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South Africa Passes Secrecy Bill, Makes Whistleblowing a Dangerous Act
New submitter Hermanas writes with the story that South Africa's parliament has passed a Protection of Information Bill which could land whistle blowers and journalists who print classified information in jail for up to 25 years. From the Telegraph: "On the morning of the vote, a joint editorial in the country's largest newspapers heralded [a South African] 'day of reckoning for democracy.' 'The spreading culture of self-enrichment, either corrupt, or merely inappropriate, makes scrutiny fuelled by whistle blowers who have the public interest at heart more essential than ever since 1994,' the front page editorial said. As MPs voted on the bill in Cape Town's parliament, protesters dressed all in black gathered at the gates of the historic building where they were addressed by editors and freedom of information activists."
I would have expected this here in the U.S. or China, not South Africa. We're having a bad influence on the rest of the world, I think...
Within 10 years the united states will do the same.
bet.
Now I understand COMPLETELY, the decision by the then-white-minority government in South Africa, to relinquish their nuclear weapons and put their nuclear programme under international safeguards.
And this does not make Jacob ('Bring Me My Machine Gun') Zuma and his cronies look too good.
So please, hackers of the world, we need you to bust Zuma and the security apparatus in South Africa wide open, and publish on behalf of the people of this country, who have had their hopes dashed by a hopelessly corrupt government. Let the secrets which gave rise to this bill come to light!
There is nothing to see here, move along..
Welcome back to apartheid, only under black rule instead of white rule..
This country (I am an expat) is intent on destroying itself. They have been trying to change history by renaming, or removing all monuments, good or bad, to historical figures and events.
I'm glad I left.. as have most of my friends. SA while a beautiful country from a landscape aspect, is an absolute shithole from a people aspect, black, white, indian, makes not difference, the few good ones left should get the fuck out while the getting is good.
I came, I conquered, I coredumped
It is not just the Republicans you moron, both parties are in the bag with big business.
Look at your Democrat Hero, Obama has his head so far up G.E. arse that he made their CEO Jeff Imelt a top advisor in his administration.
How many taxes did GE pay? Practically nothing.
Both parties cannot be trusted anymore.
underground, there will be more anonymous leaks to places like LiveLeak or Youtube from internet cafes or any unsecured wifi hotspot, information wants to be free and it will find a way despite what governments try to do to prevent it.
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
Over here Obama is still blaming the disastrous results of his administration on Bush.
Laws written by the MAFIAA are traditionally a Democrat thing, although members of both parties do suck up to them.
There's a reason why you see Howard Berman (D-Disney).
ble - whoever would've thunk it?!
Bukowski said it. I believe it. That settles it.
and over the years I've seen a new apartheid being slowly, but meticulously built. The propaganda is rife everyday...
Our country has mass unemployment, and those masses are uneducated. The government of this-not-so-young democracy has not drastically changed this landscape, why not? The uneducated are the uninformed, the uninformed are easy to manipulate with never ending promises. So the uneducated are kept uneducated. Money is spent on far more pressing expenses - BILLIONS are annually spent on celebrations, extravagant cars, houses for the MP's etc. Yet people go on uneducated, hungry, homeless, with no proper sanitation or running water. Where does the money come from? Well, the majority of the taxes paid are contributed by the minority whites/indians/etc who are often told to get out of the country. The problem is they're leaving by the millions.
As the gentlemen above said, it's intent on destroying itself, and he's quite right. In time (5, 10 years, give or take), it will implode, hopefully never as bad as Zimbabwe. The government is stealing from their very own people and now they can dust it under the carpet easier than before. And what they can't dust, I'm sure they'll "Jik" the evidence away.
The only reason anyone can be pro the South African government, is if 1. you aren't living here, or 2. you are the South African government.
Attaching a flamethrower to your car to combat carjackings is considered to be a reasonable idea.
If something is LEGITIMATELY classified, that is, is an actual matter of national security, then it should be punishable to publish it. Is that meaning so difficult to glean?
Of course, if the release of the thing that is classified exposes some wrong doing, then that should certainly be considered to off-set the punishment, perhaps entirely.
Bukowski said it. I believe it. That settles it.
What was that CmdrTaco quote? Oh yeah, "Simply disagreeing with a comment is not a valid reason to mark it down."
I agree. However, you were off topic and trolling.
there is a grand jury convening in boston area RIGH TNOW. they are right now convening to hear Conspiracy charges under the Espionage Act of 1917 ( 18 USC 793(g) ) . there are three people who are there ONLY because they published information like the state department dumps, the afghan war incident reports, etc.
glenn greenwald has written about it.
There is nothing new her folks. In the country that I leave in, every so often, the media "breaks" a story and runs with it while it can still inflate their distribution, ratings, etc numbers. This story, like some many other stories before it, will disappear into this air!
Getting back on the topic. I did a quick Google search (viewed first page results only) on the "Secrecy Bill" and "Information Bill". To absolutely no surprise, all the media houses that published the story had no link to the actual bill. And, all the stories were just someone view point and did not actually make reference to any section of the bill. Now, if you inform me about that a bill that is good or bad, I expect to see references to the bill while you argue your point.
I don't know about media in other countries, but, where I live, "hype" is the order of the day! For those would like to read the bill, here is the link : http://www.google.co.za/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=information+bill&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CEAQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.info.gov.za%2Fview%2FDownloadFileAction%3Fid%3D118894&ei=KcHMTqqkBMmW8QO_sd35Dw&usg=AFQjCNGn2FalPrO3u_N5pB5yIvXEykWJ8Q&sig2=abHVGv4w5tM8NqMkOmrT7Q
Disclaimer: the above link may not be the latest version of the bill, as I did not go beyond the first page of the search.
Making classified info public was always a big offense, in ANY country. Always. And of course was always manipulated. Boring.
I always thought the countries there were ass backwards, taking all the resources from their people, making them slaves in mine diamond mine camps etc...
and now if one such person actually escapes to try and tell the proper authorities, about what goes on inside that camp, well now he faces prosecution...
good one!.
How about this, we go over there and take over the mines (like we took over the oil fields) and then they wont have anything left to argue about....democracy will be able to flourish uninterrupted!