Online Freedoms

By Juliet Nanfuka | Tanzania has published a Cybercrime Bill that makes “provisions for criminalizing offences related to computer systems and Information Communication Technologies” and provides for investigation, collection, and use of electronic evidence. However, the release of the Cybercrime Bill has been met with apprehension by the public due to its overt disregard for […] Read more

By Juliet Nanfuka | The rights of Kenya’s digital citizens are fast shrinking in the face of new restrictive laws and increased arraignment of individuals for expressing online opinions which authorities deem in breach of the law. The Security Laws (Amendment) Act 2014, assented to by President Uhuru Kenyatta last December, allows blanket admissibility in […] Read more

On March 8, International Women’s Day was marked across the world under the theme “Make It Happen.” The OpenNet Africa initiative, which monitors and promotes internet freedom in Africa, participated in a series of online discussions focused on women in the digital sphere. A shared theme across all discussions to mark the day was the […] Read more

By Ashnah Kalemera As humans, individual artists enjoy rights enshrined in national laws and international instruments on freedom of expression, assembly and association. However, there are variations between countries on what the laws provide for and the level of freedoms of creative, artistic and cultural expression that citizens enjoy. In Africa, various factors impact upon […] Read more

The global community on February 10 marked Safer Internet Day which promotes safe and responsible use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) mainly amongst children and young people across the world. The day provided an opportunity to see what African stakeholders are doing in promoting access to the internet and ensuring that this access comes […] Read more

Towards the end of 2014, Uganda’s government through the National Information Technology Authority (NITA-U), Ministry of Information Communication and Technology (MoICT) and the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs (MOJCA) issued a draft Data Protection and Privacy Bill for public comment. The Bill seeks to protect the privacy of the individual and personal data by […] Read more

The Collaboration on International ICT Policy in East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) is seeking partnerships with local tech communities in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia to generate an empirical understanding in an [East] African context, of online safety and security technologies for ICT/internet users in the region. Each tech institution will work with […] Read more

By Ashnah Kalemera & Juliet N. Nanfuka The true extent of governments’ surveillance and monitoring of citizens’ communications across the world remains largely unknown. This is despite legislative rights provisions for privacy and increased calls for data protection of citizens in their communications. Last month, Vodafone became the first telecomuminications company to reveal the extent […] Read more

Today, the Collaboration on International ICT Policy in East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) launches The State of Internet  Freedoms in East Africa research report which is an Investigation into the policies and practices defining internet freedom in East Africa. Thought leaders in the East African ICT industry  have gathered in Kampala, Uganda for the launch […] Read more

By Juliet Nanfuka Recently introduced laws and regulations in Uganda have caused a stir both within the country and internationally for restricting citizens’ rights to freedom of expression on the internet and offline. The most contentious of these are the Anti-Pornography Act 2014, the Public Order Management Act 2013, the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2014, the 2014 […] Read more