| Iteachextra June 16 2012 11:21. Posts 46 | Profile # |
Ethiopia is limiting peoples freedom by restricting usage of social media. Does anybody know what they have to gain by doing this? I thought that country was in trouble as it is.
A 30-second call using Skype in Ethiopia can land you a 15-year prison sentence, thanks to new legislation passed by the country’s government.
The new legislation will criminalize the use of all Voice Over IP (VoIP) services, such as Skype or Google Voice, from within the country, according to an Al Jazeera report. The legislation, which was voted into law last month with little notice from international media, seems to close a loophole that was allowing some of its citizens to communicate without being monitored by authorities.
The country’s sole communication infrastructure is operated by government-run telecom Ethio Teleco. The new legislation empowers the state-owned telecom to prohibit the use not only of VoIP services, but also of video chatting, social media, e-mail, and any other data transfer service capable of communicating information. So that encompass pretty much all communication except for speaking aloud and talking within your own mind.
The law also gives the government the right to inspect any imported voice communication equipment as well as the power to ban any inbound packages that don’t have prior permission from the state, according to the Al Jazeera report.
Anyone in the country who uses an illegal phone service will face up to 15 years in jail and heavy fines. Making a phone call over the Internet is punishable by 3 to 8 years in prison plus fines. Ethio Teleco also recently installed a system for blocking access to the Tor network that users browse anonymously and access blocked websites, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Ethiopian authorities claim the drastic measures called for under the new law are necessary to protect against security threats. However, African Review notes that observers are saying the law is instead aimed at limiting freedom of expression and the flow of information between the nation’s 85 million people.
Source: http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/14/ethiopia-skype-illegal/ |
|
|
| Demonhunter04 June 16 2012 11:24. Posts 1474 | Profile # |
| i had no idea Ethiopia was so restrictive, but then again, I know nothing about Ethiopia... |
| | "If you don't drop sweat today, you will drop tears tomorrow" - SlayerSMMA |
|
|
| JudicatorHammurabi United States. June 16 2012 11:26. Posts 2026 | Profile # |
| Ethio Teleco is mad people are talking for free? ... |
| | Thrash hard or get thrashed! \m/ |
|
|
| emc United States. June 16 2012 11:31. Posts 2909 | Profile # |
| what about short 29 second calls? |
| | take what i say with a grain of salt, make your own decisions and form your own opinions |
|
|
 Sinensis United States. June 16 2012 11:34. Posts 2503 | Profile Blog # |
| All I knew about Ethiopia before this article was that coffee and AIDs is pretty much all they have. Sounds like a difficult place. |
|
|
| jcroisdale United States. June 16 2012 11:35. Posts 1304 | Profile Blog # |
| Its money, a company can make it illegal not to use their service. Why wouldn't they, it just corporate corruption. |
| | "I think bringing a toddler to a movie theater is a terrible idea. They are too young to understand what is happening it would be like giving your toddler acid. Bad idea." - Sinensis |
|
|
| Xpace United States. June 16 2012 11:39. Posts 2041 | Profile # |
On June 16 2012 11:31 emc wrote:
what about short 29 second calls?
^
User was warned for this post |
|
|
| Shana Indonesia. June 16 2012 11:42. Posts 1260 | Profile Blog # | |
| | Believing in what lies ahead. | That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet. |
|
|
| Grobyc Canada. June 16 2012 11:44. Posts 16979 | Profile Blog # |
| While Skype being illegal is ludicrous, they... completely blocked email? What? |
| |
|
| sapht Sweden. June 16 2012 11:44. Posts 141 | Profile Blog # |
On June 16 2012 11:35 jcroisdale wrote:
Its money, a company can make it illegal not to use their service. Why wouldn't they, it just corporate corruption.
It's corrupt government. That's a lot worse. |
| | You can use control groups to train units without even looking at your base. |
|
|
| Sepheren United States. June 16 2012 11:44. Posts 66 | Profile # |
| Yikes, sounds like this government has got to go... |
|
|
| anycolourfloyd Australia. June 16 2012 11:53. Posts 425 | Profile # | |
|
|
| tyr France. June 16 2012 12:05. Posts 1346 | Profile Blog # |
What the fuck is this. I had no idea Ethiopia had such "regulations".
I'm curious about NK as well right now. Do they have this kind of regulations ? I do realize most of the people there don't even know what internet is, but nonetheless are there any "laws" about this kind of stuff ? |
| | "I'm always reminded of how manly Jaedong is every time I see him." -Bisu | |
|
|
| Kaitlin United States. June 16 2012 12:20. Posts 2201 | Profile # |
| The world isn't entirely free. Moving along now... |
|
|
| Monochromatic United States. June 16 2012 12:22. Posts 636 | Profile Blog # |
You should change the title from skype to the more important thing: E-mail.
I had no idea that Ethiopia was this restrictive, the government sounds insane. |
| | MC: "Guys I need your support! iam poor make me nerd baller" __________________________________________RIP Violet |
|
|
| 1Eris1 United States. June 16 2012 12:26. Posts 5797 | Profile # |
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
err, I mean, censorship of 80 million+ people is the best way to catch a few thousand criminals. |
| | Known Aliases: Tyragon, Valeric ~MSL Forever, SKT is truly the Superior KT! |
|
|
| amazingxkcd United States. June 16 2012 12:34. Posts 2705 | Profile # |
| Wait, so how does one conduct business within Ethiopia? It seems impossible for outside businesses to invest now. Also, I bet $10 that the ethiopian authorities are exempt from this, or those with connections are exempt. |
| | "Did this guy just randomly finger me?" - Sayle | | Flash: He smiles because he loves the game. So much, that he enjoys every lesson from it. |
|
|
| Areon United States. June 16 2012 12:35. Posts 272 | Profile # |
| Three letters: VPN. If there is a will, there is a work-around. Interesting to see how far corruption goes in countries of that area. |
|
|
| NeMeSiS3 Canada. June 16 2012 12:44. Posts 2969 | Profile Blog # |
| That's some pretty Aladeen news |
| |
|
| Keitzer United States. June 16 2012 12:44. Posts 2505 | Profile Blog # |
My friend also told me TOR is blocked... that's fucking deep....
Telecoms monopoly in Ethiopia is going to kill this company (as technology is the way to go these days) |
| | I'm like badass squared | KeitZer.489 |
|
|
| 1 2 3 Next All |
|
