Internet Governance

By Ashnah Kalemera | The second round of the Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF) has awarded a total of USD 152,000 to 14 initiatives that will work to advance digital rights in 18 African countries. Among the focus areas of the initiatives are access to information, data protection and privacy, digital economy, Digital Identity (ID), […] Read more

By Thomas Robertson | Twelve years after being among the first African countries to enact data protection legislation, Senegal has published a bill to replace the 2008 Personal Data Protection Law. The Personal Data Protection Bill of 2019 is part of the government’s goal of upgrading the legal and institutional framework of the technology and […] Read more

Par Thomas Robertson | Douze années après avoir été l’un des premiers pays africains à promulguer la législation sur la protection des données personnelles, le Sénégal a proposé un projet de loi pour remplacer la Loi sur la Protection des Données à Caractère Personnel de 2008. Le projet de loi de 2019 portant sur la Protection […] Read more

By Ashnah Kalemera | Statistics on the prevalence of cyber harassment of women in Africa remain scanty. Where some reports of cyber harassment of women in the region are available, the extent to which it affects women in marginalised communities is also not well known. Indeed, the growing proliferation of technology is reported to be facilitating […] Read more

By Daniel Mwesigwa | A range of spyware vendors including Italian Hacking Team, the Anglo-German Gamma Group, and Israeli’s NSO Group, have found a ready market in authoritarian and repressive governments in Africa and elsewhere. Similarly, systematic propaganda campaigns designed by meddlesome actors – including government agents and ambitious data analytics companies such as Cambridge […] Read more

By Paul Kimumwe | On the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) 2019, the Collaboration of International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) is calling upon governments and communication services providers in East Africa to take decisive steps to enable meaningful usage of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for […] Read more

By CIPESA Writer | Following a seven-year, windy journey, on November 8, 2019, Kenya got a data protection law. The Data Protection Act, 2019 has various positive elements and can go a long way in addressing the live issues in protecting the privacy of data in Kenya. The law came at a time of widespread […] Read more

Call for Applications | The Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) is pleased to invite applications for round two of the Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF). Launched in April 2019, the ADRF responds to rising digital rights violations such as arrests and intimidation of internet users, network shutdowns, and a proliferation […] Read more

By Babatunde Okunoye and Ashnah Kalemera | With a population of over 190 million, Nigeria is Africa’s largest telecommunications market, boasting more telephone and internet users than any other country on the continent. Over the past 20 years, the country has transitioned from a military regime to a relative democracy, albeit with human rights challenges,  […] Read more

By CIPESA Writer | Persons with disabilities have unique needs and have for long been disadvantaged, yet, the more some African countries get digitally connected, the deeper the digital divide for this community seems to grow. Indeed, debates about internet governance and the inclusiveness of the information society have not prominently featured the needs of […] Read more