This week will see the opening arguments in the trial of Ethiopia's Zone 9 bloggers, six young online writers arrested for blogging earlier this year. Among the charges the bloggers face are learning about encryption to protect their communications.While citizens in the country are facing prison for using secure technology, the Ethiopian government has been using modern surveillance techniques without limit, with research by Human Rights Watch, EFF and CitizenLab demonstrating pervasive telecom eavesdropping at home and the use of customized malware abroad – including the targeting of dissidents in the United States and Europe.

This month's TA3M features a discussion with Endalk Chala, co-founder of Zone 9, Global Voices contributor, and currently the Google Policy Fellow at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. We'll talk about the trial, Human Rights Watch's report on Ethiopia's digital surveillance state, and EFF's current case against the Ethiopian Government, Kidane v. Ethiopia, for remotely deploying spyware on a U.S. citizen in Maryland.

All that, plus your chance to chat and brainstorm and eat random snacks to with your fellow techno-activists.

More info:

The Zone 9 trial: http://trialtrackerblog.org/

EFF's case against Ethiopia: https://www.eff.org/press/releases/american-sues-ethiopian-government-spyware-infection

“They Know Everything We Do” - Telecom and Internet Surveillance in Ethiopia: http://www.hrw.org/node/123977