A few weeks ago I was waiting in a very long queue at Pick n Pay. There were two young guys in front of me, dressed in overalls and waiting to pay for a loaf of bread and two pieces of chicken.
The one pointed at a newspaper near the till, its headline announcing the birth of President Zuma’s 21st child. Then he whipped out a relatively new Samsung cellphone and proceeded to go to an online news site. Navigating a small screen is cumbersome, but when you spend hours waiting for food or transport it’s not a problem.
Now, if the media tribunal went ahead and online news organisations were subjected to the same censorious criteria as print media, a local online news site could simply publish all its content on an overseas server. Surely it would then be published outside of the tribunal’s jurisdiction? Not so.
The Protection of Information Bill contains an “Extra-territorial application of Act”:
44. Any act constituting an offence under this Act and which is committed outside the Republic by any South African citizen or any person domiciled in the Republic, must be regarded as having been committed in the Republic.
Basically, if you’re a South African citizen writing about stuff the government considers “classified”, you can be charged — no matter where you are.
The Act also prosecutes those who assist in the dissemination of such information. So if you read something considered “classified” by our government, even if it’s written by a foreign journalist on an international site, and you then tweet, write on facebook or blog about it — or even SMS a friend about it — you could be arrested.
If those two guys in Pick n Pay had been looking at an international news site with “classified” information and then forwarded it on to a friend, they could end up in jail.
Can you imagine how many people are going to end up in court if this bill is passed? It’ll be like the intentional breaking of pass laws in the 60s.
Government needs to realise that this is the 21st century and you can’t stop the flow of information because it’s not a one-way street anymore. And as much as Julius Malema and his ilk would like to believe that the poor and working class don’t know what the internet is, that’s no longer true either.
Domestic workers, delivery guys, drivers, shop assistants, shelf packers, tellers — they’re all getting their news online via their cellphones. It is no longer the domain of an elite middle-class.
The truth will out, no matter how many laws you pass or how much time you waste. So ditch the act.
The media tribunal is just part of a whole suite of legislation designed to curb the free flow of information, and to promote pro ANC propaganda.
Hand in hand with the media tribunal, is a bill, under the guise of protecting us from child pornography (an absolute joke – ask any tech head) , which will enable the government to monitor, and firewall any internet content they deem fit.
If a site is publishing ‘classified’ information, the government will be at liberty to firewall this site so that no South Africans can access it. This includes all international news sites on the internet.
This is the level if Dracionian legislation that the ANC is trying to enforce at the moment. We are at a very dangerous time in the history of our frail democracy.
@ Amanda Bravo! Well researched and forcefully expressed.
Samizdat in cyberspace would require thousands and thousands of government online snoopers who of course would have to read the material themselves which would make them complicit in terms of the POI. Apartheid censors and spies ran into the same problem on far smaller scale in the 80s. The internet/world wide web is so massive and cellphones so ubiquitous and hackers so ingenious that enforcement of such paranoid laws would be impossible.
SA is not China where no free press existed in the first place. SA is wired and getting more so daily. Trying to ‘police’ the world wide web would be like trying to stop the sun from shining by erecting umbrellas over the country. Futile. Thank goodness–and Kenneth Turing. (Look him up, Julius).
Correction: Alan Turing! I had the Kenneth May History of Mathematics bio of Turing in mind.
The so called “digital divide” is about illiteracy – not access
- Google “The Onion Network Anonymity” for ways to prevent your scenario.
Right on, Amanda. Stupid berks who can’t see where things are at. If the medieval rulers of Iran panic about citizens using cellphones and the internet, how much more so are our lot going to freak out -but to less and less avail. Next thing they’ll try to clamp down on cellphone providers, who are in actual fact empowerers of the poor in Africa at large. ‘Freedom, my friend, is blowing in the wind …’
In the 80′s I switched from SABC to shortwave to ‘enlighten’ myself. Nowadays the internet does the trick.
I love this act – I really do. Its in my mind the last length of rope the ANC needs to hang itself, therefore, I’m all for it!
Thanks Amanda, so true, the young South African generation is digitally literate, aware and will see through this attempt by the ruling party to stifle truth and transparency.
Flailing your arms when your going under does not help, you need to gain support, especially from the media.
2010 it is, we are on the verge of being one of the BRIC countries, the corrupt and the cronies will continue to be weeded out and tarred.
South Africa will succeed as Mandela envisaged.
Yep agreed on the Internet. Having lived in China for five years and all their ridiculous attempts at censorship including Facebook and Twitter, with online news they might as well be pissing against a hurricane.
