A slew of laws already in effect or pending in Parliament have the potential to scuttle SA's aspirations to top this year's German Soccer World Cup on the ICT front, said ICT lawyer Michael Silber.
Participants at the Connect IT: Joburg 2010 conference, in Sandton this week, are making much of the potential of the soccer spectacular to act as catalyst to boost city economies, create jobs, bolster skills levels, revolutionise e-government and bring low-cost broadband connectivity into every home.
However, laws such as the Regulation of Interception & Provision of Communication-related Information Act (Rica), and pending amendments to the Film and Publications Act, can sink these ambitions in a morass of paper, he said.
"Often regulations are not well implemented and the answer proposed by government is not better implementation but rather stricter regulation," said Silber. "The Film and Publication Amendment Bill, as it stands now, could be interpreted as requiring every item of content going out on the Internet or over a mobile network to be pre-approved by a censor," he added.
"In theory, we should have a 90-minute delay on the broadcast of a game, so a sensor can switch off if a streaker runs across the field, or whatever it may be. In practice, that will not happen because the Bill provides for exemptions. It is likely the Film and Publications Board will then indicate sporting events and news broadcasts will not require pre-approval, but the possibility of that level of censorship exists in the legislation and has created the controversy."
The Rica legislation is of greater concern, Silber noted. As it stands at the moment, everyone using a fixed-line or Internet service in this country - regardless if it is Internet service to a home, or from a hotspot or wireless - should be registered as a customer by the relevant Internet service provider, he explained. This includes providing a photocopy of an ID certified by a Commissioner of Oaths, plus proof of address before that service is switched on.
"This is hugely problematic because we are trying to create an unwired, or wireless, connectivity cloud for World Cup 2010 where people will be able to communicate with loved ones, to submit comment, to write in their blogs, both inside and outside the stadium.
"We are trying to create an interactive World Cup with more technological advances than Germany 2006, when there were a number of advances with many people writing blogs about events, a lot of people posting content online for others to see, and people downloading clips of the game and voting on their personal preferences. But if you require everybody to register before they can do that, and if you possibly will also require them to have content pre-approved, then we have a situation where everybody must shut up and sit quietly in their seats. And that's what we are concerned about - the unintended consequences of over-regulation."
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