{UAH} UCC shouldn’t shrink our space

John Milton once said, "Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties." As a creative artist, he understood the process of art, from reflection, contemplation to the final product such as music, dance, poetry and prose, among others. The reflection and contemplation in silence, informs the ability to choose how to convey thoughts and ideas or interact with others.
This, no doubt, is a crucial aspects of personhood, an aspect that deserves a hoplite shield. In it is the respect for one's mental integrity and if spiced with privacy, it is the beginning of the individual's freedom of thought, freedom to believe in what is right and the freedom of self-determination. 
Freedom of expression protected by the right to anonymous free speech as an element of privacy in the face of repressive regimes, should be priceless. And an attempt to create vague, wide, unreasonable and top-heavy conditions precedent, including registration and authorisation to use online data communications, is to lynch. 
Uganda Communication Commission (UCC) is shrinking this space through bizarre regulations of what we intend to post on Facebook, YouTube, website blogs by requiring a mandatory registration. The Internet forms part of the platforms protected by the Bill of Rights to enable the exercise of specifically the rights to freedom of expression and assembly. As a tool or platform of speech and assembly and association, Internet-based platforms have been growing in popularity until regulators started shooting them in the foot. 
The notice issued on September 7 requiring individuals offering or planning to commence online data communication and broadcasting services to get authorization is another bullet from the regulator. If left unchecked, it turns UCC into an Internet police, subjecting everyone to regulation and monitoring and consequently, self-censorship.

Morgan Muhindo,
Kampala

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"When a man is stung by a bee, he doesn't set off to destroy all beehives"

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