> traffic.
> 
> According to Internet filtering and censorship watchdog , Ethiopia  
> currently has the second lowest Internet penetration rate in  
> sub-Saharan Africa and just around 700,000 of the country's 84 million  
> citizens had Internet access in 2010
> 
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> 
> Quoting Kivuva <Kivuva at transworldafrica.com>:
> 
> >> On the other hand ,  according to Wikipedia, e-government refers to
> >> digital interactions between a government and its Citizens
> >>
> >> *Questions*
> >
> >
> >
> >> 5. The government has embarked on a number of e-government initiatives, to
> >> what extent has the Citizenry embraced e-government? What steps should the
> >> country take to ensure the citizens fully embrace e - government?*
> >> *The floor is open
> >>
> >>
> > Thanks Barrack, let me take the open floor. :)
> > I Like the UK's e-governmnet motto "Digital by default".
> > http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/index.htm. It shows real commitment to take
> > government services to the people, not the other way round.
> >
> > We have an e-Governance Secretariat established by the government of Kenya (
> > http://www.e-government.go.ke/). The main objective in the website was to
> >
> > "oversee conceptualization, design and coordination of implementation of
> > information technology activities in the civil service that are geared
> > towards realization of full e-Government in public service delivery."
> >
> > Essentially, the term e-Government also known as Digital Government, refers
> > to 'How government utilizes IT, ICT and other telecommunication
> > technologies, to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness in the public
> > sector' (Jeong, 2007)
> >
> > The government of Kenya approved a national ICT policy in consultation with
> > relevant agencies which recognized the problems of the different disjoint
> > government systems, duplication and lack of enabling infrastructure. Since
> > then the government has created systems for applying for public service
> > jobs (is it working?),  tracking status of passports (dead),  exam results
> > notifications (working), a government procurement portal, and submitting
> > tax returns and declaring customs online (perfect).  Many other services
> > are still at infant stage but it is still a step in the right direction.
> >
> > Other successful e-government strategies  by the government are:
> >
> >    1. Establishing a data center and implementation of a shared services
> >    platform where common services are integrated and managed centrally to
> >    improve services, reduce overhead costs and duplications as well as for
> >    optimal utilization of the ICT human capital.
> >    2. Laid fiber optic cable through the nation but they have not yet
> >    provided last mile connectivity to government offices or other users.
> >    3. Released Open Government Data through opendata datasets concept. The
> >    data includes: various dimensions of population data; local and national
> >    government authority expenditure; public health indicator data and
> >    statistics including hospital locations; education data such as enrollment
> >    rates and school locations; parliamentary proceedings (digital Hansard);
> >    weather information and detailed census statistics on topics such  
> > as access
> >    to electricity, water and sanitation. https://www.opendata.go.ke/
> >    4. The government each years offers Local content grants to about 20
> >    developers and artists of up-to $50,000 per project through a competitive
> >    process.
> >     
> > http://www.ict.go.ke/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=356&Itemid=301
> >    5. Promoting BPO/ITES activities in the country. The Hallmark is the
> >    establishment of the grand Konza Technology Park which is billed as the
> >    next African Silicon Savannah. http://www.konzacity.co.ke/
> >    6. And finally, entrepreneurs are given loans to start Digital villages
> >    code named Pasha (meaning disseminate). This initiative aims at
> >    establishing Cyber Cafes that providing internet access and various online
> >    services at the grassroots. http://pasha.co.ke/
> >
> > The initiatives are more that what I've outlines, and can be a good basis
> > for a Masters or PhD dissertation. I did a slideshare presentation a years
> > back with the same theme, but different components. You can access the link
> > herehttp://www.slideshare.net/lordmwesh/e-government-7203413
> >
> > Is our e-government strategy working? Are we "more talk and no walk"? What
> > can be done to push the stalled projects forward?
> >
> > Regards
> > 10rdmwesh
> >
> > --
> > ______________________
> > Mwendwa Kivuva
> > For
> > Business Development
> > Transworld Computer Channels
> > Cel: 0722402248
> > twitter.com/lordmwesh
> > www.transworldAfrica.com  | Fluent in computing
> > kenya.or.ke | The Kenya we know
> >
> 
> 
> 
> 
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