Africa urged to wake up to growing state surveillance threat

Masked pedestrians cross the street in the central business district (CBD) of Pretoria, South Africa. The risk of ‘digital authoritarianism’ – Internet control, surveillance and censorship – is on the rise in Africa, where an earlier ADRN report found the number of Internet shutdowns rose to 25 in 2020 from 21 a year earlier. — Bloomberg

DURBAN: African governments are using new technology and laws to increase surveillance of opposition figures, researchers warned on Thursday, calling for restrictions on the sale of tracking tools and tougher privacy protections.

Existing laws have largely failed to stop state surveillance across the continent, from monitoring academics in Egypt to tracking journalists in South Africa, the African Digital Rights Network (ADRN) think-tank said in a report.