Legal and regulatory frameworks
The Ethiopian government maintains strict controls over access to the Internet and online
media, despite constitutional guarantees of freedom of the press and free access to information.
The state-owned ETC and the Ethiopian
Telecommunication Agency (ETA) have exclusive
control of Internet access throughout the country.
The ETA is not an independent regulatory body
and its staff and telecommunications policies are
controlled by the national government. 15 It grants
the ETC a monopoly license as Ethiopia’s sole
ISP and seller of domain names under the country code top-level domain, “.et”. Internet cafés
and other resellers of Internet services must be
licensed by the ETA and purchase their access
through the ETC. 16 Individual purchasers must
also apply for Internet connections through the
ETC. Though Ethiopia has considered some limited privatization of the telecommunications market, these plans are on hold indefinitely despite
acknowledgments that the ETC has not been an
effective service provider. 17
In the face of political turmoil over the last
two years, the ruling party in Ethiopia has
become an increasingly active censor. In mid2006 the government cut off access within
the country to online publications run by political
dissidents and to all blogs hosted by
www.blogspot.com (the ETC claimed that the
blockage was a technical glitch but offered no
further explanation). 18 The government has also
banned reporters for the state-run news agency
from using the Internet at all and now frequently
jails journalists, including online journalists, for
charges including treason; most private news
outlets have now been shut down. 19 The
Committee to Protect Journalists named Ethiopia
one of the top four jailers of reporters in the world
in 2006. 20
In late December 2006, the ETA began
requiring Internet cafés to log the names and
addresses of individual customers, apparently as
part of an effort to track users who engaged in
illegal activities online. The lists are to be turned
over to the police, and Internet café owners who
fail to register users face prison. 21 Bloggers
believe that their communications are being
monitored. 22 The state maintains the right to cut
off Internet access to resellers or customers
who do not comply with security guidelines. In
practice, it has shut down Internet cafés in the
past for offering VoIP services and other policy
violations. 23
ONI testing results
ONI conducted testing on Ethiopia’s sole ISP, the
ETC. The ETC blocking effort appears to focus on
independent media, blogs, and political reform
and human rights sites, though the filtering is not
very thorough and many prominent sites that are
critical of the Ethiopian government remain available within the country.
The prime target of Ethiopia’s filtering is
political bloggers, many of whom oppose the
current regime. Ethiopia blocks all the blogs hosted at www.blogspot.com and at www.nazret.com,
a site that aggregates Ethiopian news and has
space for blogs and forums. Though many of the
filtered nazret blogs are critical of the government, the scope of the filtering is wide: one
blocked blogger wrote solely about the 2006
World Cup. The blogspot-hosted sites that are
blocked include Ethiopian and international commentators on politics and culture, including popular blogs EthioPundit and Enset.
The Web sites of opposition political parties
appeared to be a priority for blocking (www.kini
jit.org, www.hebret.com, and others), as did pages
for groups that represent ethnic minorities within
Ethiopia (www.anaukjustice.org, www.oromia.org).
Although women’s rights groups in general were
not filtered, the ETC did block one Web site
aimed at connecting women involved in politics
in Asia (www.onlinewomeninpolitics.org).
Many independent news sites covering
Ethiopian politics or compiling international and
local coverage were blocked, including CyberCountry Summaries
283
The Ethiopian government maintains strict controls over access to the Internet and online
media, despite constitutional guarantees of freedom of the press and free access to information.
The state-owned ETC and the Ethiopian
Telecommunication Agency (ETA) have exclusive
control of Internet access throughout the country.
The ETA is not an independent regulatory body
and its staff and telecommunications policies are
controlled by the national government. 15 It grants
the ETC a monopoly license as Ethiopia’s sole
ISP and seller of domain names under the country code top-level domain, “.et”. Internet cafés
and other resellers of Internet services must be
licensed by the ETA and purchase their access
through the ETC. 16 Individual purchasers must
also apply for Internet connections through the
ETC. Though Ethiopia has considered some limited privatization of the telecommunications market, these plans are on hold indefinitely despite
acknowledgments that the ETC has not been an
effective service provider. 17
In the face of political turmoil over the last
two years, the ruling party in Ethiopia has
become an increasingly active censor. In mid2006 the government cut off access within
the country to online publications run by political
dissidents and to all blogs hosted by
www.blogspot.com (the ETC claimed that the
blockage was a technical glitch but offered no
further explanation). 18 The government has also
banned reporters for the state-run news agency
from using the Internet at all and now frequently
jails journalists, including online journalists, for
charges including treason; most private news
outlets have now been shut down. 19 The
Committee to Protect Journalists named Ethiopia
one of the top four jailers of reporters in the world
in 2006. 20
In late December 2006, the ETA began
requiring Internet cafés to log the names and
addresses of individual customers, apparently as
part of an effort to track users who engaged in
illegal activities online. The lists are to be turned
over to the police, and Internet café owners who
fail to register users face prison. 21 Bloggers
believe that their communications are being
monitored. 22 The state maintains the right to cut
off Internet access to resellers or customers
who do not comply with security guidelines. In
practice, it has shut down Internet cafés in the
past for offering VoIP services and other policy
violations. 23
ONI testing results
ONI conducted testing on Ethiopia’s sole ISP, the
ETC. The ETC blocking effort appears to focus on
independent media, blogs, and political reform
and human rights sites, though the filtering is not
very thorough and many prominent sites that are
critical of the Ethiopian government remain available within the country.
The prime target of Ethiopia’s filtering is
political bloggers, many of whom oppose the
current regime. Ethiopia blocks all the blogs hosted at www.blogspot.com and at www.nazret.com,
a site that aggregates Ethiopian news and has
space for blogs and forums. Though many of the
filtered nazret blogs are critical of the government, the scope of the filtering is wide: one
blocked blogger wrote solely about the 2006
World Cup. The blogspot-hosted sites that are
blocked include Ethiopian and international commentators on politics and culture, including popular blogs EthioPundit and Enset.
The Web sites of opposition political parties
appeared to be a priority for blocking (www.kini
jit.org, www.hebret.com, and others), as did pages
for groups that represent ethnic minorities within
Ethiopia (www.anaukjustice.org, www.oromia.org).
Although women’s rights groups in general were
not filtered, the ETC did block one Web site
aimed at connecting women involved in politics
in Asia (www.onlinewomeninpolitics.org).
Many independent news sites covering
Ethiopian politics or compiling international and
local coverage were blocked, including CyberCountry Summaries
283