SECTOR 1 1.10 The state does not seek to block or filter Internet content unless laws provide for restrictions that serve a legitimate interest and are necessary in a democratic society. “MISA’s IP address appears to be blacklisted by government” Apart from blocking civil servants from accessing certain sites at work, such as social networking and porn sites, there is no known blocking or filtering of internet content by the state. This is standard practice in many countries. Government mail servers also filter out certain mails, such as those originating from Yahoo, but this may be simple firewalling and an attempt to prevent unsolicited mail. Mails coming from certain sources, such as MISA, as well as mails containing certain phrases and words, for example ‘freedom of expression’, have been known to bounce back on government e-mail addresses. “MISA’s IP address appears to be blacklisted by government (so mails from this address are not received).” Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator. 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 3.1 (2005 = n/a; 2007 = n/a; 2009 = 1.0) 1.11 Civil society in general and media lobby groups actively advance the cause of media freedom. Numerous civil society and faith based organisations such as the Botswana Council of Churches, the Evangelical Fellowship of Botswana, the Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA), the environmental group EnviroWatch and the Botswana Secondary Teachers’ Union (BOSETU), as 20 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER BOTSWANA 2011