On the face of it, the Webmasters of sites advertising the services of prostitutes are pimping, but the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) disagrees.
In terms of Section 12A of the Sexual Offences Act, it is an offence to assist a prostitute and a potential client to communicate. There are at least four .za Web sites that post pictures of prostitutes with a list of services offered and contact numbers. When read with other sections of the Act, the offence created by Section 12A carries "a fine, or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years".
ICT lawyers say an imaginative prosecutor could make a case against Webmasters based on such an interpretation.
But the NPA's sexual offences unit says this interpretation takes the legislation too widely. "With reference to the possible prosecution of Webmasters, it is our submission that it was not the intention of the legislature, with reference to section 12A, to include Webmasters per se," says the NPA.
The Film and Publications Board (FPB) also appears to have bigger fish to fry. Adultlinks Web master Ian - who asked that his surname be withheld - says: "As my conversations with the FPB go, they are targeting sites selling DVDs online, as well as cellphone material service providers, namely 'SMS sexy to 35050 and get a racy picture on your cellphone'. According to the FPB, it will not be targeting adult dating sites or sites like 'Sextrader'."
But, he adds, on the basis of the legislation in place, the FPB can seek to prosecute any site displaying adult-related material including text, graphics or videos. "So, in my humble opinion, no Webmaster [of adult sites] is safe."
FPB spokesman Iyvar Chetty says the board deals with the distribution and possession of films and publications. "Prostitution or solicitation is not a matter within the scope of the Films and Publications Act," he says. "For an advertisement of a topless prostitute to come within the scope of the Act, it must be a visual presentation of explicit sexual conduct. Whether or not a topless picture amounts to explicit sexual conduct, as defined in the Act, would depend on the context of the picture."
Ian says at least one of the Web sites concerned "has a legal person onboard who ensures that whatever they do is legal, or at least falls in a grey area".
Like many other imponderables about the Internet, it is not known how much traffic .za adult sites attract. "I can only speculate on the number of visitors as I do not have access to individual stats for other sites," Ian explains. "Adultlinks.co.za gets about 1 000 unique visitors per day and sexyintro.com [another of his Web sites] roughly 3 500 unique visitors per day. I also have it on good authority that the 'working girl' sites get about 5 000 visitors per day.
"Sexyintro.com employs four full-time staff members, but I know of other adult sites employing 20 people to keep running," he adds.
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