[liberationtech] Ethiopia criminalizes Skype?

[Bill Stewart]

> > http://www.techcentral.co.za/ethiopia-criminalises-skype/32723/
> >
> > Ethiopiabs state-owned Internet service provider, the Ethiopian
> > Telecommunication Corporation (Ethio-Telcom), has begun performing
> > deep-packet inspection of all Internet traffic in the country. The
> > countrybs government recently ushered in new legislation that criminalises
> > the use of services such as Skype, Google Talk and other forms of Internet
> > phone calling. ...

This isn't entirely surprising.  Aside from the traditional problem
of monopoly telecom companies not liking competition,
Ethiopia's been routinely wiretapping phone calls for years.
Back in the 90s, a Dutch friend of mine was doing development work in
Somaliland and Ethiopia, and the phone operator once interrupted
one of his calls to tell him to stop speaking Dutch,
and use some language the police could understand,
like English, Italian, Amharic, or one of the local languages.

He considered getting PGP for his email, but decided it was
more likely to give the police an excuse to confiscate his computers,
which they'd have done more for general corruption than actual politics.

         Bill Stewart