President Thabo Mbeki has been sent an appeal from prominent technology lawyers urging him not to accept the entire Electronic Communications and Transactions (ECT) Bill, which needs only his signature to become law.
The ECT Bill has had a controversial passage through the legislative process. Although politically opposed only by the Democratic Alliance, it has come under fire from technology and Internet professionals who have a number of concerns about the omnibus law.
Although no firm date has been set, the Department of Communications, the originator of the law, says Mbeki should be signing it shortly, perhaps as soon as tomorrow.
The lawyers` petition follows a similar request from the Democratic Alliance and several individuals.
The petition is to be delivered to the President`s office this afternoon by Ryk Meiring, a founding member of the IT Lawyers` Forum, a group of prominent legal practitioners actively involved in IT law. The petition is supported by some of its 60 members.
The petition states: "While some chapters are well drafted, many are flawed in a manner which is technical, legal and logical in nature (as opposed to political)," it reads. "We ... ask you to exercise your discretion, and sign only those chapters that are reasonable, necessary and urgent. Alternatively, we ask that you refer the entire Bill back to the drafting table for revision, to protect the people of SA from what may otherwise prove to be a failure of responsible, democratic government."
The Bill, the lawyers say, "creates sweeping and ill-defined new discretionary powers for the minister of communications", and parts "will seriously compromise the privacy of individuals and the stability of private sector organisations" and could be costly.
They also question the process though which the Bill was drafted.
"It is our view that the flaws in the Bill indicate that insufficient effort was made to review and consider input from stakeholders and independent subject matter experts. Observers of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee hearings have reported that input from the Internet industry has often been viewed with unwarranted suspicion, and these reports are borne out by the content of the Bill."
SA could set a benchmark for similar laws in the rest of Africa, it says, making it "imperative that the model that SA proposes and implements is beyond reproach".
In a detailed breakdown of the bumper Bill, the petitioners approved of only five chapters, recommending that at least seven others be referred back to its drafters or be scrapped entirely. These include provisions requiring the registration of cryptography providers, the creation of cyber inspectors and powers granted to the government in the handling of critical databases.
Dot za remains in limbo
Meiring is also a member of Namespace, an organisation created to take over the control of the .za domain name space from current administrator Mike Lawrie.
Lawrie is opposed to the proposed government control of the domain and Namespace has been equally concerned about chapter 10 of the Bill.
But Namespace says a virtual impasse has been reached between it and government.
"The position is simple: nobody has applied for redelegation," says chairman and IT lawyer Mike Silber. "That means Mike Lawrie controls it."
For control of the crucial domain zone file to change hands, an application must be made to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which holds ultimate responsibility for the Internet domain system.
ICANN is unlikely to grant a redelegation if it is opposed by either the current administrator or a significant portion of the Internet user base.
When the ECT Bill becomes law it will require the government to create a body in control of .za within 12 months.
Silber says a proposal will see Namespace closely involved in the creation of that body and a compromise on the level of control government has in it may be reached.
"If it doesn`t make Mike [Lawrie] happy, or the community decides that Namespace has sold out, then we have fun on the redelegation," he says.
A previously hoped-for compromise failed to materialise.
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