Dear _at_Kojo Boakye <mailto:kojoboakye_at_fb.com> and _at_Nomonde
Gongxeka-Seopa, <mailto:gongxekaseopa_at_fb.com>
We are still awaiting a response!
I believe you have been in contact with a person from ICTA mauritius.
Since they have recently released a communique [1] citing a contact has
been made with Facebook and both parties are working together towards a
solution that wouldn't need the use of the unsafe proposed proxy tool.
If so, we (MIU) advocates of a trusted and accessible internet in
Mauritius are very grateful for your response to the local Mauritian
authorities regarding this situation.
However, ICTA have released only a brief statement of Facebook's
submission where they've highlighted in *bold* the following:
/"...Facebook welcomes regulation and fully supports The ICTA stated aim
of keeping harmful content offline and enabling a safer online
environment..." /
We believe parts of the statement was intentionally selected. We have
contacted ICTA for a release of the full statement but we've oddly had
have no responses from them.
As so, we trust that you will do the right thing like the other
international organisations (Google, Mozilla, EFF, ISOC...) and either
send us or make the statement addressing the ICTA amendments public as
the public who is the main concerning party, has the right to know the
content of Facebook's consultation paper submission in its fullness and
unbiasedness.
Cheers,
Chittesh Sham
[1]
https://www.icta.mu/documents/2021/ICTA_Communique.pdf
On 21/5/2021 14:54, Chittesh Sham wrote:
>
> Dear Ms./Mrs Anim-Addo,
>
> Thank you for referring your colleagues to this discussion. To
> clarify, I haven't been contacted yet as this is my first contacting
> effort.
>
> However, we would be more than delighted to hear what _at_Kojo Boakye
> <mailto:kojoboakye_at_fb.com> and _at_Nomonde Gongxeka-Seopa
> <mailto:gongxekaseopa_at_fb.com> has to say on this matter (please see my
> previous email).
> It would very much help the Mauritian citizens, the authorities, and
> the various international organization following this closely.
>
>
> Looking forward,
>
> Regards,
>
> Chittesh Sham.
>
> On Friday, May 21, 2021 13:25 +04, Kezia Anim-Addo <keziaanim_at_fb.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> Adding my colleagues _at_Kojo Boakye <mailto:kojoboakye_at_fb.com> and
>> _at_Nomonde Gongxeka-Seopa <mailto:gongxekaseopa_at_fb.com> who I believe
>> have already been in touch with you and addressed this.
>>
>> They are best placed to pick this up with you.
>>
>> Many thanks
>>
>> Kezia
>>
>> *From: *chittesh <chittesh_at_lsl.digital>
>> *Date: *Thursday, May 20, 2021 at 6:12 PM
>> *To: *Ebele Okobi <ebeleokobi_at_fb.com>, "okobi_at_yahoo.com"
>> <okobi_at_yahoo.com>, Kezia Anim-Addo <keziaanim_at_fb.com>,
>> "johnpinette_at_facebook.com" <johnpinette_at_facebook.com>,
>> "johnpinette_at_fb.com" <johnpinette_at_fb.com>
>> *Cc: *"mauritius-internet-users_at_lists.elandnews.com"
>> <mauritius-internet-users_at_lists.elandnews.com>,
>> "discuss_at_discuss.lugm.org" <discuss_at_discuss.lugm.org>
>> *Subject: *Mauritius Island MitM HTTPS certificate affecting Facebook
>> Services
>>
>> Dear All,
>>
>> I hope this email finds you well.
>>
>> Dear Ms./Mrs Anim-Addo and Ms./Mrs Okobi,
>>
>> I hope, as the esteemed Facebook representatives of the Sub
>> Saharan region, you have been notified of/ monitoring the current
>> political climate regarding the MITM proxy tool that the Mauritian
>> Information and Communication Technologies Authority (*ICTA*) is
>> trying to setup which would primary affect Facebook's products/services.
