EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: THE SECURITY PLAYBOOK OF DIGITAL AUTHORITARIANISM IN NIGERIA

This report builds evidence of a Security Playbook of Digital Authoritarianism by showing how the massive financial resources, equipment, and technologies originally procured in the name of counterterrorism and curbing insecurity have been diverted to monitor the movement of citizens, to track activities of civic actors online, intercept private communications, restrict online civic space, and limit the ability of civic actors to organize, associate and assemble freely. The popular tactics include legal restrictions, misuse of surveillance technologies, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, Internet protocol (IP) blocking, internet shutdowns, biometrics data collection, and social media bans. Others include spying on activists, opposition politicians, and coordinated cyber-attacks, especially the hacking of the servers and websites of media and civil society watchdogs.

S4C, Dataphyte, TIERS, and VSI co-authored the first part, The Security Playbook of Digital Authoritarianism, focusing on the use of technologies, regulations, and other computerized devices to jeopardize the right to privacy, censor free speech, and stifle dissent in the online civic space in Nigeria.