Sub-Saharan Africa

ONI Blog: Threats to the Open Net: July 8th, 2011
Every week, the OpenNet Initiative provides a weekly news roundup (dubbed "Threats to the Open Net") in addition to our usual in-depth blog posts. If you would like to subscribe to the RSS feed for our newsreel, our entire blog,...
ONI Blog: Rwanda blocks website of independent newspaper
Exactly one year after the murder of independent newspaper Umuvugizi’s deputy editor, the paper's website is again inaccessible in Rwanda. Its editor has just re-launched the paper as an online-only publication. Last weekend, Umuvugizi went online with a re-launched version of...
ONI Blog: Nigerian govt. shuts down Internet and mobile networks during presidential inauguration
Multiple Nigerian newspapers and Twitter users are reporting that Internet and mobile networks were inaccessible for 12 hours in Abuja during President Goodluck Jonathan's inauguration on Sunday, May 29. Sam Nda-Isaiah of the Abuja-based daily newspaper Leadership writes: The state security forces virtually...
ONI Blog: Ugandan Government Asks ISPs to Block Facebook, Twitter
With the exception of Ethiopia, which blocks a number of political and security-related websites, and a few cases of isolated Internet censorship related to political events, most of sub-Saharan Africa has historically been free of technical filtering. This week,...
ONI Blog: Tunisian Government Websites Attacked Via DDoS
The repercussions of Tunisia’s strict online censorship reached an apex in the Arab country this week as multiple DDoS attacks continue to target the government. Hackers known collectively as the Anonymous group took down at least eight government websites beginning...
ONI Blog: Editor of blocked website murdered in Rwanda
Earlier this month we blogged about the Rwandan government's announcement that it would begin blocking the website of independent newspaper Umuvugizi if the paper did not cease publication. Today, the BBC reports that the acting editor of Umuvugizi was shot...
ONI Blog: South African politician wants to ban online porn
As China unblocks a wave of pornographic sites, South Africa's Deputy Minister of Home Affairs has declared his intent to ban all digital pornography in the country. The stated goal of the draft bill (PDF), developed in conjunction with...
ONI Blog: Taking offline censorship online: Rwanda may start filtering
In April the Rwandan government suspended two independent newspapers, both critical of the ruling party. The six-month suspension will prevent the papers from covering the country's 2010 presidential elections. The Committee to Protect Journalists called the move "a...

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