Access and Internet Freedoms: What Comes First? – UIGF 2013

Daniel Nanghaka from ISOC -U presenting the UIGF 2013 Online discussions report.

Under the theme of “Harnessing Internet development in Uganda: Connecting the last mile”, the UIGF 2013 sought to strike a balance at addressing IG issues of achieving affordable internet access and promoting online freedoms – balancing privacy and data protection in the wake of government surveillance and censorship in the country. In general internet connectivity and accessibility has improved over the last few years with lot of access points being opened across the country. Indeed, from the Online IG Discussions report, presented by Daniel Nanghaka from Internet Society Uganda Chapter, there were views that Uganda is enjoying improved access to internet and internet usage numbers are increasing.

Nonetheless, the country is still faced with slow speeds and high internet costs especially in rural areas compared to urban areas. The urban-rural digital divide is further being widened by limited infrastructure set up in the rural areas due to a perceived “lack of economic viability” for many Internet Service Providers (ISPs). This coupled with no/limited local content and low literacy levels is hindering the uptake of internet usage in many rural areas in Uganda. Further, the issue of infrastructure sharing was highlighted as key to improving and lowering costs of connectivity. Many ISPs lay fibre optic cables independently without utilizing existing fibre cable.

In offering solutions to the high internet costs and slow speeds, Mike Barnard from the Uganda Internet Exchange Point (UIXP) shared that the UIXP has improved local traffic exchange for ISPs in Uganda. Highlighting, that with support from Google, Orange Uganda and the Internet Society, the UIXP has recently upgraded its switches, servers and power back up systems. Besides, it has also acquired an IPv6 assignment from AfriNIC and addresses have been issued to all its member networks.

On addressing the challenge of local content, it was heard from government that up to 27 government ministries, departments and agencies are currently hosted under the .ug domain as a drive to promote and manage Uganda’s ICT and e-governance policy. Dr. David Turahi, Director for Information Technology and Information Management Services, Ministry of ICT, also shared that the Uganda government has put in place an IPv6 strategy that will address IPv4 roaming concerns especially in mobile networks.

Moving to Internet Freedoms, Dr. Turahi shared that the government is currently working on a Data Protection and Privacy Act that aims at protecting the privacy of online users in Uganda. He said that increasing online citizen participation calls for government to look at issues such as open data, cyber security to ensure an effective online community. Further addressing cyber security concerns in the country, Mr. Peter Kahiigi, Director of Information Security, at the National Information Technology Authority Uganda (NITA- Uganda) urged that the increased uptake of internet services in Uganda had also seen an increase in cases of child pornography, cyber bullying, identity theft, financial crimes and distributed Denial of Service (DOS) attacks and cyber terrorism among others in the country. He shared that government is currently undertaking initiatives to address the vice. Current initiatives cited were, setting up of an advisory group on information security to liaise between government and the private sector; developing a classification framework for information aimed at promoting open data and better e-governance as well as improved information security management. He also stressed the importance of having a national information security framework to protect citizens online, pointing the available Cyber laws that are referenced but need better enforcement. Besides, Uganda has also set up a national Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), an initiative under the Ministry of ICT, NITA-U and Uganda Communications Commission (UCC).

From civil society perspective, Ashnah Kalemera, while promoting the OpenNet Africa initiative, urged ICT stakeholders to be advocates of online freedoms by seeking to “educate citizens on responsible behavior and promoting liberal regimes for online rights.” This is in light with recent government efforts to increase online surveillance in the country. Her remarks were echoed by Dr. Peter Mwesigye from the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) who pointed at numerous legislations that provide for freedom of expression in Uganda through any media including the internet. He also pointed out that Uganda, as a signatory to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights should ensure adherence to freedoms of expressions both online and offline. He called for the independence of oversight bodies such as Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) and NITA-U in addressing issues related to press and online media freedoms.

Conclusively, the forum called for increased collaborations between civil society, private sector, academia and government in addressing internet matters in Uganda. Stressing that much as government is working on increasing internet access in the country, internet freedoms should be at the top its agenda.

The Uganda Internet Governance Forum 2013 was organised by the ISOC –Uganda Chapter in partnership with theCollaboration on International ICT Policy in East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) and the ICT Association of Uganda.