After the internet was switched back early this week, the government banned Social Media, VPNs, App stores, and YouTube indefinitely in Uganda. But most users have been using more secure VPNs in order to access the banned websites. It has come to our attention that the Microsoft owned code hosting platform for version control and collaboration– GitHub has also been affected.
GitHub lets developers and others around the world work together on projects from anywhere.
ALSO READ: Social Media, VPNs, App stores, and YouTube indefinitely banned in Uganda
The blocking of GitHub has affected subscribers of most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Uganda. It should be noted that GitHub as a whole is not on the list that UCC gave to the ISPs, but one of the VPNs the regulator ordered blocked is hosted on the GitHub platform. Telecom companies have no way to block access to that VPN download page without blocking GitHub entirely. The same VPN apks (Android installation files) can be accessed via Google and Bing.
Ugandan developers rely on GitHub to host their code, and this has the potential to be among Uganda’s top exports and will likely cause a massive brain drain. There is no doubt that developers can still access GitHub through VPN but some of the code they push is sensitive and they can’t trust the available VPN options unless they opt for premium options. Ugandan developers have also been deeply affected by the banning of both the Google PlayStore and Apple’s AppStore, this means it would be hard for them to publish or let alone update applications that they develop.
