Porn Ban Being Considered In South Africa

krou writes "Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba has gone to South Africa's Law Reform Commission to see whether the law can be changed to allow a complete ban of digitally distributed pornography. Gigaba has also been in discussion with The Justice Alliance of South Africa, 'a coalition of corporations, individuals, and churches committed to upholding and fighting for justice and the highest moral standards in South African society,' which has written its own draft bill regarding the issue, which covers the banning of pornography on television, mobile phones, and the Web. Using a car analogy, Mr. Gigaba said, 'Cars are already provided with brakes and seatbelts.... There is no reason why the Internet should be provided without the necessary restrictive mechanisms built into it.' Related documents and the JASA's proposed bill can be found online, one of which has the wonderful title 'A reasonable and justifiable limitation on Freedom of Expression and Right to Privacy.'"

Re:Pornography ...

[krou]

I had a brief look at the opinion piece on the JASA website [za.net], and its argument is basically "think of the children", which (according to them) trumps free speech:

Internet pornography is such a readily accessible evil for children, that the Constitutional Court, if the Bill were challenged, would be bound to hold that the section 28 obligation to protect at all costs the best interests of children would trump the rights to freedom of expression and privacy.

Section 28 of the Bill of Rights [constituti...urt.org.za] states "A child's best interests are of paramount importance in every matter concerning the child.". Previous court rulings have said that the state 'must provide the legal and administrative infrastructure necessary to ensure that children are accorded the protection contemplated by S28.'

The Bill of Rights also notes that 'The rights ... may be limited only in terms of law of general application to the extent that the limitation is reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom, taking into account all relevant factors', which include things like the nature of the right, its purpose etc. So, while they recognise pornography as free speech etc, they also "think of the children", which as we all know overrules any other concern.

Re:The brakes model

[S.O.B.]

While I don't believe that trying to ban porn on the internet is practical neither is telling people to just not look at it. There are popups, browser hijacking and unfortunate search results that could subject people to porn even though they did not actively seek it out. I remember hearing a story a few years ago of a public school teacher showing kids how to use Google and she suggested typing in "Spice Girls" and at the time one of the top results had nude photos of Geri Halliwell.

If we take the example of how porn is handled in the non-virtual world, porn content is segregated into specialized stores, that dimly lit room at the back of your video rental shop or the top row of the magazine rack.

The controversial .xxx domain, if it ever gets approved, would allow people and countries that do not want to see porn to have a way to ensure that they will never see it unless they intentionally go to those sites. That is assuming that porn sites agree to migrate. After all, migration would be in their best interests as a way of heading off eventual government regulation that would likely be more restrictive. They likely wouldn't lose any money since porn always sells.

Rape Capital of the World

[Iyonesco]

South Africa is the rape capital of the world:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_statistics#South_Africa [wikipedia.org]

Why are the more worried about porn than actual crimes? Any logical person can see that banning porn would likely make the rape situation even worse. I'm glad to see they've got their priorities straight.

The whole world seems to be in a state of insanity regarding porn at the moment. We've got the Australia's small breast ban and cartoon laws, Canada's Cartoon laws, the UK's Extreme Pornography laws, the US's Obscenity Laws and Agnes Chan leading the lunacy in Japan. Could I ask these moral crusaders to kindly fuck off.

Re:Attention to other important stuff...

[M. Baranczak]

The problem is, the SA government is not working on the AIDS problem. Their minister of health [bbc.co.uk], for several years, was a woman who claimed that HIV doesn't cause AIDS, and that eating beets and garlic can protect you against it. You can't make this shit up. This minister is gone now, but the people who hired her are still in power.

Re:The brakes model

[flyneye]

Give up on wishing for any common sense. South Africa has a rich history of legislating the wills of the ignorant, the misguided and the boneheaded.
        This gentleman is probably to the point where he is able to Google for what he wants, so he obviously knows more about the internet than all the stupid countries out there who just aren't doing anything about the sinful smutty internet. Well, by golly he will and he knows just how to fix it.
I prefer to sit back and watch this unfold like a 3 stooges episode that I've seen over and over and over.

