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Wednesday, 16 November 2016

SumTips: 12 Reasons "Freedom on the Net 2016" Matters

Freedom on the Net 2016's representation of internet freedom worldwide.

[Source: Freedom on the Net 2016]

Watchdog organization Freedom House has released its Freedom on the Net 2016 report. Its title—“Silencing the Messenger: Communication Apps Under Pressure”—leaves little to the imagination regarding the state of internet freedom worldwide. Below are 12 of the report’s findings not to be missed:

1.    Internet freedom worldwide has declined for the sixth consecutive year.

2.    67% of all internet users live in countries that censor criticism of the government, military or ruling family. Punishable behavior this year has included derogatory statements towards a pet dog belonging to Thailand’s king.

3.    In 38 countries, social media users have been arrested for their posts. In some countries, “liking” a Facebook post has led to arrest.

4.    Arrests based on social media activity have increased more than 50% since 2013.

5.    Only 24% of the internet population assessed is considered “free”.

6.    Uganda, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ecuador and Libya top the list for most internet freedom lost since 2015. In all, 34 countries have shown a decline in internet freedom.

7.    China earned the title of “year’s worst abuser of internet freedom”. Criticizing the government (“spreading rumors”) on social media can be met with a seven-year prison sentence; other punishable offenses include watching videos reflective of the religious minority.

8.    15 countries experienced temporary government shutdowns of internet or mobile phone network access.

9.    Messaging apps, including WhatsApp, Telegram and Facebook Messenger, are increasingly targeted and blocked by governments. Of significance, global internet users are more heavily reliant on app-based mobile messaging than on SMS texting.

10.    13 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Turkey, blocked content intended for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community because of “morality”.

11.    In the past year, digital activism was censored in 20 countries…

12.    …Regardless, “In over two-thirds of the countries in this study, internet-based activism has led to some sort of tangible outcome, from the defeat of a restrictive legislative proposal to the exposure of corruption through citizen journalism.”

The complete Freedom on the Net 2016 report, along with 65 individual country reports, are available online. Be an informed advocate, surf secure and stay Rando!

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Thursday, 10 November 2016

Emerging Economy Cyber Alerts - November 10, 2016

Policy

their legislation today could be yours tomorrow

At Egypt’s 5th Regional Cybersecurity Summit Yasser ElKady, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, shared government plans to initiate an electronic signature and informatics crime law, a cybersecurity law and a decree to form a supreme council of cybersecurity. “Cyberattacks pose as grave a threat as terrorism,” explained ElKady.

China has a new cybersecurity law that will restrict the role of foreign technology companies and further censor the country’s internet. Responded Human Rights Watch’s Sophie Richardson, “Despite widespread international concern from corporations and rights advocates for more than a year, Chinese authorities pressed ahead with this restrictive law without making meaningful changes.”

Privacy, Surveillance and Censorship

government isn't always on your side

Turkey has taken censorship to a whole new level. Last week the country blocked Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites—and then prevented access to circumvention tools such as Tor and several Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) as well.

India is in the process of purchasing technology that will enable it to unlock hard-to-crack iPhone encryption. India’s Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) predicts it will become a resource for foreign governments in search of decryption support.

Cyberattacks

the threats we all face

In what is thought to be practice for a larger upcoming attack, a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack sent all of Liberia’s internet offline last week, marking the first time a DDoS attack has disrupted an entire country’s internet.

All images credit of BOLDG/Shutterstock.com.

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Wednesday, 9 November 2016

SumTips: 140 Characters Stifled by More Than Space

140 characters is not just a tweet limit.

Human Rights Watch’s latest report, 140 Characters, shares the stories of 140 well-known Bahrani, Kuwaiti, Omani, Qatari, Saudi and Emirati social and political rights activists and dissidents—and the retaliation they have encountered for making their perspectives heard. The report asks their governments to cease their acts of intimidation and harassment against activists and dissidents and to review their laws to comply with international human rights standards.

The 140 stories of inhumane treatment towards activists and dissidents include:

Bahrain
Co-founders of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) Nabeel Rajab and Abdulhadi al-Khawaja have been imprisoned for their human rights activism. Most recently, Rajab was put on trial for “spreading false news,” “offending a foreign country,” and “offending national institutions.” Al-Khawaja is currently serving a life sentence for contributing to anti-government protests in 2011. The report includes 29 additional Bahrainis.

Kuwait
Kuwaiti teachers Huda al-Ajmi and Sara al-Drees were arrested on separate occasions for charges including insulting the emir. In 2013, al-Ajmi was sentenced to 11 years in prison for charges she denies; later that year, al-Drees received a prison sentence of 20 months. The report includes 42 additional Kuwaitis.

Oman
Former Omani parliamentarian Talib al-Maamari recently received a royal pardon from a four-year prison sentence for participating in an environmental pollution protest. Al-Maamari was convicted of “illegal gathering” and “blocking traffic.” The report includes 15 additional Omanis.

