Sub-Saharan Africa

Country Profile: Zimbabwe
Background Since Zimbabwe’s independence from Great Britain in 1980, the country has been tightly controlled by President Robert Mugabe and the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), which is known for severe repression and continuing violations of human rights.Freedom House, “Freedom in...
Country Profile: Ethiopia
Background Ethiopia’s record on human rights and political openness took a turn for the worse after the legislative elections of May 2005. Though originally hailed by the U.S. State Department as “a milestone in creating a new, more competitive multi-party political system in...
ONI Blog: Update on information controls in Ethiopia
Introduction Ethiopia remains a highly restrictive environment in which to express political dissent online. The government of Ethiopia has long filtered critical and oppositional political content. Anti-terrorism legislation is frequently used to target online speech, including in the recent conviction of a dozen...
ONI Blog: Tor reports signs of deep packet inspection in Ethiopia
Online anonymity network Tor has reported signs that the Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation, the country's only ISP, has begun using deep packet inspection. Writes Runa on the Tor blog: Reports show that Tor stopped working a week ago -- even with bridges configured....
ONI Blog: Threats to the Open Net: May 4, 2012
Freedom House came out with its 2012 survey on the freedom of the press around the world. Media gains happened in the Middle East and Northern Africa as Arab Spring stimulated a significant amount of social media activity. However, press freedom...
ONI Blog: CPJ Ranks Ten Most Censored Countries
In preparation for World Press Freedom Day, the Committee to Protect Journalists published its findings on the most censored countries in the world. The top three countries with the most press restrictions and least access to media information were revealed to...
ONI Blog: Threats to the Open Net: April 27, 2012
ONI releases its annual "Year in Review" report, which details all the most significant cases of Internet censorship and surveillance around the world. Among the most high-profile controversies were the SOPA/PIPA debates in the US Congress and European software firms' cooperation...
ONI Blog: Ethiopian News Website Blocked
The leading independently-owned Ethiopian news website The Reporter has been blocked for the past five days, as Reporters Without Borders noted on their blog. Since April 21 at around 4:30, the website has been inaccessible to anyone within the country....
ONI Blog: Rwandan Government Accused of Role in Online Journalist's Murder
A Rwandan online journalist's death late last year has stirred up controversy, with some alleging the Rwandan government had a hand in the murder. Charles Ingabire, an online news editor for the news website Inyenyeri, was shot last month in a...
ONI Blog: New Data Added to ONI's Social Media Filtering Map
The OpenNet Initiative is excited to announce the addition of a full year of new data to its Social Media Filtering Map. The map gives users a visual overview where of Facebook, Flickr, Orkut, Twitter, and Youtube have been blocked since...

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