Re:Brilliant plan

[unkiereamus]

I'm not saying this is the case but it is possible. Anyone have research data either for or against this hypothesis?

Here [hawaii.edu] you go.

Quite extensive, so I'll just pull a paragraph for you:

Within Japan itself, the dramatic increase in available pornography and sexually explicit materials is apparent to even a casual observer. This is concomitant with a general liberalization of restrictions on other sexual outlets as well. Also readily apparent from the information presented is that, over this period of change, sex crimes in every category, from rape to public indecency, sexual offenses from both ends of the criminal spectrum, significantly decreased in incidence.

Now obviously, this discussion is solely of Japan, which has a number of other factors going on that should be considered before trying to extrapolate, but frankly, I don't care about and am too lazy to look for any more data. If you're really interested, this study cites a few other studies which apparently had similar results.

Re:Brilliant plan

[Anonymous Coward]

Well I can answer this. I'm South African , and before 1994 pornography was banned. You couldn't get it anywhere in any form. After the 94 elections it was made available , and the rape rate increased to such an extent that South Africa now has the highest rate of rape in the world. These are all presented as facts and I'm not expressing an opinion for or against pornography. Go and look up the stats if you want to.

Re:The brakes model

[andymadigan]

Use a modern browser with a pop-up blocker and install an ad blocker. I don't see porn when I'm browsing unless I go looking for it.

I live in South Africa...

[Hermanas]

I live in South Africa, and I know for a fact that at most 20% of the population have semi-regular access to the Internet, as can be seen from this handy graph on Google http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=wb-wdi&met=it_net_user&idim=country:ZAF&dl=en&hl=en&q=internet+users+in+south+africa [google.com] (it estimates 4.187 million internet users, where we have a population of between 40 and 50 million). This is a country where the absolute maximum internet speed is 4Mbps (on average most users have 384kbps), and it is literally cheaper to go buy a dvd in the shop than it is to download the 4GB illegally. This is just to bring the internet situation into perspective. I know that you do not need an internet connection to have porn, it could be a video, dvd or even just copied from someone else, but this is just an indication of the kind access we have here. A recent study found that as many as 50% of high school boys in SA have watched at least one porn movie. I don't know, but the only shocking thing about that is that so many people have had access to it (we only have 4 public TV channels, and only one of them shows porn after 12 on Saturday nights). This is just some background information. A ban on porn would be just another ill-directed attempt to improve the morals of a society where politicians (the role models of the people) routinely threaten other races with death, partake in tender fraud and tax evasion, are charged with rape and watch porn during congress. On second thought, maybe it will at least help the politicians concentrate on what's really going on in the country.

Re:Attention to other important stuff...

[Mashiki]

The answer to that is no. I had a buddy who owned a major pest control company in SA before and after apartheid ended. His words were: "We're getting the fuck out now." And so they did, the place is going to hell faster then you can pave the road. The guy is pro-racist, anti-mix, anti-white. SA is moving back to apartheid, just another colour the same as most of Africa. Whatever, the entire continent could be the bread basket of the world but they'd rather stab each other in the face over tribal affairs.

Re:Black South Africa failed....

[Mashiki]

Considering all they do is blame white folks now it's a moot issue. SA is breaking down into a Somalia--II, people who had businesses are fleeing and have been for the last 3 years so they don't get murdered in their beds and their businesses 'requisitioned'.

Re:The brakes model

[NotBornYesterday]

I do not think anyone on the internet really gets the choice whether to watch porn or not.

Not anyone? Really? Here's a partial list: My wife. My kids. My parents. Me, unless I'm looking for it. Millions of people on work PCs.

I know dozens of people, not computer experts, using regular PCs without pop-up blockers, who are not assaulted with internet porn. If you think someone can't venture online without encountering porn, you're doing it wrong. Furthermore, your incompetence is no excuse to prevent consenting adults from accessing legitimate adult-themed content.