Mugabe hates the West, and we don't want to upset the Chinese so it's pretty much business as usual. No need for a boycott then.

> Mugabe's defenders claim the laws are no different to anti-terror legislation in the US and UK.

Of course Mugabe's legislation is to protect the people from internal threats to their liberties, whereas... umm....

All the “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear “ gang can now go and live in Mugabe's Zimbabwe to experience the ultimate “ if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear ” experience

Hopefully, Tony Blair is proud that his lead has been followed by such an illustrious politician as Zimbabwe’s Mugabe.

I'm still finding it hard to believe a COMMONWEALTH country is allowed to kick its people around, demolish their houses, starve them, round them up, torture and murder them, bury them under increasingly lumpy golf courses, beat the opposition leader to a pulp, imprison journalists without trial and so on, and has been for some considerable time. It's sickening and it's time it stopped.

Zimbabwe is doubly cursed to its fate, however: it has Mugabe in power and no oil.

I know that the Zimbabwe government approached a number of companies to completely revamp the the internet infrastructure for their government departments.

they actually didn't want to upgrade, but basically start from scratch, because their equipment is so old.

Most of the kit they have is from around 1997/98/99.

There have been various proposals, but it appears, that they don't have the funds to actually pay for this.

currently they have almost nothing, that could possibly filter out anything that could be potentially interesting (in terms of email and web-browsing).

telephones have been tapped for years now, so nothing new there.

one of the main rules of phoning zim is never to talk clear text

having lived in zim, I now the country very well and still many contact.

most people are against the government, even those working for the government.

the biggest problem is, that the CIO (central intelligence organization) has infested so many parts of life, that people don't know who to trust, so nobody really does anything, because they fear that they may end up ins prison.

Zimbabwe withdrew from the commonweath in 2003 after Mugabe got sick of hearing how everyone thinks his regeme stinks.

Trouble is, the PC brigade, and Mugabe would start screaming about colonial powers still interfering in African politics if the UK did anything to resolve this issue (and being called un-PC is the last thing any self-respecting lefty would want to happen). The EU isn't going to do anything as it is too busy making a mess of business closer to home. The UN can't even muster up enough will to prevent thousands of Africans being slaughtered in Rwanda and the US isn't going to get any support from Congress to send in troops into another potentially bloody war.

Which leaves the African Union... which has it's fair share of dictators who are Mugabe's chums. Meanwhile, the most powerful country in the region, South Africa, dows nothing useful.

"I'm still finding it hard to believe a COMMONWEALTH country is allowed to kick its people around, demolish their houses, starve them, round them up, torture and murder them, bury them under increasingly lumpy golf courses, beat the opposition leader to a pulp, imprison journalists without trial and so on, and has been for some considerable time. It's sickening and it's time it stopped."

Oh, the UK. That's sorted, then.

"All the “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear “ gang can now go and live in Mugabe's Zimbabwe to experience the ultimate “ if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear ” experience"

And where will the perspective-challenged, "Mugabe's powers are exactly equivalent to Blair's" lot go to?

The African Union isn't going to do anything as Gadafi and Mugabe are wanting the African Union to become one country (no doubt with one of them at the reins).

And Mbeki (the SA president) isn't going to do anything to a member of the Old Boys club.

I thought they'd gone dark last year?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/20/zimbabwe_internet_fiasco/

Did someone pay the bill?

Mugabe was routinely snooping on phone communications back in 1983.

I know because my family was one of many who were monitored (we were in the Rhodesian/Zimbabwean armed forces). This is just a mere revision of the same policies Mugabe has always used.