Tanzania Orders All Unregistered Bloggers To Take Down Their Sites (reuters.com) 52
The state-run Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) ordered all unregistered bloggers and online forums on Monday to suspend their websites immediately or face criminal prosecution. Several sites, including popular online discussion platform Jamiiforums, have reportedly shut down to avoid prosecution. Reuters reports: Regulations passed in March made it compulsory for bloggers and owners of other online forums such as YouTube channels to register with the government and pay up to $900 for a license. Per capita income in Tanzania is slightly below $900 a year. Digital activists say the law is part of a crackdown on dissent and free speech by the government of President John Magufuli, who was elected in 2015. Government officials argue the new rules are aimed at tackling hate speech and other online crimes, including cyberbullying and pornography.
"All unregistered online content providers must be licensed before June 15. Starting from today June 11 until June 15, they are prohibited from posting any new content on their blogs, forums or online radios and televisions," the regulator said in a statement on Monday. The statement said legal action would be taken against any unregistered websites posting new content. Anyone convicted of defying the new regulations faces a fine of at least 5 million shillings ($2,200), imprisonment for a minimum 12 months, or both.
"All unregistered online content providers must be licensed before June 15. Starting from today June 11 until June 15, they are prohibited from posting any new content on their blogs, forums or online radios and televisions," the regulator said in a statement on Monday. The statement said legal action would be taken against any unregistered websites posting new content. Anyone convicted of defying the new regulations faces a fine of at least 5 million shillings ($2,200), imprisonment for a minimum 12 months, or both.
lol (Score:1)
Surprised anyone beat the UK to it
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These days there's little difference between Third World shitholes and Britain.
Re:lol (Score:4, Informative)
These days there's little difference between Third World shitholes and Britain.
Tanzania wasn't always a SH. It has always been poor but did well on other measures of human welfare, like life expectancy, childhood mortality, and political rights (at least by African standards). But they have been backsliding into repression and dictatorship. It is a beautiful country, with warm and friendly people. It is sad to see the direction they are heading.
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Next thing might be a measless or syphilis epidemy.
What do you mean, 'next thing'? Measles epidemic was a while back, syphilis epidemic is current; I think this year got us our first confirmed strain of syphilis that is resistant to every drug we've got.
Of course, one reason to require all bloggers be registered and having to cost a lot to get registered is so you can shut out bloggers who dare question whatever the sociopolitical elite's dogma is--including all facts that might contradict or at least embarrass our proper lords and masters.
heart breaking (Score:2)
Yes, it's a beautiful country, with some horrific problems, many that go back more than a few years.
Darwin's Nightmare [wikipedia.org] — 2004
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That's scary, because the USA often follows what UK does after enough bad apples do their bad apple deeds.
Gee, maybe if we put our blogs inside of guns, they'll be protected?
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This can't happen in the US without amending the constitution to nullify the first amendment, same reason why even though the UK banned firearms 20 years ago, the US won't be doing that any time soon, if ever. Rather, the EU beat the UK to it, and now the UK is following after the EU. Here's Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, verbatim:
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises.
Sounds well and good, right? Until you get to section 2:
2. The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.
If you read between the lines and interpret it based on existing laws and recent (and ongoing) even
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These days there's little difference between Third World shitholes and Britain.
Says someone who has never seen either one.
Oh, Tanzania (Score:2, Funny)
It took me a few moments before I realized that didn't actually say "Tasmania", which made this story seem much more shocking than it actually is.
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You devil.
I for one welcome our (Score:3, Insightful)
I for one welcome our orwellian ov+++NO_CARRIER
Censorship knows no boundaries (Score:2)
This sucks that some country [worldatlas.com] in Africa decides to censor things.
I guess their presidential constitutional republic [wikipedia.org] now has officially jumped the shark into a dictatorship.
--
Only Cowards Censor
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Socialist, so of course it is totalitarian.
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That makes perfect sense to me. They still have free speech. Just a little registration form and a small fee.
Very similar to how the Constitutionally protected right to bear arms is handled in some US states. Registration and fees don't count as "shall not be infringed", right? That's what Hillary said, anyway.
If it was a small fee then it wouldn't be news. A year's income is not a small fee.
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how much would they charge for a whoosh?
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Can voters change that? (Score:3, Insightful)
It's not clear what kind of government it is. Like Russia, on paper it looks like a democracy, or close to one, but it's hard to tell what really goes on in terms of freedom of the press, voter intimidation, fake or jailed opposition, etc.
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Can voters change that? Answer: Um, NO (that's just the point).
You don't need to be very bright to figure out what kind of government Tanzania's is. When a government "regulates" free speech, it's because free speech endangers its continued existence. Doesn't matter what the result of the last sham election was. Nor does it matter that there are all these other alternative channels for "free speech" that just happen to support the party in power.
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By that view, the DMCA and other abused "piracy" laws makes USA a non-democracy. Then again, plutocrats pushed it, making us at least partially a plutocracy instead of democracy.
Not enough voters care to make it an issue: they are too focused on Guns, God, and Gays such that plutocrats pretty much control the little corner issues.
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ause you don't care. Calling Russia non-democracy is just a rusophobic insult and not a meaningful statement,
Can't be both, Ivan. Russia is not a democracy in any meaningful manner because Putin systematically arrests anyone who might challenge him in the rigged elections.
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Simply not true but who cares any more, no one is listening and it has all become rather boring. Russia is now a technocracy at federal level and that is now spreading down to state and local level at quite the pace.
Licensing all bloggers as censorship system only really works in countries with a specific genetic characteristic, has to do with a certain scoring system where the average is 100 (I am humouring myself with empty political correctness). In those countries there are a very limited number of peo
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Calling Russia non-democracy is just a rusophobic insult and not a meaningful statement,
America isn't even a democracy [washingtontimes.com], what makes you think Russia is one?
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Oh boy (Score:3)
Does Tanzania have a "Great Firewall"? (Score:4, Interesting)
How do they identify and prosecute blogs that are hosted on overseas servers?
Re:Does Tanzania have a "Great Firewall"? (Score:4, Informative)
Tanzania and Tasmania (Score:1)
We are all missing the point (Score:5, Funny)
How can we blame this on Trump?
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I think you're mistaken, everyone actually loves Trump. He's like a dad you have sex with. He'll compliment your looks and when you sit on his lap, a mysterious object pokes you in just the right way.
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Billions (historically hundreds of millions) of people have always been crushed under authoritarian regimes. It is no one else's job or responsibility to free them. A people most often gets the kind of government that it deserves.
One reason the U.S. has always been a society that both promotes and celebrates individuality and advances the concept of private (as opposed to government controlled) societies as that freedom does not rest with governments it rest with the individual, but that freedom can only be