Title: Track and trace, trial and error. Assessing South Africa's approaches to privacy in Covid-19 digital contact tracing
Author: Murray Hunter
3 December 2020
Digital contact tracing has been at the centre of global concerns about privacy and digital rights during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In March 2020, South Africa joined dozens of other countries in looking for sophisticated technological solutions to aid its contact-tracing efforts, with an ambitious if misguided attempt to use locational data from mobile-network operators to help ‘track and trace’ people with the virus.
While the programme was misconceived – officials abandoned the attempt to use cellular data for contact tracing after just a few weeks – it did yield a novel set of privacy protections designed to ensure oversight and safeguard against its misuse.
In doing so, South Africa appeared in one way to eschew a common global narrative about privacy in the pandemic: that crises provoke emergency powers that are only ever excessive, expansive and ever-lasting.
Since then, South Africa’s health authorities’ evolving approach to contact tracing has shifted to a range of other digital interventions that seem more carefully considered, but that have often been put into effect with little public consultation and haphazard transparency.
This report attempts to piece together a public record (albeit incomplete) of how the initial digital contact-tracing policy was created, why it failed, and what came next. In doing so it gives a first assessment of some the privacy and data protection issues that emerged, and a critical reflection on the challenges of policy making in a time of crisis, where well-intentioned officials grapple with complex problems under immense pressure.
Download the full PDF version of this report here:
Author: Murray Hunter
3 December 2020
Digital contact tracing has been at the centre of global concerns about privacy and digital rights during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In March 2020, South Africa joined dozens of other countries in looking for sophisticated technological solutions to aid its contact-tracing efforts, with an ambitious if misguided attempt to use locational data from mobile-network operators to help ‘track and trace’ people with the virus.
While the programme was misconceived – officials abandoned the attempt to use cellular data for contact tracing after just a few weeks – it did yield a novel set of privacy protections designed to ensure oversight and safeguard against its misuse.
In doing so, South Africa appeared in one way to eschew a common global narrative about privacy in the pandemic: that crises provoke emergency powers that are only ever excessive, expansive and ever-lasting.
Since then, South Africa’s health authorities’ evolving approach to contact tracing has shifted to a range of other digital interventions that seem more carefully considered, but that have often been put into effect with little public consultation and haphazard transparency.
This report attempts to piece together a public record (albeit incomplete) of how the initial digital contact-tracing policy was created, why it failed, and what came next. In doing so it gives a first assessment of some the privacy and data protection issues that emerged, and a critical reflection on the challenges of policy making in a time of crisis, where well-intentioned officials grapple with complex problems under immense pressure.
Download the full PDF version of this report here:
| track-and-trace-digital_contact-tracing-in-sa-nov-2020.pdf |
Title: Video Surveillance in Southern Africa. Case studies of security camera systems in the region
Authors: Main report by Heidi Swart, Zimbabwe chapter by Allen Munoriyarwa
28 May 2020
The growth in the surveillance of public spaces is a global phenomenon, and Southern Africa is no exception. Increased bandwidth has made it possible for governments, corporates, and private entities to purchase sophisticated, high-definition, Internet-based cameras, creating risks to data protection and other human rights and freedoms. However, little formal research has been done to establish the reach and capabilities of these surveillance systems in this region. This study attempts to address this knowledge gap, focusing on case studies in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Angola.
The report notes that each of these countries are headed in the same direction: AI-powered surveillance, with features like facial recognition and a variety of other video analytics, often with the assistance of international industrial partners, in particular from China.
Citizens, civic group, journalists, and academics in countries should take stock of the implications of the current growth of AI video surveillance on their human rights, and plan accordingly.
Download the full PDF version of this report here:
Title: Video Surveillance in Southern Africa. Case studies of security camera systems in the region
Authors: Main report by Heidi Swart, Zimbabwe chapter by Allen Munoriyarwa
28 May 2020
The growth in the surveillance of public spaces is a global phenomenon, and Southern Africa is no exception. Increased bandwidth has made it possible for governments, corporates, and private entities to purchase sophisticated, high-definition, Internet-based cameras, creating risks to data protection and other human rights and freedoms. However, little formal research has been done to establish the reach and capabilities of these surveillance systems in this region. This study attempts to address this knowledge gap, focusing on case studies in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Angola.
The report notes that each of these countries are headed in the same direction: AI-powered surveillance, with features like facial recognition and a variety of other video analytics, often with the assistance of international industrial partners, in particular from China.
Citizens, civic group, journalists, and academics in countries should take stock of the implications of the current growth of AI video surveillance on their human rights, and plan accordingly.
Download the full PDF version of this report here:
| video_surveillance_in_southern_africa_-_security_camera_systems_in_the_region.pdf |
Title: A Patchwork for Privacy. Mapping communications surveillance laws in southern Africa
Authors: Murray Hunter and Admire Mare
26 May 2020
This research attempts to map out basic features of communications surveillance laws in 12 southern African countries, to assess the extent to which the legal frameworks for digital surveillance meet or fall short of international best practice. This is an attempt to address an information gap in surveillance studies, which tend to focus more on the global north. As the digitisation of African societies progresses, understanding and mapping out the frameworks for communications surveillance is an increasingly important part of assessing the climate for democratic engagement in these countries.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the research reveals a dispiriting picture. Across the region, governments appear to exercising intrusive spying powers with insufficient limitations or safeguards. In particular, communications metadata (information about a person’s communications, rather than the content of their communications) is left with little legal protection. In several countries, the state’s surveillance powers are not subject to approval by a judge, eschewing the most basic standard for independent oversight. In some parts of the region, governments have exercised these intrusive powers with no legal framework in place; others have legal frameworks full of overlaps, conflicts and blind spots. Above all, irrespective of strengths or weaknesses in legal framework, a pattern emerges across the region: states have used their surveillance powers for antidemocratic purposes.
