Heavy toll of State Internet shutdowns

PHOTO | BD GRAPHIC 

By MUTHOKI MUMO

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Summary

• Statistics collected over the last two decades show that the shutdowns are becoming more frequent with the spread of the Internet. 
• In 2016, there were an estimated 81 shutdowns.
• Compare this to the four that were recorded in 2000.

Members of an agency that manages IP addresses in Africa recently engaged in a heated debate about a proposal that would punish governments for shutting down the Internet.

The proposal that would have seen such governments denied access to IP addresses failed to gain consensus as members of the Africa Network Information Centre (AFRINIC)  concluded that they had no place to police governments.

“It would expose AFRINIC to legal risks, we might be sued or taken to court for the things this proposal suggests,” said AFRINIC chief executive Alan Barrett at the time. Whatever the weaknesses of the proposal, it arose from real fear. Gone are the days when governments took over newspapers and radio stations when they wanted to fight information wars against their own people. Today’s autocracies, and even democracies, are simply turning off the switches that connect their citizens to the World Wide Web. Governments have figured out that all they need do to stem an insurrection is cut off Whatsapp; ban Facebook and block mobile data.

Statistics collected over the last two decades show that the shutdowns are becoming more frequent with the spread of the Internet.  In 2016, there were an estimated 81 shutdowns. Compare this to the four that were recorded in 2000.

African countries are particularly brazen culprits. The Internet was down in parts of Cameroon for 93 days earlier this year and Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has not been shy about blocking his citizens from using social media.

No wonder then that some Kenyans are afraid of a similar shutdown come August. The government has repeatedly said that it will avoid an Internet shutdown but the steps being taken to monitor and police social media suggest that the noose on free speech will be at the very least tight, if not fatal during the General Election on August 8.

Some seasons seem riper for shutdowns than other— elections; during and after terror attacks; and during political protests. Others seem flimsier. Governments from Ethiopia to India have used exam cheating as an excuse to institute some sort of shutdown.

We give you data on some of these shutdowns.