A new censorship law in South Africa is starting to take a larger and more real shape. It’s a frightening law that encloses a wide variety of internet content and gives the total board control to exercise censorship authority.
This new censorship law in South Africa was first published by the Film and Publication Board in March 2015, and in August 2015, the South African Cabinet approved the introduction of this censorship amendment into the parliamentary process. FPB CEO Themba Wakashe thinks that the bill is needed to combat undesirable content like “racism, child pornography, and bullying.”
Of course, as censorship laws tend to go, there are often significant drawbacks when considering what a “good” amendment like this can accomplish. It’s been widely criticised since the “board shall have the power to order an administrator of any online platform to take down content that the Board may deem to be potentially harmful and disturbing to children of certain ages.” Not only is this statement successful in categorizing ANY content, but it’s also incredibly vague, and misguided.
Restrictions, and good intentions aside, it’s hard to support an amendment like this when this section is actually part of it : “concerning any other content distributed online, the Board shall have the power to order an administrator of any online platform to take down any content that the Board may deem to be potentially harmful and disturbing to children of certain ages.”
If it’s not clear, the FPB is just trying to give itself power. Micah Reddy, from the Right2Know campaign, explains that it’s just a way for the government to “regulate and censor online content,” as a result giving the FPB “sweeping power.” Other critics like Gareth Cliff think it’s highly problematic that the policy makers are using children as an excuse to enforce censorship onto the entire population and cease freedom of expression.
With such broad statements in the amendment encompassing most forms of media altogether, it’s a bit worrying to think about which information they will choose to censor if the amendment comes to pass. It’s a very similar situation to corrupt governments that directly censor the bad things people have to say. Without a voice, people become subject to any form of law they might not agree with.
The only good news is that this bill hasn’t even been introduced into the parliamentary law, but FBP CEO Wakashe wants the bill to kick into effect by April of 2016. Now that is bad news.
Fortunately, while it can be hard to understand the bureaucracy and thinking behind the FPB’s reasoning, it’s entirely possible to simply bypass every form of censorship protocols they wish to use. You can do this by utilizing TorGuard VPN, which encrypts ALL of your Internet traffic and protects you from deep packet sniffers with Stealth VPN. Stealth VPN gives you unblockable access to any content. If you want even more protection, try out Torguard’s new Stealth Proxy feature, that when paired with Stealth VPN–will make you virtually invisible.