Qatar
Qatari poet Muhammad ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami’s 15-year prison sentence was pardoned in March of this year. In 2011, Al-Ajami had been found guilty of “inciting the overthrow of the ruling regime” when poetry that was critical of the ruling family was discovered online.

Saudi Arabia
Activists Manal al-Sharif and Samar Badawi have suffered the consequences of advocating for women’s rights. Al-Sharif’s “Women2Drive” campaign fought for women’s independence behind the wheel, and then led to her own imprisonment. Further activism cost al-Sharif her job as an internet security consultant. Badawi ran away from an abusive father, only to be imprisoned for seven months under the charge of “parental disobedience.” The report includes 24 additional Saudis.

United Arab Emirates
Social media activists Obaid Yousef al-Zaabi and Waleed Al-Shehhi were arrested for their tweets. Al-Zaabi’s punished crimes included the “founding and maintenance of an electronic page on Twitter…disseminating his thought and stories that stir hate and disturb public order.” Al-Shehhi received a two-year prison sentence for tweets critical of government conduct in the UAE 94 mass trial. The report includes 15 additional Emiratis.

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Friday, 4 November 2016

Emerging Economy Cyber Alerts - November 4, 2016

Policy

their legislation today could be yours tomorrow

Singapore’s Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim recently provided some insight into the country’s upcoming Cybersecurity Act. Ibrahim reported the act will establish standards for incident reporting, audits and risk assessment; allow for cybersecurity information sharing; and complement the current Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act. A recent increase in cybercrime in Singapore includes last week’s distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on telecommunications provider Starhub.

Cyberattacks

the threats we all face

A Cyber Security Summit hosted by Microsoft and the Information Security Society of Africa Nigeria (ISAAN) brought attention to the growing threat of cyberattacks: “Cyber attackers have devised new ways to successfully attack individuals and organizations. Statistics [show] that Nigeria loses N128bn annually to cybercrime while about $500bn is lost globally.” A Ventures article attributes Nigeria’s internet insecurity to its abundance of internet services, lack of education and lack of digital guidelines.

Vectra Networks has identified multiple samples of cyberespionage malware used by hacking group Moonlight against targets in the Middle East. The attacks are like those of the Gaza Hacker Team, a group aligned with the Palestinian Sunni-Islamic organization, Hamas.

Looking Back

a new glimpse at old alerts

India’s recent run in with ATM network malware has cyber experts calling for change. “This incident is a wake-up call for the Indian banking ecosystem to pause and realise that adopting extra-layered, state-of-the-art encryption security to minimize consumer financial data breach has become essential,” argued cyber law expert Pavan Duggal. Currently, India’s cyber laws do not address bank fraud.

The recent distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against United States-based Dyn has been traced in part to Hangzhou Xiongmai Technology. Vulnerabilities in Internet of Things (IoT) devices, such as the Chinese company’s webcam and digital video recorder products, provided the access point needed to disrupt services such as Twitter, Spotify and Amazon.

All images credit of BOLDG/Shutterstock.com.

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Wednesday, 2 November 2016

SumTips: 5 Current Limitations on African Internet Freedom

Internet censorship has been going strong in Africa since the continent’s first official act of online censorship took place in 1996 (Zambia decided to remove a banned newspaper from the internet).

More recently, Uganda’s Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa provided an opportunity to explore the findings of the Collaboration on International ICT Policy in East and Southern Africa’s (CIPESA’s) State of Internet Freedom in Africa 2016 report. Its results highlight 5 important trends:

1. African governments are increasingly turning to internet shutdowns as a method of limiting freedom of expression and access to information.

Uganda blocked access to social media in 2016 during its presidential elections and presidential swearing-in ceremony.
In 2015, Burundi responded to public protests against President Pierre Nkurunziza by shutting down social media networks.

2. Courts of law are used to limit freedom of expression online and to prosecute journalists and activists for their words.

In Tanzania, 10 social media users have been charged with violations such as “insulting the president” since a cybercrime law went into effect in September 2015.
Zambia searches for and prosecutes citizen journalists who are critical of the government.

3. Online surveillance, including monitoring communications, is routinely used by African governments.

In January and February 2016, 10 social media users in Kenya were arrested or questioned because of their online communications.
Rwanda actively monitors citizen communications.

4. Ongoing blockages of websites and SMS services further limit access to information and modes of communication.

Ethiopia blocks hundreds of websites and shutdown the entire internet twice in 2016.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo recently began to block websites that are critical of the government.

5. Although less common, removal of online content is also utilized by governments.

In 2013 and 2014, Zimbabwean authorities routinely pressured social media users to remove content from various platforms.

CIPESA asks that African governments respect the human rights to freedom of expression, access to information and privacy; that civil society and media advocate for internet freedom as a human right; and that telecom companies and ISPs actively work to protect the privacy of their subscribers. We couldn’t agree more.

Read more, know your rights, surf secure and stay Rando!

Image credit of BOLDG/Shutterstock.com.

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