In the context of global debates on privacy and the growing realisation of the importance of communications privacy in democratic participation, the aim of this research is to contribute to an understanding of the basic features of the interception laws for each country in southern African. This can form the basis for ongoing research and democratic reforms, to build a better foundation for communication rights in the region.
Download the full PDF version of this report here:
| patchwork_for_privacy_-_communication_surveillance_in_southern_africa.pdf |
Title: Cops and call records. Policing and metadata privacy in South Africa
Author: Murray Hunter
27 March 2020
Privacy laws often disregard the sensitivity of communication metadata – information about who a person communicates with, and how, where and when they do it. Yet this information often reveals as much or about that person, than the contents of the communication itself.
Certainly South Africa’s laws have disregarded metadata privacy. While the weaknesses in the main surveillance law, RICA, face growing criticism, most police investigations of people’s communications use a separate avenue: the ‘Section 205’ procedure, which allow the police to seize a person’s phone records or other communications metadata, with few safeguards or limits.
This research draws on interviews with current and former law enforcement officials, to assess how police use these ‘Section 205’ metadata requests, and to sketch out possible reform options that would increase privacy protections for communication metadata.
While security officials have publicly painted reform proposals as being fatal to policing, these interviews show a surprising diversity of views within law enforcement structures, and map out some of the terrain for possible reforms.
Download the full PDF version of this report here:
| cops_and_call_records_web_masterset_26_march.pdf |
Title: Drifting Towards Darkness: An Exploratory Study of State Surveillance in Post-2000 Zimbabwe
Media Policy and Democracy Project
31 October 2019
This is an exploratory study that seeks to document surveillance practices in Zimbabwe. It explores the characteristics of state surveillance in Zimbabwe. It maps out the Zimbabwean context of surveillance by focusing on the following two broad areas of surveillance:
- Public space surveillance in Zimbabwe
- Communication surveillance in Zimbabwe
The revelations of mass surveillance by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden confirmed peoples’ fears that state surveillance is a common practice that has been going on for some time. The revelations also confirm that arbitrary state surveillance has been on-going including in countries which say they uphold the right to privacy it is argued that state surveillance may be worse in countries like Zimbabwe, traditionally perceived as authoritarian states (Makumbe 2009). State surveillance often targets critical constituencies like opposition parties, NGOs, CSOs and investigative journalists (Haggerty 2009). Readily available surveillance technologies from countries like China and Iran, and the latter’s willingness to assist countries establish extra-legal surveillance strategies (Evans 2013) necessitate a need to explore the extent of surveillance in countries like Zimbabwe, that have, for long been allies of China in Africa (Sachikonye 2012). The reports of growing surveillance capabilities (to be explained later), of the state in Zimbabwe has not, arguably, been matched by a response from CSOs, NGOs, HRL, and other players interested in fending off encroaching extralegal surveillance.
This research therefore, seeks to first establish the extent of the Zimbabwe’s state surveillance capabilities. This is very important if interested parties are to be mobilised towards a united response to counter privacy violating surveillance practices by the state.
Download the full PDF version of this report here:
| zimbabwe_report_2nd_pages.pdf |
Title: Communication Surveillance In Namibia: An Exploratory Study
Author: Admire Mare
31 October 2020
This mapping study sought to explore the emerging practices and cultures around communication surveillance in Namibia. The study attempts to shed light on the surveillance technologies used to spy on people, their capacities, the targets of surveillance and the ways in which civil society organisations are pushing back against the normalisation of surveillance in post-apartheid Namibia.
It endeavoured to find out if Namibia can be characterised as a “surveillance state” with the capacity to use data-driven surveillance technologies to monitor the everyday lives of ordinary citizens and perceived political ‘enemies’.
The study will also focus on the following areas:
Deploying a combination of qualitative policy analysis, document analysis and in-depth interviews with key informants drawn from professional journalists, civil society, Windhoek City Police and regulatory authorities, the study revealed that there are a number of reasons to believe that unlawful communication surveillance is occurring in Namibia.
Download the full PDF version of this report here:
Author: Admire Mare
31 October 2020
This mapping study sought to explore the emerging practices and cultures around communication surveillance in Namibia. The study attempts to shed light on the surveillance technologies used to spy on people, their capacities, the targets of surveillance and the ways in which civil society organisations are pushing back against the normalisation of surveillance in post-apartheid Namibia.
It endeavoured to find out if Namibia can be characterised as a “surveillance state” with the capacity to use data-driven surveillance technologies to monitor the everyday lives of ordinary citizens and perceived political ‘enemies’.
The study will also focus on the following areas:
- Namibia and the global trade in data-driven surveillance tools, focusing particularly on the growing influence of China;
- The adequacy of oversight of these forms of surveillance;
- Capabilities of the institutions undertaking these forms of surveillance and their uses;
- Building the capacities of civil society to hold these institutions accountable, through research and investigative journalism.
Deploying a combination of qualitative policy analysis, document analysis and in-depth interviews with key informants drawn from professional journalists, civil society, Windhoek City Police and regulatory authorities, the study revealed that there are a number of reasons to believe that unlawful communication surveillance is occurring in Namibia.
Download the full PDF version of this report here:
| namibia_report_3rd_pages.pdf |
Title: New Terrains of Privacy in South Africa: Biometrics/Smart Identification Systems, CCTV/ALPR, