"The worst Internet regulation bill" that greatly hinders the freedom of the Internet appears

ByChris Pawluk

In Africa, 70% of mobile phone users are said to be using the tethering Internet,Mobile technology penetrates societydoing. In such a circumstance, it turned out that the Internet regulation bill to preliminarily censor all contents by submitting the Internet to "registration system" under the name "crack down on child pornography" was submitted in the Republic of South Africa.

Stop the Film and Publications Board's Attempt to censor the Internet! | Right2Know Campaign
http://www.r2k.org.za/2015/03/10/statement-stop-the-film-and-publications-boards-attempt-to-censor-the-internet/

Africa's Worst New Internet Censorship Law Could be Coming to South Africa | Electronic Frontier Foundation
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/05/africas-worst-new-internet-censorship-law-could-be-coming-south-africa

What is being viewed as a problem this timeFilm and Publication Board(FPB)Proposed by "Online regulatory policy bill"(PDF file). FPB is an organization for classifying media contents, mainly aimed at preventing children from having a bad influence by harmful contents.

The online regulation policy bill states that "people who intend to distribute movies, games and publications in the Republic of South Africa must comply with the regulations of FPB." At this time, "movies, games, publications" to be regulated does not refer to specific things such as "adult content", but "all movies and games" and "publication including sex and violence · hate speech It is said that there is a possibility that a huge amount of online contents will be subject to regulation.

ByDenis adam de villiers

In addition, the "content creator" covered by the bill includes not only existing media but also individuals, so blogs on the Internet and personal websites, movies uploaded to YouTube, even Facebook pages Will be subject to censoring.

In the regulatory framework, those who wish to publish content on the Internet must first pay the FPB with a donation and submit a consent form, and the work release via the Internet can be a form close to "licensing" Even sex. And the submitted content will be "classified" by the FPB before being released to the public. The bill says that there are cases where "FPB officials are dispatched to content distributors because of digital content classification"Citizen reporterAnd also allow FPB personnel to enter the house of general Internet users.

After receiving the classification, the FPB logo will be displayed in the contents, but according to the bill "On-line Distributor" receives notification from FPB that contents not classified are uploaded , It is necessary to immediately delete the corresponding content. However, the definition of this on-line distributor is ambiguous, not a platform that actually owns the content, but there is also pointed out a problem in which South African Internet service provider (ISP), which has nothing to do with it, is applicable.

ByCLUC

Preliminary censorship of all content is considered unfeasible as there are many platforms on the Internet and it can be freely posted, but on the other hand, it is considered "impossible for children of a potential danger or a certain age With respect to contents judged to be "existence", FPB can order the withdrawal of the online platform administrator, therefore it is inevitable that freedom of expression is restricted. Also, because you can easily convict Internet users, it is possible that abuse of the law using the ambiguity of wording may be done rather than acting as a law to protect children if the bill becomes a reality.

In addition, "immediacy" can be cited as characteristics of the Internet, but since censorship takes time, this "immediacy" is lost, not only the freedom of expression is restricted, but the Internet itself There is also the possibility of retreating. Also, companies that lack resources such as the Internet will be delayed much more than others, and small groups such as citizen groups may not be able to utilize the Internet without paying donation to FPB. The diversity of the Internet is created by "various people can express without cost", but if the FPB bill is realized, only companies and individuals who can pay donation can express it, Internet The diversity of it is lost.

ByWabisabi 2015

The bill was published in the Official Gazette in March 2015, and in April, against the online regulation policy bill, the right organizationRight 2 KnowButI woke up a demonstration.Electronic Frontier FoundationAlso fully supports Right 2 Know and accuses online regulation policy bill as "worst internet regulation bill".