>>
>> In case you might not have been paying attention to this
>> small African country, please allow me to give a brief summary;
>> On 14th April 21, ICTA has published a consultation
>> paper proposing a vaguely elaborated implementation that addresses
>> the abuse and misuse of social media platforms with a MITM style
>> proxy toolkit [1]. This type of censorship has provoked both an
>> outcry from both local and reputable international organizations such
>> as (Google, Mozilla, Access Now, EFF among others) [2]. You may find
>> an extensive timeline on the matter _at_
>> https://www.lexpress.mu/article/393316/consultation-paper-icta-rappel-protestations
>> <https://www.lexpress.mu/article/393316/consultation-paper-icta-rappel-protestations>
>>
>> However, we have received zero response from Facebook regarding this
>> matter.
>>
>> It is important that Facebook comment non-evasively on this matter as
>> not only it affects the Mauritian population and ICTA but also our
>> regional Sub Saharan Economy as many international investors look to
>> Mauritius as an economic hub to investing in Africa.
>>
>> Continuing:
>>
>> ICTA published a video and justifying their MITM implementation based
>> on what Mr. Zuckerberg said (see [3] for video and translation). We
>> don't know to what extend that is true in application to this current
>> situation, we have also noted that in the "Privacy-Focused Vision for
>> Social Networking" posted by Facebook which highlighted its belief
>> "..future of communication will increasingly shift to private,
>> encrypted services where people can be confident what they say to
>> each other stays secure..." [4]
>>
>> Does Facebook value providing a secured encrypted services or feels
>> indifferent to authorities breaking this internet chain of trust
>> between Facebook and its users?
>>
>> As your clients, we are also perplexed that if such amendments are
>> approved and god-forbid there's a data leak, which institution would
>> take responsibility ?
>>
>> ICTA, the population of Mauritius and all the Sub Saharan countries
>> (some of which who might also be considering the same censorship
>> tactics) are looking forward to your email.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Best Regards,
>>
>> Chittesh Sham,
>>
>> System's Engineer (La Sentinelle Publications Mauritius),
>> P.R.O Linux User Group of Mauritius,
>> Member of Mauritius Internet Users,
>> Current President of MMR.
>>
>> [1] Section 11.2.1 of
>> https://www.icta.mu/docs/2021/Social_Media_Public_Consultation.pdf
>> <https://www.icta.mu/docs/2021/Social_Media_Public_Consultation.pdf>
>>
>> [2]
>> https://www.accessnow.org/mauritius-dangerous-ict-act-place-human-rights-at-its-core/
>> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/UMd5CMjgKLCxmZMFJ8PIw/>
>> https://blog.mozilla.org/netpolicy/files/2021/05/Mozillas-Response-to-the-Mauritian-ICT-Authoritys-Consultation.pdf
>> <https://blog.mozilla.org/netpolicy/files/2021/05/Mozillas-Response-to-the-Mauritian-ICT-Authoritys-Consultation.pdf>
>>
>> https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/04/proposed-new-internet-law-mauritius-raises-serious-human-rights-concerns
>> <https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/04/proposed-new-internet-law-mauritius-raises-serious-human-rights-concerns>
>>
>> [3] _at_2:30 https://player.vimeo.com/video/546487190
>> <https://player.vimeo.com/video/546487190>
>>
>> translation:
>> [Creole] "Dayer CEO Facebook li mem finn dir ki sak
>> gouvernma bizin pran so bann mezir pou kontrol bann post abizif lor
>> facebook"
>>
>> [English] "Anyways even the CEO of Facebook said himself that
>> governments should take the necessary measures to control abusive
>> posts on facebook"
>>
>> [4]
>> https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/6/18253472/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-letter-privacy-encrypted-messaging
>> <https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/6/18253472/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-letter-privacy-encrypted-messaging>
>>
>
>
>
Received on Tue May 25 2021 - 16:05:51 PST