You, the citizen, have to protect the internet

Last month, as the internet community gathered in Nairobi for the African Internet Summit, Ethiopia decided to switch off its Internet.

This was not the first time Ethiopia had turned off the internet, but it was the first time this was done to discourage exam cheating, which is a very strange reason.

This is overkill, typical of the African man who burns his hut to kill a rat.

The move is similar to shutting down the internet because some Kenyans are being conned by notorious Nigerian-style email scammers.

Oh yes, many of us still fall for those "You-have-won-1million-dollars"-type emails. But should the government shut down the internet to protect the gullible from being swindled, or increase awareness around current and emerging cybersecurity threats?

Nobody doubts that the internet can be abused and was indeed abused in Kenya to facilitate exam cheating. But switching off a whole country because of the actions of a few misguided students is a reflection of the limited view of cybersecurity issues most governments have.

Addis Ababa, like Nairobi, is an international capital, hosting multiple international agencies and corporations that are not party to whatever happens or does not happen to local exams and other domestic issues.

SOME RANDOM BLOGGER

More importantly, the internet is now widely recognised as a human right, given its role as a critical medium that facilitates and enhances freedoms of association and expression.

Switching it on and off abruptly, therefore, violates human rights and should be discouraged by all right-thinking global citizens.

What is of concern, particularly in Africa, is that the reasons given for internet shutdowns by states are becoming increasingly trivial and comical by the day.

"National security" excuses seem to have ran out of fashion, giving way to "examination security" and similar reasons.

Sooner or later, some African government somewhere will be shutting down the internet because some random blogger somewhere abused or annoyed the President.

Considering that the controversial policy to sanction governments that shut down the internet did not muster enough support for adoption at the recent Africa Internet Summit, citizens must now be ready to be their own keepers.

They should use three key principles to hold governments to account when it comes to internet shutdowns. These are legality, necessity and proportionality.

Any internet shutdown must be supported by the domestic laws of the country affected. Additionally, that law must prescribe, through regulations, the conditions and procedures for effecting such a shutdown.

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Whereas the law may exist, the question of necessity comes into play. For example, it may not be necessary to bring down the internet simply because someone has abused the President on Twitter. A libel suit against the offender may suffice instead.

Finally, the principle of proportionality refers to the extent and scope to which an internet shutdown is to be implemented. 

Governments may opt, if the law permits, to switch off geographic sections of the country rather than the whole country. Alternatively, they may switch off specific components or services of the internet rather than impose a crude, total blackout.

The duration of the shutdown is another aspect of proportionality. It is unacceptable for sections of African populations to be subjected to total internet blackouts for three months as happened recently in Cameroon.

In the event that these three principles are not observed by governments, citizens should rise up and demand immediate restoration of their internet services.

After all, internet access and service is now a human right issue and no government should imagine they are doing you a favour by facilitating and enabling it.

Mr Walubengo is a lecturer at Multimedia University of Kenya, Faculty of Computing and IT. Email: [email protected], Twitter: @jwalu