Ethiopia criminalizes Skype, Paltalk and other Internet voice communications
The popular Skype is one of the internet phone services affected by Ethiopia's new telecommunications law.
June 12, 2012 (Africa Review) – The Ethiopian government has passed new legislation that criminalises the use of Internet-based voice communications such as Skype and other forms of Internet phone calling.
Authorities have also installed a new filtering system that monitors the use of the Internet in the tightly-controlled Horn of Africa country in a move seen as targeting dissidents.
The telecoms law strictly prohibits VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) which includes audio and video related social media communication, and the transfer of information packages through the fast growing global cyber networks.
It also authorises the government to inspect any imports of voice communication equipment and accessories, while also banning inbound shipments without prior permission.
Anyone involved in “illegal” phone calling services will be prosecuted and could be jailed for up to 15 years or fined heavily if found guilty.
Making an Internet phone call through different software is punishable by three to eight years– automatically criminalising Skype and other similar voice services.
The government in the law’s introductory annex defends such legislation as a timely and appropriate response to the ever increasing security threats globally and in Ethiopia.
But observers say the law is aimed at further limiting freedom of expression and the flow of information in the nation of 85 million people.
In the last five years websites and blogs critical of the government have been frequently blocked and all Amharic language broadcasts targeting Ethiopia jammed.
kana jachun mootumma wayyanne hala sababa midiya kanan amman booda ilalcha hama akeessa saba keenya galchufi xiyyefatte male guddina biyyattifi dagaagina ibsu tekinloji isintti fakkatin oromo kana waan tahefi gadii fagenyan irratti hojachufi wal hojachisun dhimma qabsso bilbisumma haala yero amma akka shafisun dhimma itti baanu tahun dirqqama yero hatahu kanuma yaanni ko kana fkt
Wayyaanee laata maaltu sodaachisaa jira?yoo humnaa amma Yeroo dabrerrallee waraana ijaarrattee jirtii,Duula meediyaatu itti jabaate,natti fakkaata!!
It was never seen in the world the way donig Ethiopian dictator (TPLF)wayane Regime,assigning in disability of a key basic rights to communication.
Communication represents an essential and very important human need as well as a basic human right. Without having the possibility to communicate and talk to other people, no individual, community, group or any other institution would be able to exist, or prosper. Strictly speaking the ability to communicate or the general right of communication make it possible to exchange opinions, thoughts and meanings. So it enables people to express themselves and show their own points of view. Consequently communication makes people who and what they are and particularly strengthens human dignity. By having the right to communicate and express personal thoughts, ideas, and opinions, people feel themselves treated equally – in other words: Communication validates human equality. Thus the protection and implementation of communication rights represents an essential part of the general topic of human rights.
Strictly speaking there exist four central Pillars of Communication Rights. Each Pillar refers to a different domain of social existence, practice, and experience, in which communication generally represents a so-called core activity on the one hand and performs specific key functions on the other hand. The most important point considering the four pillars consists in the fact that each involves a relatively autonomous sphere of social action. So they are extremely necessary in order to achieve communication rights – a fact that means that everybody has the right to communicate about every single topic such as politics ,culture ,identity, poetry,laguage , music, school, etc.
The Four Pillars of Communication Rights are the following ones:
•Communicating on the Public Sphere: The role of communication and media in exercising democratic political participation in society.
•Communication Knowledge: The terms and means by which knowledge generated by society is communicated, or blocked, for use by different groups.
•Civil Rights in Communication: The exercise of civil rights relating to the processes of communication in society.
•Cultural Rights in Communication: The communication of diverse cultures, cultural forms and identities at the individual and social levels.
The Four Pillars of Communication Rights point out very clearly why the right to communicate is important for people in order to live in freedom, peace, justice, and dignity. So the right to communicate can be seen as a means to enhance human rights as well as to carefully strengthen the social, cultural and economic lives of people of different nations, communities, institutions and groups.
It is very important to know that the ‘right to communicate’ does not have the equal meaning of ‘communication right’.
Therefore, in the eyes wayane ethiopian dictator , all those rights must pass through their lungs that they can deliver via remote control , specially for oromoo’s .
even if it was possible for them ( ethiopian Males ) , they going to refuse oromoo’s to breathing that we get naturally air.
Thanks