A 30 Second Skype Call Could Get You 15 Years in Prison In Ethopia

[Irkalla]

[quote=TechCrunch][TABLE="width: 900"]
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[TD][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/fJFxQ.jpg[/IMG]

[SUB][I]Dear God, this is one ugly man. He's also the jackass behind this.[/I][/SUB][/TD]
[TD]...that is, if you live in Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian government, Al Jazeera reports, has criminalized the use of Skype and other VoIP services like Google Talk. Using VoIP services is now punishable by up to 15 years in prison. This law actually passed last month, but mostly went unnoticed outside of the country. Ethiopian authorities argue that they imposed these bans because of “national security concerns” and to protect the state’s telecommunications monopoly. The country only has one ISP, the state-owned Ethio Telecom, and has been filtering its citizen’s Internet access for quite some time now to suppress opposition blogs and other news outlets.

As for Skype and other VoIP services, the new law doesn’t just criminalize their usage, but the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology now has “the power to supervise and issue licenses to all privately owned companies that import equipment used for the communication of information.” It’s worth noting that, as TechCentral points out, the new law also prohibits “audio and video data traffic via social media.” It’s not clear how exactly the government plans to enforce this restriction, but a potential 15-year prison term will likely keep most people from using Skype in Ethiopia anytime soon.

Reporters Without Borders also reports that Ethio Telecom installed a system to block access to the Tor network, which allows users to surf the Web anonymously. The organization notes that the ISP must be using relatively sophisticated Deep Packet Inspection to filter out this traffic.[/TD]
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[TD]According to Internet filtering and censorship watchdog OpenNet Initiative, Ethiopia currently has the second lowest Internet penetration rate in sub-Saharan Africa and just around 700,000 of the country’s 84 million citizens had Internet access in 2010 (that’s the most recent data we could find). The average Internet speed in Ethiopia, says Akamai, is currently 622 kbps.[/TD]
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[URL="http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/14/ethiopian-government-bans-skype-google-talk-and-all-other-voip-services/"]SOURCE[/URL]
[/quote]

Once again some dictatorial shithead decides to crack down on random shit for no apparent reason.

[escher]

Sensationalistic title to the maximum.

[ZombieDawgs]

That fucking title

You nearly made me pop a blood vessel

[Liem]

Why? What a fucked up move

[highlight](User was banned for this post ("Didn't read before posting" - Orkel))[/highlight]

[SirJamster]

Most of them don't have computers to do Skype calls with anyway...

[Raidyr]

[QUOTE=Liem;36345818]Why? What a fucked up move[/QUOTE]
Read the OP
[QUOTE]
Ethiopian authorities argue that they imposed these bans because of “national security concerns” and to protect the state’s telecommunications monopoly. The country only has one ISP, the state-owned Ethio Telecom, and has been filtering its citizen’s Internet access for quite some time now to suppress opposition blogs and other news outlets.[/QUOTE]

[An Armed Bear]

Cliffhanger titles are stupid.

[Irkalla]

[QUOTE=An Armed Bear;36345849]Cliffhanger titles are stupid.[/QUOTE]

I disagree. I'm quite sure the stupid thing here is you. Oh I made a snap gimme dem lightning bolts plz

[QUOTE=DudeGuyKT;36345808]Sensationalistic title to the maximum.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=ZombieDawgs;36345817]That fucking title

You nearly made me pop a blood vessel[/QUOTE]

Why, thank you.

[Curls]

I am a criminal.

A [I]smooth [/I]criminal. [sp]In Ethiopia[/sp]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_D3VFfhvs4[/media]

[scout1]

[QUOTE=Liem;36345818]Why? What a fucked up move[/QUOTE]

Is it that hard to read an article consisting of 4 paragraphs

[mac338]

At least it's not like in Eritrea, you'll get executed for a couple seconds.

[fancy ghost ☂]

do they wonder why their country is a shithole or are they keeping it that way on purpose

[TheTalon]

[QUOTE=SirJamster;36345832]Most of them don't have computers to do Skype calls with anyway...[/QUOTE]

And the ones who do keep sending me fucking emails about my bank details. I swear, Ethiopia and Nigeria need to lay off already

[_jack]

Why does he have a football lodged in his head?

[Popiillil]

Stupid people who didn't read the article.
There is reasoning behind this. They did it to suppress opposition. They are probably worried something like the Arab Spring could leak over to Ethiopia. PRetty crap country... in AFRICA. Yeah, wars and rebels all around.
But is this stupid? YES, totally.

[JustExtreme]

[quote=OP]Ethiopian authorities argue that they imposed these bans because of “national security concerns”[/quote]

Seems to be a familiar excuse...

[Nerevar982]

They can block access to TOR? I hope they don't share that with the U.N...

[joe588]

[QUOTE=Nerevar982;36346814]They can block access to TOR? I hope they don't share that with the U.N...[/QUOTE]

lots of countries block access to tor

[editline]16th June 2012[/editline]

luckily they're working on a fix, check this out

[url]https://www.torproject.org/projects/obfsproxy.html.en[/url]

[GhettoGeek]

People have internet in Ethiopia?

[Walrus.]

[QUOTE=GhettoGeek;36346941]People have internet in Ethiopia?[/QUOTE]

No they obviously have just made contact with the outside world and all live in grass huts hunting and foraging.

[ZomgNoWai]

that forehead.

[legolover122]

You might as well not use the internet at all if you cant transfer audio and video...

[quote]It’s worth noting that, as TechCentral points out, the new law also prohibits “audio and video data traffic via social media.[/quote]

The guy in charge sounds like the stereotypical dictator you see in movies and vidya games...

[Liem]

[QUOTE=Raidyr;36345845]Read the OP[/QUOTE]
I know that, I meant what sort of "National Security Concerns" could come from a Skype call...

[lavacano]

[h2]Put the fucking country in the title.[/h2]

[ThisIsTheOne]

[QUOTE]The average Internet speed in Ethiopia, says Akamai, is currently 622 kbps.[/QUOTE]

Fuck, even Africans have faster internet than me.

[DasMaddi]

[QUOTE=TheTalon;36346228]And the ones who do keep sending me fucking emails about my bank details. I swear, Ethiopia and Nigeria need to lay off already[/QUOTE]

Excuse me,

but I DO happen to be a Nigerian Prince. If you were to loan me, say, 1 thousand dollars to get me out of the country, I would vastly repay you with all of my country's wealth.

[supertribute]

"This is guy is using a computer phone to ring up someone, arrest him!"

:tinfoil:

[Varachack]

I nearly died reading the title.