In Ethiopia , using Skype could land u in Jail for 15 years .
The Ethiopian government has instituted a law that bans the use of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services such as Skype or Google Talk. Violation of this law will result in 15 years of jail .
Tor network , a service which lets users browse the internet anonymously has been blocked as well by the Ethiopian government .
The commonly cited reason behind this censorship is national security and to prevent loss to the state-owned telecom service . The Ethio Telecom is a monopoly and has expensive calling rates .VOIP services offer services much cheaper , resulting in loss to the telecom service .
BBC news quotes -
"The Ethiopian government is trying to attack every means of information exchange," Ambroise Pierre from the Reporters Without Borders Africa service told BBC News.
"There's already a very strict control over written press, and last year several journalists were arrested, and now the government is tackling communications over the internet.
"More and more people in Ethiopia are turning to new technologies, and some are even able to bypass censorship, which explains why the government is trying to use effective methods to control internet communications."
Source
The Ethiopian government has instituted a law that bans the use of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services such as Skype or Google Talk. Violation of this law will result in 15 years of jail .
Tor network , a service which lets users browse the internet anonymously has been blocked as well by the Ethiopian government .
The commonly cited reason behind this censorship is national security and to prevent loss to the state-owned telecom service . The Ethio Telecom is a monopoly and has expensive calling rates .VOIP services offer services much cheaper , resulting in loss to the telecom service .
BBC news quotes -
"The Ethiopian government is trying to attack every means of information exchange," Ambroise Pierre from the Reporters Without Borders Africa service told BBC News.
"There's already a very strict control over written press, and last year several journalists were arrested, and now the government is tackling communications over the internet.
"More and more people in Ethiopia are turning to new technologies, and some are even able to bypass censorship, which explains why the government is trying to use effective methods to control internet communications."
Source
