Article 13 Passes...........South Africa hold my beer. New FPB internet bill.

[MetEishYa]

South African circusparliament passed the Film and Publications (FPB) Bill last week.  The FPB is South Africa's classifications office which classifies films, games and other publications with there rating system similar to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in the USA.

 

The Bill was passed with the premise of protecting children from mature content online. It allows for the criminalization of Revenge Porn and Child Porn. However the bill also states that any distributor of film must have there film classified by the FPB and must be registered as a distributor. This is were things get ugly.

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The Bill defines “distribute” as the ordinary meaning of the word (i.e. sharing with others in any way), but also includes streaming content. A “distributor” is defined as someone who “conducts the business of distributing” and The Bill defines “film” to mean any recorded series of images, including streaming. This means Hollywood blockbusters, livestreams, your drone footage, and your cat videos. Arguably, it could even include GIFs.

 This means that if you share any video, post any video on Youtube or Facebook you will have to have your video classified before you are allowed to post that video. Even include Livestreaming, which is impossible to classify before posting. Here are the implications if you do not follow this Law. 

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According to section 24A(1) of the Bill, you’ll be committing an offence if you distribute something and haven’t been registered as a distributor. If convicted, that’s a fine of up to R150,000 ($10 274), 8 months in jail, or both.  

According to section 24A(2) of the Bill, you’ll be committing an offence if you distribute something that hasn’t been classified. If convicted, that’s a fine of up to R500,000 ($34 246), 5 years in jail, or both. 

Who does this bill apply to? Everyone whos content/film is available in South Africa ie. Steam, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. This basically means all Youtubers such as LinusTechTips, Jays2cents and Gamers Nexus, must have there videos classified by the FPB if they make there videos available to view in South Africa.

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At best, the Bill is a confused cling to power. At worst, it is an unconstitutional grab at freedom of expression

 

Links:

https://www.michalsons.com/blog/mr-president-please-dont-sign/37894

https://www.michalsons.com/blog/film-and-publications-bill/33423

 

[Froody129]

Haibo

[Deus Voltage]

Just saw UFD Tech's video. This is a serious slippery slope. It's a cash grab under the guise of a well intentioned law. 

[Hiya!]

Well that is going to exarcebate things real good..good job on making it even more annoying..

[Bananasplit_00]

Can this even be enforced? Like EVERY video needs to be watched and EVERYONE needs to be a distributor if you want to share video now? That's pretty strange

[Arika]

1 hour ago, MetEishYa said:

It allows for the criminalization of Revenge Porn and Child Porn.

I'm sorry? Why the fuck was this not already criminalised and "allows"? So there are instances where it's still fine? The fuck

 

That's one hell of an implication

[TimeOmnivore]

So... TL:DR: There's going to be significantly less content available in South Africa (assuming this law, unchanged, in actually enforced)?

 

There's no way in hell the vast majority of content "distributors" will go through these hoops, so they'll just block all of their content in South Africa. It would be too much of a legal mess otherwise. Sucks (slightly more than usual) for the people who live there.

[sof006]

And how are they going to enforce this law on everyone? Surely they cannot check on what people are doing and how they are doing it.

[CarlBar]

49 minutes ago, Arika S said:

I'm sorry? Why the fuck was this not already criminalised and "allows"? So there are instances where it's still fine? The fuck

 

That's one hell of an implication

 

A lot of countries that were cut loose during the colonial days have at best loose laws, and often outright holes and nearly allways loopholes, (i believes there is or was until recently a US state where it's still legal for underage strippers to perform, it's just illegal to record or distribute it as an on topic example, as an off topic one it was until recently legal to kill a welshman with a longbow after dark in the environs of one english village, and ditto a scotsman inside the walls of the city of york). In addition laws allways allow themselves room for exceptions generally.You never know what weird as hell edge case is going to pop up.

[MetEishYa]

2 hours ago, Deus Voltage said:

Just saw UFD Tech's video. This is a serious slippery slope. It's a cash grab under the guise of a well intentioned law. 

Agreed. We know that this is aimed at the likes of Netflix and other streaming platforms just for Cash. However it may have unintended consequences. Even by this bill the Presidents Twitter Videos will have to be classified LOL.

[MetEishYa]

1 hour ago, Arika S said:

I'm sorry? Why the fuck was this not already criminalised and "allows"? So there are instances where it's still fine? The fuck

 

That's one hell of an implication

I think it was illegal but was never amended to keep up with modern technology or there were loopholes. So they updated and strengthened the laws around this.

[MetEishYa]

1 hour ago, sof006 said:

And how are they going to enforce this law on everyone? Surely they cannot check on what people are doing and how they are doing it.

