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Content type: Examples
28th April 2020
The regulations brought in to curb the spread of COVID-19 in South Africa included directions published by the minister of communications and digital technologies that critics claimed violated the country's constitution. On the plus side, the regulations ordered service providers to ensure continued provision of internet and telecommunications services, and enabled temporary licensing of spectrum bands, which could increase internet capacity. However, the regulations also make publishing a…
Content type: Examples
12th April 2020
The government has issued a substantial rewrite of a controversial proposal to track people using their phones and other devices in the bid to contain Covid-19. AmaBhungane, an investigative journalism newsroom, said the first “directions” – issued last week by the minister of communications – raised "serious concerns for their vagueness and lack of privacy protections”. The new regulations provide more judicial oversight, restrict the purpose to contact tracing, and aim to ensure that…
Content type: Examples
12th April 2020
The South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research will partner with Telkom and Samsung to create a track and trace system specifically for the South African context, which includes high levels of economic inequality, poverty, and overcrowding. The system will collate data sources such as GIS in order to track those who may be infected and those whom they may expose to the virus. In some communities, the Department of Health…
Content type: Examples
2nd April 2020
South Africa's Communications Minister, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, has stated that telecommunications operators in the country have agreed to provide location data to identify how many people have been infected in a particular area. The Government has broad powers under a national state of disaster.
Writer: Philip de Wet
Publication: Business Insider