http://qz.com/757824/how-the-ethiopia-protests-were-stifled-by-a-coordinated-internet-shutdown/
How the Ethiopia protests were stifled by a coordinated internet shutdown
Written by
Moses Karanja, Maria Xynou and Arturo Filastò
August 14, 2016
Quartz africa
Nearly 100 deaths and thousands of arrests have been reported in
Ethiopia over the week, as part of protests against the
marginalization and persecution of the Oromos and Amharas, Ethiopia’s
two largest ethnic groups. But the attacks and arrests may not have
been the only forms of retribution carried out by the Ethiopian
government in its crackdown against protesters.
Last weekend, the internet was reportedly shut down in the country.
In an attempt to understand whether the internet was in fact shut
down, we looked at some public sources of data that contain
information about internet traffic. Such data provides strong
indicators that the internet was most likely shut down during the
Ethiopian protests last weekend, though it remains unclear if this
occurred in all regions and/or on all types of networks across the
country.
Ethiopian protests
Ongoing protests have been carried out by Ethiopia’s Oromo people
since November, marking one of the most significant political
developments in Ethiopia in recent years. These protests were sparked
by the introduction of the Addis Ababa City Integrated Master Plan,
which aims to expand the territorial limits of the country’s capital
into neighboring Oromo towns, threatening to displace millions of
Oromo farmers and bring the Oromo-dominated region under the
Tigray-led federal government.
The unprecedented wave of protests has resulted in more than 400
deaths since November, according to a recent Human Rights Watch
report.
Protesters relied on the internet to plan and mobilize so this may
have prompted the Ethiopian government to pull the plug. More protests
sprung up in the Amhara regional state, with protesters requesting
political reforms and specifically, the Welkait community demanding
that ancestral land currently administered by the Tigray regional
state be moved into the neighboring Amhara region.
The new-found unity between the two historically antagonistic
communities of the Oromo and Amharas against a common adversary, the
TPLF-led government, seems to have raised the tension in the country.
The security forces response has been extreme, with observers
comparing it to the 2005 post-election violence where nearly 200
people were killed. This time though, at least 30 people were
reportedly killed in the Amhara region in one day alone.
Internet shutdown
Protesters relied on the internet to plan, mobilize and coordinate
with each other and this may have prompted the Ethiopian government to
pull the plug on the internet even before the planned protests
started.
But this is not the first time that the Ethiopian government appears
to be restricting access to the internet this year.
Last month, the government reportedly blocked social media platforms
across the country after university entrance exams were leaked on
Facebook by an Oromo activist, as a form of protest against the
government.
Public data from last weekend indicates that the internet was shut
down in Ethiopia during the heat of the protests, but it remains
unclear if this occurred nationwide.
The graphs below illustrate that while internet traffic appeared to be
originating from Ethiopia up until Aug. 5, such traffic was suddenly
terminated until August 8th, indicating that the internet was probably
shut down.
Google products traffic for users from Ethiopia from July 22nd to August 8th
NDT measurements started by users from July 20th to August 8th
The following graph, which we created based on tweets geotagged in
Ethiopia from Aug. 3 to Aug. 9. , also illustrates a decrease of
Twitter activity.
Similarly, Tor metrics data below illustrates that there was a
decrease in the usage of Tor last weekend, which could be viewed as an
indicator of the internet being restricted or shut down in certain
types of networks.
Tor metrics data for direct connecting users
The data included in the graphs above shows that while the internet
was likely shut down in certain regions and/or types of networks, it
probably wasn’t shut down completely across Ethiopia. It might also
have been the case that access to certain websites was restricted in
regions and/or networks where the internet was accessible, though we
unfortunately don’t have any recent OONI measurements from Ethiopia to
verify this.
#KeepItOn campaign
Internet shutdowns effectively pose restrictions on demonstrations and
on human rights generally.
In the recent case of Ethiopia, shutting down the internet in the
middle of intense protests likely not only had an effect on the
mobilization and coordination of protesters, but also on the
communication between families and friends of victims. This also
likely had an effect on journalists reporting on the protests in
real-time on the ground, if they were using networks that were
blocked.
An Al Jazeera reporter in Addis Ababa cited difficulties to connect to
the internet and restricted travel to protest zones as a cause for
limited coverage of the protests.
But Ethiopia is not the only country restricting access to the
internet during political events.
At least 20 cases of internet shutdowns have been documented worldwide
over the last six months alone. In response to this, Access Now is
leading a campaign in collaboration with organizations around the
world called #KeepItOn.
The #KeepItOn campaign aims to document and raise awareness about
internet shutdowns around the world. We support this campaign, and we
hope you will too.
This article was drafted as part of a collaboration between OONI and
the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law
(CIPIT) department of Strathmore University. It was originally
published here.
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Received on Sun Aug 14 2016 - 08:50:02 EDT