{"id":335737,"date":"2014-03-25T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-25T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.google.com\/articles\/CBMia2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lmhydy5vcmcvcmVwb3J0LzIwMTQvMDMvMjUvdGhleS1rbm93LWV2ZXJ5dGhpbmctd2UtZG8vdGVsZWNvbS1hbmQtaW50ZXJuZXQtc3VydmVpbGxhbmNlLWV0aGlvcGlh0gEA?oc=5"},"modified":"2026-09-09T15:39:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T19:39:59","slug":"they-know-everything-we-do-hrw-on-telecom-and-internet-surveillance-in-ethiopia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/335737","title":{"rendered":"\u2018They Know Everything We Do\u2019: HRW on telecom and internet surveillance in Ethiopia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In March 2014, <strong>Human Rights Watch<\/strong> published <em>They Know Everything We Do<\/em>, a detailed investigation into telecom and internet surveillance in Ethiopia. The report examined how state control of the then-monopoly telecom operator, combined with imported monitoring technology, enabled tracking of opposition figures, journalists, and diaspora activists.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" height=\"780\" width=\"780\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-598519\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/addis-press-journalists-1280.jpg?fit=780%2C780&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Men reading newspapers in Addis Ababa (Terje Skjerdal, 2004, Wikimedia Commons)\" \/><\/p>\n<p>HRW documented phone tapping, malware targeting dissidents abroad, and the chilling effect of known surveillance on free expression. The findings became a long-running reference point in debates about digital rights, lawful interception, and the risks of centralized telecom control.<\/p>\n<p>Although Ethiopia\u2019s telecom market and politics have changed since 2014\u2014including partial liberalization and new operators\u2014the report remains historically important for anyone researching internet freedom, cybersecurity policy, or press conditions in the Horn of Africa.<\/p>\n<h3>Sources<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/report\/2014\/03\/25\/they-know-everything-we-do\/telecom-and-internet-surveillance-ethiopia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Human Rights Watch \u2013 They Know Everything We Do (2014)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/africa\/ethiopia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">HRW overview \u2013 Ethiopia<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Telecom and Internet Surveillance in Ethiopia | HRW&nbsp;&nbsp;Human Rights Watch<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":598519,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-335737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethiopian-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/addis-press-journalists-1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NivD-1pl7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335737"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":599625,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335737\/revisions\/599625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}