I used to live in Ethiopia, so I know something about this. The government has a monopoly on both landline and wireless service. The quality of the service is pretty crappy -- for example, they only got GPRS about four years ago, which puts them about five years behind most of Africa. It's partly about control -- for example, after the election results were protested in the Fall of 2005, and the protesters successfully organized using SMS, they simply turned off outgoing SMS for the whole country for about two years. It may also be about money. Local calls are relatively cheap, but international calls are at 1990s prices, and calling cards, etc., are banned. So there are these internet-cafe-like stores in the cities -- you'll find them in back allies off the main roads -- that offer international IP-based calling services for something more like Skype prices. They are wildly popular, but the government cracks down on them all the time, so they're constantly moving. This bill is probably just trying to up the penalty for running such places. I doubt they want to run around and chase after individual Skype users calling from home or the local internet cafe -- it's just not worth their time and effort. People don't really have rights in Ethiopia, but unless you're doing something public, the government generally won't go after you you.
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