MACTV News: Authoritarian Regimes Gear Up to Counter the Internet

                                       February 24, 2011 

                                                                   

                                                                
By Williams Ekanem

As the use of internet of by youths to mobilize against authoritarian governments spreads, the various approaches used the governments to curb the use of the internet by its citizenry has been identified.

Participants at a public lecture on, “ Authoritarian Regimes Versus the Internet: Who Will Win in Africa” say the authoritarian governments use methods such as targeting individuals, block access as well as counter the internet messages with direct propaganda.

A panelist at the public seminar which was organized by the Atlantic Council in Washington D.C on Wednesday, Chris Spence stated that authoritarian regimes across the African continent have begun to embrace the use of social media.

Spence, who is the chief technology officer at the National Democratic Institute, said the various governments are in addition to trying to embrace social media, they are also fashioning out possible repression tools.

In her contribution, Sally Wentworth, senior manager for public policy, Internet Society the experience in Tunisia and Egypt were made possible by the fact that both countries have robust information technology penetration.

According to her, authoritarian governments are working assiduously to get some control of the internet. She however pointed out that this may not be very easy as by the very nature of how the internet was conceived and developed, it is made for easy subscription.

She added that consequent upon the development, tremendous innovations will soon be out in the technology market as specialists are now discussing with an aim to introduce new ideas and tools.

June Arunga, founder and chief executive officer, Open Quest Media LLC regretted that political wars are fast moving into the digital space with autocratic regimes trying to control the digital space.

Answering questions on whether the current protest will spread to sub Saharan Africa, Arunga said it is difficult to generalize because every country has its own system, pointing out however that demographics favour the youths in the use of the internet. 

Professor Mohammed Bamyeh pointed out that autocratic regimes are always busy financing their dictatorial regimes in the name of providing for security.