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Dismay at govt’s Big Brother act
Nelson Banya,Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
June 24, 2004

PLANS by the government to go ahead and exert control over the Internet, particularly the usage of electronic mail (e-mail), has raised the spectre of even more pervasive control on information by authorities who have systematically assumed control on the flow of information in the country.

Although the Supreme Court ruled that plans to allow state agents to pry on e-mails were unconstitutional, news doing the rounds is that the government has pushed ahead with the cyber monitoring project through the proposed new contracts reported to have been issued to Internet Service Providers (ISPs), which would compel them to block material deemed to be inimical to the laws of the country.

ISPs have already signalled their desire to rebuff the government on this, while lawyers and civic groups have reacted with alarm, saying the plan was patently unconstitutional.

Apart from ensuring that ISPs block what is perceived to be offensive content infringing copyright, international and local cyber regulations, the proposed contract also obliges ISPs to provide all tracing facilities of the offending messages relayed through their networks to law enforcement agents "in the interests of national security".

Government first signalled its intentions to monitor the Internet at last December’s World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Switzerland when President Robert Mugabe accused developed countries of undermining the security and national interests of smaller, poor nations through "information technology superiority".

Harare has been waging a bitter diplomatic war with Washington and London since the government embarked on controversial land reforms in 2000.

The United States and the United Kingdom governments have accused the Zimbabwean government of human rights abuses and undemocratic rule.

Harare has, in turn, accused the two Western allies of seeking to exert hegemonic influence on the former British colony using, among other means, the Internet to peddle "violent propaganda and misinformation."

The police last year arrested several people accused of circulating offensive e-mails denigrating the President.

Several websites on Zimbabwe have mushroomed over the past few years, which range from those taking a straight-faced dim view on developments in the country, to those steeped in satire and ridicule lampooning the government, ruling party and President Mugabe himself.

Observers have pointed out that while this was by no means restricted to Zimbabwe, innovative Zimbabweans, who have witnessed the narrowing of avenues through which their divergent views could be aired following the closure of the hugely popular Daily News and the perpetuation o the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation’s monopoly, have resorted to the worldwide web.

Ironically, almost similar plans by the Bush administration in the US to monitor e-mails, as part of the "War on Terror", were stymied by Congress, which deemed such plans a direct assault on the fundamental rights of citizens.

How far the government will go in its quest to monitor the Internet, whose usage among the young section of the Zimbabwean population has grown in line with global trends, remains to be seen, but indications are that ISPs are not about to lie down and accept the state lording it over them.

An executive at one of the country’s leading ISPs told The Financial Gazette that the proposed contracts had unsettled a lot of account holders.

"We will continue to meet as the Zimbabwe Internet Service Providers’ Association (ZIPSA) to engage the authorities, because a lot of this remains unclear, even to us, and moreso to our clients," she said.

George Jaji, an electronic engineer and IT specialist, said the fact that TelOne, the government owned telecommunications company, operated the sole Internet gateway in the country made it possible for the government to exert its control.

"ISPs are reluctant for two basic reasons, the first being the obvious implications on the free flow of information and the second being that government wants to pass the buck to ISPs who will have to install the technology.

"The ISPs would need to buy the technology as well as to train their personnel to do business which is not core to their activities and does not help their business in any way. The desire to control the flow of information is archaic and has no place in modern society," Jaji said.

The state-owned TelOne is at the centre of a legal battle over its gateway monopoly, with several ISPs arguing that the monopoly is not only unconstitutional but also anti-competitive, considering that the parastatal also runs an ISP, ComOne, which stands to enjoy an unfair advantage by virtue of that relationship.

However, another IT specialist who spoke on condition of anonymity said what the government sought to do was "virtually impossible considering the volume of traffic as well as the software that would be required to monitor the Internet."

He said although content filters could be used to block messages deemed derogatory, this too was problematic because filters were language specific.

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