The small ones i doubt will be enforced but they have said that big companies like Netflix or Steam, if the don't comply will be block.  And if its a video about the ruling party that they dont like they will also enforce this. This is why the are going to be taking the bill to the constitutional court as this is a form of censorship.

[WkdPaul]

* Thread unlocked *

 

Sorry for the mistake.

[Taf the Ghost]

This is a classic "For The Children!" type of law. It has basically nothing to do with the supposed Pro-Society benefits, thus the first order of business is to figure out who the real target is & the intended collateral damage. UFD Tech hits most of it, I think. The first level is clearly a shakedown law for money. The second level is to squash political opposition. The third & generally unintended level is all video produced in South Africa. (This seems like the result of just incompetence.) Someone's vacation video is now a criminal offense in SA, which is why I'd expect their Constitutional Court to take a hacksaw to the law. Any Media figure or Celebrity will be advised instantly to never go to SA, as they can't use social media for promoting anything. 

 

2019 seems to be the collective year decisions made in 2016, by a bunch of interconnected global players to make the Internet useless for political organization, starts to come to fruition. Expect more of these types of laws, of varying quality & effect, over the next 2 years. We're deep into the point where "The Internet was better back in my day" is completely true. It only gets more ugly from here.

[Lurick]

4 hours ago, sof006 said:

And how are they going to enforce this law on everyone? Surely they cannot check on what people are doing and how they are doing it.

I'd bet a dollar right now this will come down to people reporting other people who they disagree with in a community and it will be used to exact revenge on others. Do something that Person A doesn't like? Well then Person A just happens to know you posted a YouTube video last week without going through the proper channels and reports you to the authorities.

[IAmAndre]

What a great year for VPN companies!

[Dredgy]

South Africa is not the EU. It’s not a large enough market to make Google or whomever to expend too much time or money on. They’ll do the bare minimum but if push comes to shove they’re not going to be bothered.

[yolosnail]

Given the other things going on in South Africa, I wouldn't be surprised if this was yet another way to 'cleanse' the country.

From what I've seen most South African Youtubers/streamers are white, and suddenly there is a new law that makes it difficult for them to do their job.

I would guess that when this starts getting enforced, they're all going to move out of the country.

 

You know what, if that was the plan, then it's a bloody good one (definitely not in a good way, just a clever way)

[Castdeath97]

6 hours ago, MetEishYa said:

passed with the premise of protecting children

wOuLd sOmEoNe thInK oF tHe cHildRen!!!!!

[Drak3]

2 hours ago, Castdeath97 said:

wOuLd sOmEoNe thInK oF tHe cHildRen!!!!!

 

4 hours ago, Taf the Ghost said:

This is a classic "For The Children!" type of law.

[yian88]

Internet is dead, freedom is always only temporary until people get exhausted or ignorant enough so that puppets can pass laws for bigger interests of control and power grab.

[Chett_Manly]

32 minutes ago, yian88 said:

Internet is dead, freedom is always only temporary until people get exhausted or ignorant enough so that puppets can pass laws for bigger interests of control and power grab.

The decentralized blockchain internet is coming, the authoritarians are going to lose to the march of progress. Technological advancement will render their enforcement impossible.

[DrDerp]

59 minutes ago, Chett_Manly said:

The decentralized blockchain internet is coming, the authoritarians are going to lose to the march of progress. Technological advancement will render their enforcement impossible.

Dear God I hope

[Froody129]

7 hours ago, yolosnail said:

Given the other things going on in South Africa, I wouldn't be surprised if this was yet another way to 'cleanse' the country.

From what I've seen most South African Youtubers/streamers are white, and suddenly there is a new law that makes it difficult for them to do their job.

I would guess that when this starts getting enforced, they're all going to move out of the country.

 

You know what, if that was the plan, then it's a bloody good one (definitely not in a good way, just a clever way)

I strongly doubt this is a stab at white streamers. It's just a cash grab law. I doubt it'll really go further anyway because it's stupid 

[Guest]

On 3/29/2019 at 8:09 PM, Bananasplit_00 said:

Can this even be enforced? Like EVERY video needs to be watched and EVERYONE needs to be a distributor if you want to share video now? That's pretty strange

I think people are getting a little ahead of themselves. Is YT, Twitter, FB etc really publishers? 

 

On 3/30/2019 at 10:00 AM, Froody129 said:

I strongly doubt this is a stab at white streamers. It's just a cash grab law. I doubt it'll really go further anyway because it's stupid 

I wouldn’t mind a crackdown on streamers. Probably controversial but letting it slide wouldn’t bother me one bit.