CIVICUS discusses the spread of AI-powered surveillance in Africa with Wairagala Wakabi, executive director of the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) and co-editor of Smart City Surveillance in Africa: Mapping Chinese AI Surveillance Across 11 Countries, the latest report by the African Digital Rights Network (ADRN) and the Institute…
Iran’s crackdown on dissidents is shaping up as one of the toughest security tests yet for Elon Musk’s Starlink, which has served as a lifeline against state-imposed internet blackouts since its deployment during the war in Ukraine. SpaceX, which owns Starlink, made the satellite service free for Iranians earlier this week, placing Musk’s space company…
Kampala, Uganda — The efforts aim to stifle dissent across the region, despite various treaty protections of freedom of movement. Agather Atuhaire, a journalist and human rights activist, traveled to Tanzania in May to observe the trial of Tundu Lissu, a Tanzanian opposition leader charged by the government with treason. But a day after she…
For many Americans, the Trump administration’s firing of the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is about the clash between establishment science and the anti-vaccination movement fronted by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. But for President Donald Trump, who has embraced the vaccine skepticism of his MAGA base while touting the…
