The Tanzanian law lots of western politicians would love to copy
The state-run Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) just issued an order that lots of politicians in Europe, USA and generally the whole western “first world” would LOVE to be able to issue.
<u><em><strong>CAPTION:</strong>
<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/04/12/africa/tanzania-blogging-internet-freedoms-africa/" target="_blank">Tanzanian digital activist Maxence Melo, charged in 2016 under a cybercrimes law. Click for details. Image source: partial snapshot from CNN</a>
</em></u>
Quoting Reuter via Slashdot, regulations passed in March made it compulsory for “bloggers and owners of other online forums such as YouTube channels to register with the government and pay up to USD 900 for a license” (which is roughly equivalent to Tanzanian yearly per capita income). On June 11th, 2018, TCRA declared that:
- “All unregistered online content providers must be licensed before June 15. Starting from today June 11 until June 15, they are prohibited from posting any new content on their blogs, forums or online radios and televisions”
- Anyone violating the new regulations faces a fine of at least 5 million shillings (USD 2,200), imprisonment for a minimum 12 months, or both.
Digital activists say the law is part of a government crackdown on dissent and free speech. Government officials argue the new rules are aimed at tackling online crime like hate speech, cyberbullying and pornography.
and if you’re thinking “gee, thanks heaven I’m not in Tanzania”…
please stop for a minute to contemplate, just to make a FEW examples (*):
- first and foremost, the idiotic disaster that may happen to free speech in Europe NEXT WEEK
- “closer scrutiny of algorithms” in UK
- “obscene content” bill on personal computers in South Carolina
- USA federal judges ruling that a single tweet may be copyright infringement
- the recurring “blog killer” law proposals in Italy
Trust me, there are a lot of western politicians that would absolutely love to be Tanzanian these days.
(*) if you think I should add more similar laws or law proposals to that list, just email me, thanks
Who writes this, why, and how to help
I am Marco Fioretti, tech writer and aspiring polymath doing human-digital research and popularization.
I do it because YOUR civil rights and the quality of YOUR life depend every year more on how software is used AROUND you.
To this end, I have already shared more than a million words on this blog, without any paywall or user tracking, and am sharing the next million through a newsletter, also without any paywall.
The more direct support I get, the more I can continue to inform for free parents, teachers, decision makers, and everybody else who should know more stuff like this. You can support me with paid subscriptions to my newsletter, donations via PayPal (mfioretti@nexaima.net) or LiberaPay, or in any of the other ways listed here.THANKS for your support!