I enjoyed your post Amanda!
You are right of course. We need to stop the assault on our freedom – but there is no way that you can impose media restrictions designed for the old media paradigm on a connected society (and you are correct – contrary to popular belief South Africans even poor South Africans are connected)
I refer to Clay Shirky’s book “Here comes everybody” and his view that media is no longer just a source of information – but a place of coordination – I concur with his view and yours.
But – we should not be complacent.
@Siobhan – Not so. Computers can scan for keywords real time, and flag anything that my require further investigation. Once a site has published ‘confidential’ information, it can be simply blocked. This includes any encrypted streams that the government may deem so.
Having said that, there will always be ways to get information, but this will be limited to a handful of people who want to, and know how to. For the rest, the plan is that the ANC propaganda becomes their reality.
You missed the fact that the recipient of that sms would also be in trouble, despite not requesting the information.
However, the one good factor in all this is that goovernment’s weakest link is its ability to regulate its way out of a paper bag (e.g. plastic supermarket bags).
Not being addicted to dope and the like, I missed flower-child-like swoops by the police last time around.
It seems my time might well have come and I’d suggest that those friends I have who work for government, stop sending me all those rude jokes about their employers via e-mail, else their time might also come.
…well one day there will be more than a few pages from South Africa available on wikileaks
yup the truth will always want out…
Not really.
Due to the structure of the internet, it is impossible to control content with any degree of sustained effectiveness.
However, it is very possible to deny access, especially in our ‘developmental state’ where our public servants seize ownership of ALL bandwidth (a.k.a. known as ‘the airwaves’) on the grounds that they won an election.
Much like ‘the minerals’ they now belong to ‘the people’ and must be applied solely for the advancement of the aims of the developmental state (such as defined by the party), and not for the pursuit of liberty and happiness by the individual.
There are also a limited number of entry points, (undersea cables and the like) which the state either owns, has a controlling interest in, or presides over a regulating authority which licenses the operations of such an ‘information node’.
I do not suggest the erecting of ‘draconian firewalls’ as Robin Grant terms them, are imminent, but that within our current political framework, they are technically and constitutionally possible.
With a little luck, this act, properly enforced (see other law enforcement in SA), could end up with some 30 million people either in court or in jail. Looking forward to that.
The answer to the law?? Civil disobedience on a large scale, opening up a whole new technology market bypassing the “controlled” channels using satellite comm’s or other “sub stations” around us and willing to cooperate “at a fee”.
Worth a try
)
Another FALSE imply that these “Extra-territorial” laws are unique to SA!
This is simply a disguised attempt to spread misinformation and hysteria.
After the rise of terrorism in 2001, extra-territorial laws are now firmly in place in most developed nations.
Your other FALSE claim is that the government seeks to censor the internet!
If you had any basic knowledge of the internet, you would realize, like repressive regimes are starting to accept, that the internet cannot be controlled by any government!!! The ANC have NEVER claimed that they wanted to control the internet. Certain specific laws e.g. against SEXTING, however, to protect our children, are still absolutely necessary.
Media Appeals Tribunals are the ONLY way to deter rogue journalism since self-regulation has proven to be beyond the capability of our present media monopoly!
Give it up Dave. Or should that be Mr Harris.
Now that’s about as clear-cut an argument against this ridiculous law proposal, as you’re going to get. Nice one.
Methinks our eedyert government has been spending far too much time with dictatorial scumbags from Iran, Zimbabwe, Libya, China, North Korea etc.
Gerry, You just echoed a close friend’s sentiments. As far as information dissemination is concerned, the cat has been let out of the bag ever since the internet was invented. If any government attempts to shut it down, technology will present options. Sooner than later blogs will be encripted for only the initiated. These fools in position of authority hardly read even what they themselves have writen anyway.
It is no wonder that the ruling party has deliberately not carried out it’s so called plan to install computer labs in all the schools. This government is fast becoming a joke. Did they actually send Tony Yengeni to talk on corruption and how they need to deal with it? I thought my wife had spiced my drink when i saw Tony on TV talking about how the ANC??? needs to fight corruption.
The president is in China telling the chinese to come to invest??? in SA just at the same time when his country is up in smoke. The chinese must be having a great laugh and wondering what our president is smoking. Really is there any need to go to China at all? The chinese are already all over Africa anyway. Trust me, they are not here to plant rice for us.
“After the rise of terrorism in 2001, extra-territorial laws are now firmly in place in most developed nations. ”
Yes – for terrorism and child abuse. Not for reading a newspaper, or for talking to one. But keep up the hysterical apologism, Mr Harris; kiss the ANC’s collective arse from cheek to shining cheek, and maybe you’ll eventually be able to forget you’re white.
Let’s try this act(madia tribunal),to protect our kids & it will avoid choping down a fellow dude ‘cos of hatred.
@dave harris, please explain the phrase “rise in terrorism” (since it seems so terribly meaningless). please list “most developed nations” with extra-territorial laws with details of these laws. please provide an empirical argument that the internet cannot be controlled by any government. please provide an empirical argument that media tribunals are the only feasible means to “deter rogue journalism”. please define “rogue journalism”. please research the meaning of “empirical”.
please stop regurgitating nonsensical, under-researched, half-brained smalltalk. this here is a proper discussion. no time for a small man.
@ Robin Grant I’m aware of the ‘flag and isolate’ capabilities that could be employed. I guess I’m hoping that such tools will be exercised with the usual ANC ineptitude…
Unfortunately, I think Zuma’s visit to China–ostensibly for minerals’ deals– may be just a convenient smokescreen for the importation of even more sinister practices. Zuma’s professed admiration for Chinese ‘political discipline’ smacks of just the sort of repression of freedom of expression that the POI and MAT are designed to achieve. The Chinese ‘model’ can thenl be used as a shield for Zuma to hide behind. In order to get the deals on minerals, SA will have to make a few concessions to Chinese ‘political culture’– like censorship of the press, imprisonment of journalists, control of the electronic media, government controlled judiciary, etc.
@Rod Your experience with governmental ham-fisted attempts to shut down internet/cell phone access in China is somewhat re-assuring.
I also agree with another contributor re: the continuing developments in technologies that could counter the attempts to block access. Let’s hope they will be enough.
Does Dave Harris know anything about the Askaris? Ask Nofomela.
@Siobhan: “SA will have to make a few concessions to Chinese ‘political culture’– like censorship of the press, imprisonment of journalists, control of the electronic media, government controlled judiciary, etc.”……………and the death penalty with execution within 24 hours after conviction on murder, theft and corruption????
@ Benzol
I WAS NOT ENDORSING ACCEPTANCE OF CHINESE “NORMS”. I was being facetious.
But, yes, you are quite right on your other point: once we start down the slippery slope to ever tighter government control of everything (nationalisation of mines, land, banks) there is no reason to believe an ANC government would shrink from re-introducing the death penalty and all the other horrors of a one-party state.
What amazes me is that almost no attention has been paid to the possibility that the POI would also muzzle the opposition parties by claiming it is against the national interest for the opposition to raise questions in Parliament, to criticise the government in any way or indeed to vote against the governing party on any question. The POI makes all of it possible. The ANC won’t change the Constitution; they’ll simply ignore it as they’ve been doing especially under Zuma.
In addition, despite their courtship of communist states like China and Cuba, and contenders like Venezuela, the ANCYL (tomorrow’s government) are attacking the SA Communist Party! Huh?
The YL’s agenda is Maoist but the purpose is self-enrichment. This is clear to all but the ‘masses’. Julius “Seizure” is positioning himself as their Saviour whilst at the same time eliminating any opposition through a combination of intimidation and banishment, as Cde Lungisa’s treatment attests.
Malema grows more like Mugabe/Amin daily. He is reckless, ruthless, and utterly without a moral centre. He is the future.
There is a rumour going round that there is yet another law being drafted that is being kept under wraps, one that makes the Media tribunal Act look like a Sunday school picnic. The leak of course could get someone into deep trouble. For if this ‘mpimpi’ is identified, this very law thats being drafted will enable the powers that be to punish the ‘perpetrator’long after the ‘dastardly’ act had been committed. When will the draft be ready? What’s taking them so long? It’s actually a question of hours…24, 36,or 48 hours to be exact. The Minister of Justice, I’ve been reliably told, is firm on the principle that the law will never be as draconian and hideous as that of the previous regime and that they will never, never, never again allow the sins of the past to be repeated. So! It’s a question of whether it should be 88 or 89 days detention without trial. Never that horribly cruel 90 day clause. They could NEVER, NEVER, never EVER again allow such a law to be enacted. Some even suggested 180 days, but others advised “easy, easy we’ll get there!”
Did I hear someone ask “wot about the Constitution?” Constitution? They wrote it… or so they say. they can also…..