The perfection of a spider web is an awe-inspiring example of creation. Still remember that the purpose of silver threads strung with dewdrops is to trap and kill, which is all well and good when the target is a mosquito or fly. Humans have spun a different web - the World Wide Web, which connects us all. Different strands connect us to loved ones, recipes, ideas, and commercial activities. In our ever-increasing dependence on the web, we have forgotten that we are prey. Distracted by the pretty things, our fate is being spun and it's already almost impossible to extract ourselves. Over the past few months in copy and paste legislation, socalled online safety bills are being passed around the world. Written into these laws are means for governments to exercise dangerous censorship and control. The Orwellian parallels are blatant and terrifying. Crime prevention was the reason given for implementing SIM card registration with RICA. In reality, however, this has made very little difference in fighting crime, and in most cases call data has been used to catch criminals through information linked to numbers called call duration, and approximate location (linked to cell phone towers). It is far more likely that SIM registration is key for the government to create a security state, and in so doing, violate the right to privacy of ordinary law-abiding citizens. Now the government plans to go even further and link biometric data to SIM cards. This has very troubling implications and is open to terrible abuse. The potential danger to political opponents or protesters is real. Worldwide, as rights have been surrendered there has been a movement away from democracy toward authoritarian control. In a recent example from Canada, people who donated as little as 50 Canadian dollars to the truckers' Freedom convoy were punished by their government which had the power to freeze personal bank accounts. South Africa's poor and rural communities are currently in an almost enviable position. Outside of the web they are free and near impossible to control. Unlike first-world citizens, Africans are more equipped to live and survive without being ensnared. Now the South African government plans to give each household 10GB of 'free' data by March 2023. The focus will be on rural and under-served areas. It is critical to ask why? We have a crumbling or non-existent infrastructure where funds are desperately needed, households without water or electricity, and households where hunger takes lives. The cost to the government for this project is between R30 and R80 billion. Why prioritise this when there is such dire need elsewhere? The government may give with the one hand but they will certainly be taking with the other.
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