An organisation has identified shortcomings in South Africa’s proposed cybercrime bill. The Right2Know Campaign said the bill in its current form is designed in a way to censor the internet.
Micah Reddy told News24 the proposed bill was too broad and it would effectively give state security control over the internet.
“The whole process of is very flawed. It is very bad news for internet users. It will replicate serious parts of the secrecy bill. It will implement very harsh penalties for whistle-blowers and investigative journalists who would be legally in possession of classified data,” Reddy said.
“There are almost verbatim extracts of the secrecy bill that relate to online information.”
According to Reddy, the organization is not opposed to the regulation of the internet, but wanted the process fair.
“We are not saying there is no need for legislation dealing with cyber-crime, there is definitely a need as South Africa is cyber-crime hotspot. We are not in principle against the legislation to curb down on cyber-crimes but it cannot in any way censor the internet. It has to be carefully designed,” he said.
