Why the secrecy bill is a GOOD thing!

Article by Marc Aupiais

I don't know if we can believe ANC claims on 702 that corruption and felonies being shown up will be adequate defences: but Public Interest is not any good justification for spilling state secrets: given what the term really means.

In Delict you study Public Interest: truth and in the public interest, in general. For media that becomes Reasonable Publication.

Public interest includes hypocrisy. If the Military or Crime Intelligence knew someone had been naughty on the phone or was cheating with their secretary. This is Public Interest material. It is very wide.

The Regulation of the Interception of Communications Act, as amended a.k.a. RICA forces phone and internet companies to keep all emails, SMS (text), MMS (image SMS), sent through South Africa: for government access. Phone calls on cellular phones are also all recorded. Only BBM and BlackBerry etc Enterprise Server Email, are except. The government claims to be attempting to legislate these under the RICA powers in March or so next year.

Believe it or not: your phone behaviour, etc is in the public interest.

When RICA passed, the Secrecy Bill was both inevitable, and necessary.

It may need some altering under Constitutional challenges, but the worst thing in the world would be allowing public interest defences: given that the South African government now has more intelligence on its citizens than Soviet Russia ever dreamt of.

(please note: This does not constitute and is not legal advice. Consult a legal professional in relation to any facts or real world situation facing you. I do not guarantee the accuracy of these statements, nor warrant against harm in reading or listening to or acting on them.)