African Governments Agitated by Social Media and Mobile Phones
The blocking tactics are being used by governments who feel threatened by social media. Cloning websites is a tactic where malware “controls” an individual's website. Then, it is infiltrated via a virus or spyware in order to damage a user's system and pull out important content. The "infiltrator” can clone the original system and distribute false information that would be difficult to perceive as fake.
An interesting revelation from BBC reports that African governments are employing more sophisticated techniques to block internet sites and bloggers who they perceive to be a threat.
The report comes from a gathering of The Committee for the Protection of Journalists, Google SA (South Africa) and African Journalists where they gathered in Johannesburg’s financial hub Sandton to measure up the situation in the wake of the North African uprisings.
The gathering disclosed that Uganda turned off social networking sites in April during the peak of the “walk-to-work” campaign to protest the rise of fuel and food prices.
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