E-mail to jail: The Cybercrime Bill is adopted

Parliament’s Justice Committee officially adopted the Cybercrimes and Cybersecurity Bill last week. The Bill is aimed at bringing South Africa in line with other countries’ cyber laws and the threat of cybercrime, and it has introduced new laws regarding ‘malicious’ electronic communication.

BusinessTech outlined these proposed new crimes below.

* Any person who contravenes one of the following provisions is liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years, or to both a fine and imprisonment.

* A message which incites damage to property or violence.

* Any person who unlawfully makes available, broadcasts or distributes by means of a computer system, a data message to a person, group of persons or the general public with the intention to incite:
(a) the causing of any damage to property belonging to; or
(b) violence against, a person or a group of persons.

* A message which threatens persons with damage to property or violence. As an extension of the above, the Bill also makes it an offence to distribute messages which threatens a group of people with violence, or with damage to their property.

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The Bill clarifies that ‘group of persons’ means characteristics that identify an individual as a member of a group. These characteristics include without limitation: Race; gender; sex; pregnancy; marital status; ethnic or social origin; colour; sexual orientation; age; disability; religion; conscience; belief; culture; ;anguage; birth and nationality.

* A message which unlawfully contains an intimate image.