Anyone may, at any time, record whatever you are saying or doing.
Helene Eloff
Very few things are certain in this life. In 1789 Benjamin Franklin said: “nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
There are certain rules that we accept as true.
Newton’s third law of motion: every action has an opposite and equal reaction.
Metcalfe’s law: the effect of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of the system’s connected users.
English idiom: what goes up must come down.
Murphy’s law: anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
Practically speaking, I believe that social media has added a technological twist to the rules we know. Experience has taught us that any frowned-upon action distributed on social media will likely have a regrettable and disproportionate reaction. Legalities aside (for a second, it will be discussed below), whatever you do could end up on camera and be uploaded onto YouTube or Facebook.
Original source of this video screengrab: Twitter @Frederi21904348
The video depicts a handful of people fighting in front of a property in Pretoria North. Although video footage linked to above does not clearly depict the faces of those involved or their car registration number, viewers can get a pretty good idea of what went down. Two screaming women grab each other by the hair and someone hits another with what looks like a PVC pipe. In the background an Afrikaans woman shouts: “Stop it! Hugo, call the police. Stop it, stop it! I’m calling the police. On Monday you’ll be evicted. I’ve got the video, missus. You are tenants here and on Monday you’ll get evicted.” The confrontation escalates until the driver or the white car speeds of with a few passengers. The cause of their brawl (and whether Hugo called the police) remains unclear.
South Africans responded with memes (a meme is an image and associated text that is typically humorous in nature) and videos.
https://youtu.be/rvdQjvlYjQs
Those depicted in the original video were asked by more than one media house to establish contact and give background information on the fight. To date, none of them did.
This makes me wonder whether those in the video realised that someone would film their actions.
Although this drama unfolded publicly next to the street, I think about videos that had gone viral under different circumstances. The woman who accidentally sent a picture of her genitals to a WhatsApp group comes to mind, as does a leaked sexual video of our former Minister of Home Affairs. I think of vulnerable minors being videoed. August’s high school fight videoed in Krugersdorp is another example. The footage of minors in a fist fight went viral within hours.
Sextortion describes a social media based form of extortion where the perpetrator convinces the victim to participate in an exchange of naked and otherwise sexual photographs. Once the perpetrator has enough photos identifying the victim, he or she ends the conversation and demands money in exchange for not releasing the damning photographs. Revenge porn entails disgruntled exes posting naked images of their former lovers onto social media. Again, the footage makes it onto the web without the consent of those featured in it. Media reports indicate that the Cybercrimes and cybersecurity bill will criminalise this unauthorised distribution of intimate images.
Speaking of regulation: of course there are laws and rules that protect those caught on video or camera. The law recognises that South Africans have the rights to privacy and dignity. This explains why media outlets usually blur the faces of those depicted in a negative light in newsworthy videos. The blurring of car registration details and other personal information are practices that protect their rights.
The unfortunate reality, judging by the above examples, is that the legal consequences of online shaming and privacy violations do not seem to deter the majority of South Africans. Social media users tend to film and publish without caring how it could affect others.
This brings me to “The law of Hugo,” named after the man mentioned in the Pretoria North fight video. The law of Hugo anticipates that anyone will, at any time, record whatever you are saying or doing. People will film you, regardless of the fact that doing so may be unlawful.
I am no proponent of this legally questionable reality and I respect the media for generally acknowledging and protecting the rights to dignity and privacy of South Africans. That said, there are thousands of South Africans who will take footage of you, upload it and watch it go viral regardless of how it may affect you.
My advice?
Never forget that somewhere, someone is always watching you. Behave accordingly.
*Note that this is an opinion piece that should not be construed as legal advice relating to any specific reader scenario.
