Global InformatIon SocIety Watch 2014 Communications surveillance in the digital age This report was originally published as part of a larger compilation, which can be downloaded from GISWatch.org AssociAtion for Progressive communicAtions (APc) And HumAnist institute for cooPerAtion witH develoPing countries (Hivos) ISBN: 978-92-95102-16-3 APC-201408-CIPP-R-EN-DIGITAL-207 Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Licence <creativecommons.org/licenses/by nc nd/3.0> cameroon The stammerings of Cameroon's communications surveillance PROTEGE QV commitment to the freedom of communication and Sylvie Siyam and Serge Daho expression. www.protegeqv.org Many laws and decrees dealing with freedom of communication and expression and with tele- communications and communications exist in Introduction Cameroon, some of which impact on surveillance: The Republic of Cameroon is a country in the west • Law N° 98/014 of 14 July 1998, which regulates central Africa region. It is bordered by Nigeria, Chad, telecommunications. the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Ga- bon and the Republic of Congo. • Law N° 2004/016 of 22 July 2004 creating the In this country of nearly 21,700,000 people,1 National Commission on Human Rights and of which 1,006,494 are internet users2 (represent- Freedoms. The commission is an independent ing roughly 5% of the population), according to the institution set up to promote and protect human International Telecommunication Union (ITU), it is rights in the country. Though important, none of a real challenge to identify the presence of com- its statutory provisions hint at the surveillance munications monitoring by the state. Nonetheless, of communication. we know that under the guise of national secu- • Law N° 2010/021 of 21 December 2010 govern- rity and intelligence gathering, citizens’ computers ing electronic commerce. and internet communications are spied on by the • Law N° 2010/013 of 21 December 2010 govern- government. ing electronic communications in Cameroon. This was demonstrated when MTN’s Twitter ser- • Law N° 2010/012 of 21 December 2010 on cyber vice in Cameroon was shut down on 8 March 2011. security and cyber crime. The latter “governs the Wary about the role played by Twitter and other so- security framework of electronic communica- cial networks in sparking an Egypt or Tunisia-style tion networks and information systems, defines uprising, the government blocked MTN’s Twitter and punishes offences related to the use of in- service3 for security reasons during what were later formation and communication technologies in called “hunger riots” in our country. Cameroon.” While this law was hailed by some Policy and political background as a much-needed step in the right direction to curb Cameroon’s nascent or burgeoning cy- Since independence, Cameroon’s successive consti- ber crimes industry, others have criticised it for tutions have proclaimed its people’s commitment to being light on internet security and heavy on human rights as set out in the United Nations Uni- sanctions, particularly with regard to sanction- versal Declaration of Human Rights and the African ing online expression. Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Our country is also party to major international and regional hu- • Decree N° 2002/092/PR of 8 April 2002 creat- man rights conventions, including the International ing the National Agency for Information and Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Communications Technologies (ANTIC). The At the national level, the preamble to the ANTIC was created to facilitate and accelerate constitution declares the Cameroonian people’s the uptake of ICTs in Cameroon so that they can contribute to the development of the country. • Decree N° 2012/180/PR of 10 April 2012 assign- 1 countryeconomy.com/demography/population/cameroon ing new missions to the ANTIC, including the 2 www.internetworldstasts.com. According to the World Bank, regulation of electronic security activities and internet users are people with access to the worldwide network. the regulation of the internet in Cameroon. With This may include users who access the internet at least several times a week and those who access it only once within a period of this decree, the ANTIC became the key actor in several months. terms of restrictions imposed by the govern- 3 MTN is a mobile telephone company that in March 2011 was the ment on the free flow of online information. sole Twitter service provider in Cameroon. cameroon / 89 • Decree N° 2013/0399/PM of 27 February 2013 slanderous, or representing a danger for the state. establishing the modalities of protection for Though it is still unclear which technologies are electronic communications consumers. This used to monitor telecoms activity in Cameroon,6 the decree clearly states that when it comes to elec- interview shed light on the process that led to the tronic services, the consumer is entitled to have shutting down of MTN’s Twitter service in Cameroon his or her protection kept private. from the 8 to the 18 March 2011 during peaceful protests. Prior to