While the Easter weekend offered much-needed rest to many, the reality of April 1 is now upon us.
We are not talking about April Fool jokes, but the increase of VAT that has kicked in and which will make residents of SA feel the burden of an increase in fuel prices and, for some, an increase in taxes.
These are the economic times we are living in…. Did you know that Eskom is also asking for a further 30 per cent price increase? Yes, it is true – seriously.
In the midst of all the ‘fun’ things happening around us, such as the Australians resorting to cheating to beat the Proteas in cricket, we can easily miss noting some of the critical developments that could soon affect all our lives.
Take the National Assembly for example. Recently its members quietly approved the Film and Publications Amendment Bill. This means the regulation of the distribution of online content could become a reality next year.
Yes, I can hear the cries loud and clear – is this not another subtle form of censorship after all?
Government is pushing for regulation that will help protect children from any sexually explicit material and wants to curb hate speech and revenge porn.
Yes, our government is concerned about revenge porn, as if we don’t have other serious issues to worry about. You don’t know what this is? Well, it is about regulating the revelation of sexually explicit images or videos of a person that have been posted on the internet – typically by a former sexual partner – without the consent of the subject in order to cause them distress or embarrassment.
The next step is for the bill to come before the National Council of Provinces for its approval before it can be sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa to be signed into law.
All this basically means, is that the Film and Publications Bill could create a policy whereby it regulates several or all online, social media and streaming services such as Facebook, Youtube, Netflix and Showmax among others.
To put it more bluntly, it means the Film and Publications Board would have greater control of the internet and can dictate to a degree, what people can and cannot post.
One understands that the existing Film and Publications Act of 1996 needed to be amended because of the rise of the internet and social media, but then again, such actions will push South Africa further along the road of curbing freedom of speech.
How long will it be until all content we post needs to be approved? To me, such a thought is of great concern.
One might say this is a storm in a teacup, but let us look at China and North Korea, who have made internet censorship a major priority.
Today, China is one of the main censors of the internet. In this country, although access to the internet is broad and there is an active social media industry, the country blocks IPs, filters searches and will even erase content or reroute queries it regards not to be pro-China information.
The blockade, which is often referred to as the Great Firewall of China, utilises humans and technology to block access to and limit the spread of information.
North Korea is the number one country practising internet censorship. It is estimated that only about four per cent of the entire population even has access to the internet, which is under the complete control of the government.
Only a few of the very powerful and wealthy within the government have access to what the free world knows as the web.
Today there are dozens of other countries that are actively blocking access to the internet. They are repressing journalists and are impeding the free flow of information. The degrees vary but, in the end, censorship is censorship.
We would like to think we are living in an age where instant information is unlimited. The sad truth is that many countries around the world are seeking to limit outside influences and are therefore blocking internet connections in an effort to censor content whenever and wherever possible.
Yes, I know there are ways around censorship by using a virtual private network for instance.
The reality, according to the Committee To Protect Journalists, is that most of the top censor-friendly countries also top the list of those who have and are jailing journalists. More than half of the journalists imprisoned worldwide are in jail for “crimes against the state”.
While a political ideology such as communism is the most obvious source of censorship, it is not limited to politics as religious ideologies are also prominently censored.
The question remains: Is this latest move of regulation harmless and thus a mere storm in a teacup, or are we on a slippery slope of censorship that will, in the end, inflict serious harm on the freedom of the press and speech?
Time will tell, but you have to fear that the curbing of revenge porn might well just be a ruse to silence the masses.
