[kictanet] [SPAM?] Re: Week 1: Online Discussion on Promoting Internet Freedoms in Africa (November 11 - 15)

Fri Nov 15 06:53:41 EAT 2013

Hello all

With freedom comes responsibility. And I think our african dilemma is that we want freedom and not the responsibility it carries.

The internet is an amazing tool but just like any other tool in our life we have to use it properly. When people violate other peoples privacy with in researched stories then publish them on the internet there must be a way to protect the innocent. We should no be allowed to trample other peoples freedoms because we want to express our own freedoms.

I see this heavily on the online press and also the printed press.  Our journalists need to learn to respect individual freedoms in the pursuit of a hot story.

Badru Ntege
Sent from my Mobile

On 14 Nov 2013, at 12:06, "Lillian Nalwoga" <lnalwoga at gmail.com<mailto:lnalwoga at gmail.com>> wrote:

Hi Barrack,

Thanks for your insights. I am interested on the aspect of hate speech in Kenya. Don't you think governments are using that term to curtail freedom of expression especially now that citizens especially journalists are getting to expression their opinions freely online.

In Uganda, our internet freedom issues have been politically motivated with government interfering in ISP business - case of 'walk-to-work' campaign where government made an attempt to block access to facebook and twitter, then also the most recent where we saw government shutdown the Daily Monitor offices (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22599347) over allegations of a story featuring the president's son succession plans.  Btw, the Daily Monitor website continued functioning despite the shutdown.

I will be interested to hear more about cases of hate speech in Kenya that might or have led your government take action. Or any other cases in Africa, that involve surveillance, censorship and arrests on internet users as a result of submissions made online.

Best,
Lillian

On Wed, Nov 13, 2013 at 1:46 PM, Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack at gmail.com<mailto:otieno.barrack at gmail.com>> wrote:
Dear Lillian,

Many thanks for this discussion indeed what we do online can only be equated to what we do offline. Countries with Internet Freedoms equally have an open democratic space that allows their citizens to express themselves. Leadership is key in ensuring facilitating Internet Freedom. Freedom comes with responsibilities, good leadership entails mentoring and providing a general vision to the populace that enables them to take advantage of freedom for their developement, this is what has happened in countries that have freedom.
The challenge we have is to continue promoting responsible use of the freedoms provided by the  Internet. In Kenya we have had challenged of hate speech, in Nigeria 419, i dont know the challenges other countries have faced, it would be interesting to hear.

Best Regards

On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 1:47 PM, Lillian Nalwoga <lnalwoga at gmail.com<mailto:lnalwoga at gmail.com>> wrote:
Hello All,

As described in the introductory email yesterday , we're glad to kick off discussions on this important topic, and look forward to feedback from the wealth of knowledge and experience here.

We imagine there's a lot to say on the Status of Internet Freedom in African Countries, but let's start with the summary of Freedom House's 2013 Freedom on the Net report, which shows the status in some African countries - Nigeria, Angola, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco. As seen in the attached image (below), Sudan and Ethiopia are not free; Kenya and South Africa are free; while the rest are partly free. You can also see an interactive map of African (and other countries) and details of the measurement at http://freedomhouse.org/report-types/freedom-net.

<Screen Shot 2013-11-11 at 9.32.18 AM.png>
With this background, we'd like to start Week 1 by asking for your views on issues of online freedom of expression. However, we'll also look at themes such as Internet Intermediary Liability; censorship and surveillance incidents; regulations, laws and policies governing freedom of expression online; and perspectives on the African Convention on Cyber Security. We invite you to look at the questions below, and please feel free to answer them directly or speak generally to the issues of the week.

We would like to here from you on:-

  1.  What are the major issues surrounding online freedom of expression in Africa or in your country?
  2.  What convergences and tensions exist between freedom of expression and privacy?
  3.  What are the implications of approaching the balance between freedom of expression and privacy from a freedom of expression–centric point of view?
  4.  What actions can governments, civil society, media and the private sector take to balance privacy with freedom of expression online?
  5.  What is the best way to empower users to stay safe online while protecting their freedom of expression?

Thank you for your contribution to this 4-week discussion, and please note that apart from the general introductory eMails and summaries we provide, we are reading through every reply and will provide a general summary at the end of the week.

The summaries from the 4 weeks will feed into the final report which will be made available on PIN and CIPESA websites, and will also be shared with this list. For more information on the discussions, please feel free to refer to http://www.cipesa.org/2013/11/online-discussions-on-promoting-internet-freedoms-in-africa/

We look forward to your thoughts on the questions above… and specifically, we'd like to know what you think about the attached map regarding the assessment of African countries in the 2013 Freedom on the Net report.

Best regards,

--
Lillian Nalwoga
CIPESA
www.cipesa.org<http://www.cipesa.org/>

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KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.

--
Barrack O. Otieno
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The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.

KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
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