that, on 22 February 2011, Cam- “Weeding them out”: eroonian government spokesperson Issa Tchiroma Evidence of surveillance in Cameroon Bakary summoned journalists to his office for a me- There are few credible reports that the government dia briefing in which he issued a warning directed monitors email or other internet- related activities at Cameroonians in the diaspora using social me- in Cameroon. However, as certainly as everywhere dia tools such as Facebook and Twitter to call for throughout the world, Cameroon’s administration a march to end the 29-year rule of President Paul does spy on citizens’ emails to checkmate the activi- Biya. The protest was to coincide with an opposi- ties of unscrupulous people capable of threatening its tion-led march in Douala to honour demonstrators internal security. In 2009, the government launched a killed by security forces during February 2008 anti- campaign aimed at capturing the personal informa- government protests. tion of mobile phone holders, allegedly “to ban the A coalition of organisations led by Privacy In- unfair use of the mobile phone [in a way that can prej- ternational, Access and the Electronic Frontier udice] law and public order and … citizens’ safety.” Foundation has outlined a set of 13 International The government’s monopoly over all mobile Principles on the Application of Human Rights and internet infrastructures through its sole, state- to Communications Surveillance.7 These include owned telecom operator, CAMTEL (Cameroon proportionality, competent judicial authority, due Telecommunications), facilitates communications process and user notification. Did the blocking of surveillance. During an interview given to the online MTN’s Twitter8 service meet these requirements? media outfit Cameroon-Info.Net,4 Woungly Mas- At the time Twitter was blocked, only around 50 saga, a Cameroonian dissident, stated his phones people9 were affected by the suspension of MTN’s have always been tapped. service – so was it worth blocking it? This raises the On 19 March 2014, the general manager of the proportionality principle: was there a high degree ANTIC gave an interview to the government’s daily of probability that a serious crime was about to be newspaper Cameroon Tribune during which he fur- committed by MTN’s Twitter users? ther provided details on how social networks and The principles state: “Determinations related websites are watched in Cameroon. To deal with ill- to communications surveillance must be made by intentioned persons and the terrorist groups who a competent judicial authority that is impartial and use social networks to recruit followers and spread independent.” Cameroon of course lacks a judicial propaganda, he said, “The ANTIC uses state-of- mechanism to protect people from unlawful govern- the-art tools or cutting-edge tools to permanently ment surveillance. As a consequence, no judicial watch social networks. This consists of browsing warrant was obtained to shut down MTN’s service. the various profiles on the social networks to detect Another of the 13 Principles that was ignored by illicit content representing a potential threat for the the government is the “due process” principle that national security and the image of Cameroon, and requires states to respect and guarantee individu- to weed them out.”5 als’ human rights by ensuring that lawful procedures When it comes to websites, the ANTIC uses a surrounding communications surveillance are prop- technical platform that scans web content using erly recorded and available to the general public. keywords to detect those inciting hatred, being Cameroonian Minister of Communications and 4 Ngangué, Y. (2014, May 19). Interview de Woungly Massaga, 6 It is worth pointing out that the Chinese telecom giants ZTE and Homme politique et nationaliste Camerounais: “Le Cameroun est Huawei, major players in the African and global telecom industry, une véritable bombe à retardement”. Cameroon-Info.Net. www. are CAMTEL’s telecom equipment suppliers in Cameroon. cameroon-info.net/stories/0,61441,@,cameroun-20-mai-2014- 7 https://en.necessaryandproportionate.org/text interview-de-woungly-massaga-homme-politique-et-nationalist. 8 The Twitter via SMS service offered by MTN Cameroon, one of three html telecommunications operators in the country, allowed anyone with 5 Cameroon Tribune. (2014, March 29). [Interview] Cameroun: Dr a regular phone to punch in a code and start receiving tweets for Ebot Ebot Enow Directeur Général de l’Agence Nationale des TIC. free. Afro Concept News. www.afroconceptnews.com/2014/03/29/ 9 The deal between MTN Cameroon and Twitter was concluded interview-cameroun-dr-ebot-ebot-enow-directeur-general-de- on December 2010 when the smartphone adoption and internet lagence-nationale-des-tic penetration rates were relatively low in Cameroon. 90 / Global Information Society Watch government spokesman Issa Tchiroma told Agence Conclusion France Presse that “it was the government’s job Nearly every country in the world recognises the to protect the nation,” and that the Twitter service right to privacy explicitly in its constitution.