አቶ ገብረመስቀል (Gebremeskes Gebrewahd) ወቅታዊ የሆነን ጉዳይ በማንሳትህ ላመሰግንህ እወዳለሁ፡፡ ባነሳኸው ጥያቄ ማለትም የሳይበር ክልል በሃገሮች ሉአላዊነት ላይ ምን ፋይዳ አለው? የሳይበር ክልል መተዳደር ያለበት በሃገራዊ ህግ ነው ወይስ በአለም አቀፍ ህግ? በሚሉ ጉዳዮች ላይ የኔ አስተያየት የሚከተለው ይመስላል። በኔ እምነት በቅድሚያ በሚከተሉት ጥያቄዎች ላይ ግልፅ መሆን ያስፍልጋል።

·        የሳይበር ክልል ምን ማለት ነው?

·        የሳይበር ክልል ራሱን የቻለ አዲስ አለም (ክልል) ነው ወይ?

·        የሳይበር ክልል እንዴት ይተዳደራል (እንዴት መተዳደር አለበት)?

በሳይበር ክልል ላይ የሚሰጡ ትርጓሜዎች ብዙ ጊዜ የተወሳሰቡ፣ የተጋነኑ አንድ አንዴም ከእውነታ የራቁ መስለው ይታያሉ። የሳይበር ክልል ብዙ ጊዜ ከነባራዊው አለም ውጭ የተፈጠረ አዲስ አለም ተደርጎ ሲቀርብም ይታያል። “የሳይበር ክልል/አለም”  የሚለው ስያሜ በራሱ አሳሳች (misleading) ሊሆን ይችላል። እውነታው ግን የሳይበር ክልል ማለት ኢንተርኔት ማለት ነው። ኢንተርኔትስ ምን ማለት ነው? ኢንተርኔት እርስበርሳቸው የተሳሰሩ ኔትዎርኮች (inter-net) ማለት ነው። ኢንተርኔት የኮምፒውተሮች፣ መሳሪያዎች ወይም ዳታዎች ትስስር ሳይሆን የኔትዎርኮች ትስስር ነው። እነዚህ ኔትዎርኮች እርስበርስ በመተሳሰር አለም አቀፍ ኔትዎርክ (ኢንተር-ኔት) ይፈጥራል በዚህም በቢሊዮን የሚቆጠሩ ኮምፒውተሮች እና መሰል መሳሪያዎች እንዲገናኙ፣ መልእክት እንዲለዋወጡ ያስችላሉ። ስለዚህ የሳይበር ክልል = ኢንተርኔት= እርስበርስ የተሳሰሩ ብዙ ኔትዎርኮች (network of networks) ማለት ነው።

Does the law of sales applicable to contract for supply of software?

Assume a government authority has bought a software from a software company. A defect in the software led to massive loss of money. Can the manufacturer be held liable for the injury caused by the defective computer software?

Introduction

One of the prominent attributes of the digital age is that every aspect of modern life is becoming dependent on information technology. And undoubtedly every information technology device is controlled, operated and instructed by software. As business automation and digitalization increases in our country, both governmental and private organizations engage in multi-million birr software procurements. But it is obvious that as the use of software and software controlled products grows, the public vulnerability to defective or poor quality products mounts. In purely economic terms, losses are potentially massive. This in turn increases the issue of liability whether it be contractual, non-contractual or product liability. For now I want to focus on contractual liability with the following questions in mind.

What is special with software and software defects?

Introduction

Like many other countries around the globe, Ethiopia has embraced ICTs and ICT based services as key enabler for social and economic development in the country. Various efforts are also underway to significantly increase Internet connectivity speeds and access. But greater bandwidth will not only mean faster and better internet access but also faster and better means to launch cyber-attacks and opens more opportunities for criminals to exploit naïve users.

In this article I will try to explore the efforts and initiatives being made by the government in fighting cybercrime from three cyberspace governance perspectives namely cyber security-related policies and strategies, legislative frameworks, and institutional arrangements. I will also provide some recommendations on what the government should do so that appropriate plans and measures can be implemented to a safer and secure Ethiopia. 

1. Information Revolution and the New Form of Crime: Cybercrime

The dawn of the information age was proclaimed in 1991 by Alvin Toffler in his book The Third Wave. In this book, Alvin Toffler pointed out the history of the world to date can largely be portrayed as three waves namely the agricultural wave, the industrial wave and the information wave. The world is now at “the third wave” and owing to the revolution in information technology and this ‘third wave’ is called as information age.