Digital Surveillance in Africa

In this open-access third volume of Bloomsbury''s Digital Africa series, a broad range of African and European scholars and practitioners map the development, procurement and (mis)use of the ever-expanding suite of digital surveillance and policing technologies across the continent. Drawing on the empirically rich, theoretically sophisticated research of the African Digital Rights Network, this book examines how public and private actors in Africa use spyware, mobile phone extraction, biometric and face recognition systems, and other technologies for smart-city and other social, and social-control, applications. Eight chapters examine eight African countries, and each of these begins with a thorough political history of the nature of surveillance there under colonial and post-liberation political settlements. This enables new analyses of the socio-cultural, political, and economic drivers and characteristics of contemporary digital surveillance in each country, all of which ultimately leads to concrete policy recommendations at local, national, and international levels. For its empirical richness and breadth, as well as its theoretical sophistication, Digital Surveillance in Africa is essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary African studies, and it is of keen interest to anyone concerned with how digital surveillance affects everyday lives across the world. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.

Préface
An empirically rich, theoretically sophisticated, policy-oriented analysis of how public and private actors use digital surveillance for social influence and control in eight African countries.

Auteur
Tony Roberts is a Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex, where he works on digital inequalities and digital rights. He is currently the Principal Investigator on the GCRF-UKRI-funded African Digital Rights Network. Admire Mare is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He was previously Deputy Head of the Communications department at the Namibian University of Science and Technology.

Texte du rabat
Media coverage and scholarly research on digital surveillance has focused primarily on the USA and Europe. Everyone knows about Cambridge Analytica's social media surveillance; Edward Snowden's revelations of the West's mass internet and phone surveillance; and Pegasus Spyware's mobile phone surveillance of activists, journalists, judges, and presidents across the world. Comparatively little is known about the millions of dollars now being spent on digital technologies for use in the illegal and illegitimate surveillance of citizens in Africa. In this open-access third volume of Bloomsbury's Digital Africa series, a broad range of African and European scholars and practitioners map the development, procurement and (mis)use of the ever-expanding suite of digital surveillance and policing technologies across the continent. Drawing on the empirically rich, theoretically sophisticated research of the African Digital Rights Network, this book examines how public and private actors in Africa use spyware, mobile phone extraction, biometric and face recognition systems, and other technologies for smart-city and other social, and social-control, applications. Eight chapters examine eight African countries, and each of these begins with a thorough political history of the nature of surveillance there under colonial and post-liberation political settlements. This enables new analyses of the socio-cultural, political, and economic drivers and characteristics of contemporary digital surveillance in each country, all of which ultimately leads to concrete policy recommendations at local, national, and international levels. For its empirical richness and breadth, as well as its theoretical sophistication, Digital Surveillance in Africa is essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary African studies, and it is of keen interest to anyone concerned with how digital surveillance affects everyday lives across the world. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.

Contenu

Foreword: Professor Jane Duncan, University of Johannesburg
Chapter 1: Introduction, Tony Roberts and Admire Mare
Chapter 2: Nigeria, Patrick Ndayizigamiye and Lawrence Oboh (Spaces for Change, Nigeria)
Chapter 3: Morocco, Amin Idris (Paradigm Initiative Network, Nigeria)
Chapter 4: Malawi, Jimmy Kainja (University of Malawi)
Chapter 5: Zambia, Kiss Abraham and Sam Phiri (University of Zambia)
Chapter 6: Tunisia, Aysha Jeridi (Digital Arabia Network)
Chapter 7: Ghana, Wole Oladapo and Gifty Appiah-Adjei (University of Ibadan)
Chapter 8: Ivory Coast, Steven Akomain (Paradigm Initiative Network)
Chapter 9: Angola, Edmilson Angelo (Institute of Development Studies, UK)
Chapter 10: US and Israeli Technology Suppliers, Anand Sheombar (University of Utrecht)
Chapter 11: UK and Europe Technology Suppliers, Sebastian Klovig Skelton (Computer Weekly)
Chapter 12: Afterword, Edin Omanovic (Privacy International)