Suggestion: 13 categories of internet content for prohibition in Nigeria

Dear Hon. Minister of Communication, I congratulate you on your well-deserved appointment by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Having watched your testimony at the Senate confirmation screening, I am convinced that you are the right person to adequately handle the job. I, therefore, pray that Almighty Allah helps and guides you in discharging the onerous national assignment most effectively.

No doubt, you are holding a most challenging job with the greatest potential of molding the lives of present and future generations of Nigerians. The Internet, otherwise known as the World Wide Web (WWW), which comes under your ministry, probably today is the most influential tool in shaping our people’s education, character and therefore their lives. If handled properly it is a beautiful tool that can positively impact on our society, especially on our youth. But if lackadaisically handled, as it seems to be since its introduction in our country, it has the potency of destroying the very fabric of our society and our future.

You will agree with me, sir that we are today living in the internet age and a whole lot of human activities are carried out through the invisible loop. I don’t need to say much because I know you know. 

As it currently affects Nigeria, a lot of negative activities with serious consequences to our country are being daily exposed. These need to be curbed.

Many countries, including the United States that invented the technology, have taken similar steps in order to protect their societies against immortality, crimes, drug addiction, piracy, extremism, espionage, yahoo yahooism, etc. It is to this end that I outline below the following points suggesting some form of state moderation to the use of the WWW in our country. I believe if taken, it will not in any way affect the positive features of the internet, but instead curb the major negative features we are presently facing and thus protect our society.

I wrote and formally made this suggestion to your predecessors, but for some reasons, it was not taken seriously. However, I still consider the devastating effects of allowing unregulated usage of the internet serious enough to write to you also. I hope you will see good reason to act differently from your predecessors.

I, therefore, respectfully suggest that you block those aspects with the following tendencies:

1. Internet Content for Bypassing Blocked Content – this category includes Internet Content that allows or assists Users to access Blocked Contents;
2. Internet Content for Learning Criminal Skills – this category includes Internet Content that either provides instructions for or identifies methods to promote, encourage or provide the skills to commit illegal or criminal or unethical activities. These include bomb-making, phreaking (breaching phone security or phone service theft), scams and fraud, yahoo yahooism, terrorism, evading law enforcement, stalking, lock picking, selling pirated material such as commercial software, music, videos or others; 
3. Dating Internet Content – this category includes Internet Content that provides online dating or matchmaking which contradicts the ethics and morals of religious, traditional and cultural values of the peoples of the FRN, but exempting chatting services, chatting groups, social networking and forums; 
4. Internet Content for Illegal Drugs – this category includes Internet Content that provides information on purchasing, manufacturing, promoting and using illegal drugs; 
5. Internet Content containing Pornography and Nudity – this category includes internet content that contains material of a pornographic nature, or relates or depicts acts of homosexuality, nudity and sexual material (including stories, jokes, animations, and video) or internet content that promotes sexual activity, and internet content which promotes the distribution of the above material (such as Peer-to-Peer websites and links);
6. Gambling Internet Content – this category includes internet content that is relevant to gambling or such as gambling links, tips, sports picks, lottery results, as well as horse, car or boat racing; 
7. Internet Content for Hacking and Malicious Codes – this category includes Internet Content that distributes information and tools for hacking (root kits, kiddy scripts, etc.) that help individuals gain unauthorized access to computer systems. Also, it should include Internet Content that distributes tools or information for producing and distributing malicious codes such as viruses, worms or Trojan horses. But it should exempt information on security including ethical hacking;
8. Internet Content that is offensive to Cleavages – this category includes Internet Content that contains material which expresses hate to cleavages such as religions, regions, ethnicity, political ideology, etc.;
9. Phishing Internet Content – this category includes Internet Content where entities or persons falsely represent themselves as “legitimate” businesses or enterprises for the purpose of deceiving and obtaining from users, valuable information such as bank account or email account information including details such as usernames, passwords, credit card details or bank account details. In local Nigerian parlance, the “Yahoo Boys Category”; 
10. Internet Content that downloads Spyware – this category includes Internet Content that downloads Spyware which gathers private information of the user without his or her knowledge; 
11. Internet Content providing Unlicensed Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service – this category includes Internet Content that allows access to services which are prohibited in accordance with the TRA’s Voice over Internet Protocol Policy; 
12. Terrorism Internet Content – this category includes Internet Content of terrorism groups and related Internet Content that support terrorism and publish and distribute materials for terrorism or include material for training and encouraging terrorism or help to serve terrorism groups such as funding, facilitating communication and other direct and indirect services; 
13. Prohibited Top Level Domain (TLD) – this category includes Internet Content under a Top Level Domain names which offends against, or is objectionable to, or is contrary to public interest, public morality, public order, public and national security, Islamic, Christian or traditionalmorality or is otherwise prohibited by any applicable FRN law, regulation, procedure, order or requirement.    

All the above categories are prohibited, blocked or strictly regulated in other climes. There is, in my candid opinion, absolutely no reason why we cannot do the same, seeing that failure to do so has adverse consequences for our society.

Let me finally emphasize that doing so does not in any way whatsoever curb citizens’ right to freedom of information, but simply regulates what information is good for the consumption of our society and what is not; and government reserves the right, duty and responsibility to do so. 

 Ardo PhD resides in Abuja