South African government adopt OSS

Something that has been grabbing media attention recently is the news of our Government’s policy to promote the use of open-source software. The story goes back to September last year when ITWeb reported that the Government had released a draft-version OSS policy framework document by a high-level advisory body. The framework … view full post

The selection.co.za blunder

Ok one last post: The selection.co.za blunder

Wayne Diamond, owner of Internet company HostCity, confirmed that he is in the process of transferring ownership of the domain to the government after the Department of Communications asked the Pretoria High Court to intervene.

Diamond first registered the domain on Thursday last week, four days after a government advertisement appeared using an e-mail address

… view full post

Interception and Monitoring Bill

Under the current version of our government’s Interception and Monitoring Bill, it will be a criminal offence not to report the loss or theft of a SIM-card or cellular phone smart card to police within 24 hours.

SPs and telephone companies will have to acquire any equipment the government thinks necessary for interception, at their own cost, and establish links to … view full post

Government will mess up .za

The new Electronic Communications and Transactions (ECT) Bill describes how the government can take control of the .za namespace. According to various players in the South African internet industry, your domain name could go dead if this bill is allowed. If you have a domain name, and you would like to do something about it, you can … view full post