As the clampdown on the access to the internet continues to rage on in some countries in Africa, Uganda has taken internet censorship to another level by instructing telecommunications companies and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) through the Uganda Communication Commission (UCC) to block local and international pornography websites.
According to the Executive Director, Godfrey Mutabazi, Executive Director at the UCC, “we have identified 17 popular local and 10 international pornography websites which they, we have asked ISP’s and telecommunications companies to block.
“The commission is in receipt of a list of Internet sites with pornographic content from the Pornography Control Committee. The committee has established that the list of the websites attached hereto is currently streaming pornography to Uganda in breach of section 13 of the Anti-Pornography Act, 2014.”
According to iAfrikan, the order to telecommunication companies and ISP’s to block pornography websites is a far cry from Uganda’s original plan of using what authorities called a “pornography detecting machine”.
In 2016 it was reported that the Ugandan Government had purchased a pornography-detecting machine and it was set to arrive in Uganda in September that same year which did not happen. The pornography detecting machine was designed with the capacity to detect pornography pictures, videos or graphics taken or saved on one’s phone, computer or camera in any form.
In August 2017, a government official announced, at an event to appoint of members to Uganda’s Pornography Control Committee (PCC), that the pornography detecting machine was set to come soon. This also didn’t happen. Now, a year later, on 23 July 2018, the UCC has resorted to blocking pornography websites.
The list of websites to be blocked was generated by the PCC, according to Mutabazi. He further warned telecommunications companies and ISPs that if they don’t comply with the directive, they will face penalties.
Mutabazi has warned that telecom companies and internet providers risk penalties if they don’t comply with the new directive.
This directive comes not after Uganda introduced a social media and mobile money tax which has so far seen usage of both dropping since 1 July 2018.
