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Africa's Worst New Internet Censorship Law Could Be Coming to South Africa

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Re: Africa's Worst New Internet Censorship Law Could Be Coming to South Africa

#31

Post by buyx »

_urga wrote: post #26
buyx wrote: post #7

The only saving grace is that the Department of Home Affairs (of which the Film and Publications Board is part) is so incompetent that their reach exceeds their grasp, and it is relatively easy to circumvent their authoritarian tendencies. Until recently many South African Apple device owners had Kenya accounts to buy games (including most educational content) because of the Board's refusal to allow South African App…

As a South African, the department of Home Affairs in the Western Cape is actually doing an excellent job regarding birth certificates, passports, ids etc. The bottleneck is in Gauteng.

As I intimated, things are improving in some areas thanks to improved IT system controls, but the quality of the improvement is very very uneven. Even in Gauteng, some offices function excellently, while others are awful. It comes down to the individual branch managers.

There still are huge bottlenecks in dealing with "refugee" claims, and with the legal immigration processes, and the legacy of past corruption (last 25 years) is still haunting South Africa. Based on overall performance, I think "incompetent" is still a fair characterisation.

Re: Africa's Worst New Internet Censorship Law Could Be Coming to South Africa

#32

Post by frozenport »

spcoll wrote: post #3
coldcode wrote: post #2

Everyone wants to crush their citizens. Except Iceland, maybe.

Factors that prevent states from going totalitarian: - small size - decentralized/local government structure - limited geopolitical influence - high level of education of the population - history/culture of democracy Large, powerful states with a lesser educated population will inevitably drift towards totalitarianism over time. This implies the use of various means of population control, with total surveillance bein…

>>Large, powerful states with a lesser educated population will inevitably drift towards totalitarianism

How about India?

Don't treat states or societies as people, they are not people rather they are made of people. Totalitarianism isn't the outcome of a system it rather the outcome of the people oppress and the cowards who do nothing to stop it.

Re: Africa's Worst New Internet Censorship Law Could Be Coming to South Africa

#33

Post by PebblesHD »

guard-of-terra wrote: post #28
PebblesHD wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, the notion that 'It was tried in and didnt work so we should avoid it' doesn't really apply to politics. Consider Australia's current internet censorship and metadata legislation, the same laws have been tried all over Europe, the US, Asia and a host of other countries and proved worthless, and yet the government pushes forward with them. Its simply for appearances, the leadership needs to look like its tough…

They have to be repelled somewhere in order to be proven worthless.

I would be inclined to argue that their ineffectiveness at achieving their stated purpose combined with their gross violation of the privacy of everyone in the countries affected makes them worthless.

Re: Africa's Worst New Internet Censorship Law Could Be Coming to South Africa

#34

Post by snaix »

thescrewdriver wrote: post #30
mhuffman wrote: post #27

I am all for multi-tasking, but you would really think that Africa would have bigger fish to fry right now, without worrying about censoring the Internet.

Ah yes, the good old republic of Africa. Who is the president of Africa?

"republic of Africa"?

Africa is a continent that consists of at least 54 separate countries. It is like asking "Who is the president of Europe".

Re: Africa's Worst New Internet Censorship Law Could Be Coming to South Africa

#35

Post by thescrewdriver »

snaix wrote: post #34
thescrewdriver wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes, the good old republic of Africa. Who is the president of Africa?

"republic of Africa"? Africa is a continent that consists of at least 54 separate countries. It is like asking "Who is the president of Europe".

That's what my post was getting at, over-generalising about an entire continent...

Re: Africa's Worst New Internet Censorship Law Could Be Coming to South Africa

#36

Post by markatkinson »

Yes, I am from South Africa, and right now I have to remote into my home computer to shut it down, before our power provider (parastatal monopoly Eskom), shuts down the power across the whole of Cape Town for 2.5 hours because they are so severely miss managed.

But yes, this seems appropriate.

As others have mentioned if this actually became legitimate it would mean nothing. They have nobody to police this.

Re: Africa's Worst New Internet Censorship Law Could Be Coming to South Africa

#37

Post by mhuffman »

thescrewdriver wrote: post #30
mhuffman wrote: post #27

I am all for multi-tasking, but you would really think that Africa would have bigger fish to fry right now, without worrying about censoring the Internet.

Ah yes, the good old republic of Africa. Who is the president of Africa?

You're right of course. I was referring to the rare countries in Africa that social, economic, and health issues. My apologies.

Re: Africa's Worst New Internet Censorship Law Could Be Coming to South Africa

#38

Post by jcbrand »

mhuffman wrote: post #37
thescrewdriver wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes, the good old republic of Africa. Who is the president of Africa?

You're right of course. I was referring to the rare countries in Africa that social, economic, and health issues. My apologies.

Yes, because all issues need to be tackled sequentially.

Re: Africa's Worst New Internet Censorship Law Could Be Coming to South Africa

#39

Post by matt4077 »

mhuffman wrote: post #27

I am all for multi-tasking, but you would really think that Africa would have bigger fish to fry right now, without worrying about censoring the Internet.

Firstly, South Africa is Africa's richest country. It's not Denmark, but it isn't Somalia, either.

Secondly, freedom of speech is a fundamental issue and not a luxury. I'm sure per-capita GDP in the US was lower when the Bill of Rights was written than it is in SA today. In fact, all problems anywhere in Africa are political. Strengthening the freedom of expression is one of the best ways to get at Africa's problems.

Re: Africa's Worst New Internet Censorship Law Could Be Coming to South Africa

#40

Post by spitcode »

markatkinson wrote: post #36

Yes, I am from South Africa, and right now I have to remote into my home computer to shut it down, before our power provider (parastatal monopoly Eskom), shuts down the power across the whole of Cape Town for 2.5 hours because they are so severely miss managed. But yes, this seems appropriate. As others have mentioned if this actually became legitimate it would mean nothing. They have nobody to police this.

The problem is that when they do find someone the law is in place
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