Pages

Friday, June 15, 2012

IMPORTANT travel informaion. No Skype use or is it accurate?

This news just out all over the internet. Ethiopia has apparently banned the use of Skype and other voice communication via the Internet. In fact it is a crime and punishable. You will want to take this into account when you are planning your travel.

"The country’s government recently ushered in new legislation that criminalises the use of services such as Skype, Google Talk and other forms of Internet phone calling.
The new law, which came into effect on 24 May, makes use of Internet voice services punishable by hefty fines and up to 15 years in prison."

Read the whole report, here are the articles:
http://ethioandinet.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/ethiopia-criminalises-skype/
http://www.techcentral.co.za/ethiopia-criminalises-skype/32723/

The BBC on this
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18461292

Despite all the news channels proclaiming that this is real......
Another blog claims that they have investigated this and found it to be exaggerated and not as wide sweeping as believed. I don't know if this is accurate, but it is worth a read. It sounded plausable to me. Check out the news on this Ethiopia blog.  http://danielberhane.wordpress.com/2012/06/21/official-skype-and-similar-activities-are-not-banned-in-ethiopia/
Apparently the final word is not out yet, but you may be able to use Skype after all! Maybe...............

You would be wise to check with your agency and follow their guidelines irregardless. Just to be safe. 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please leave a comment: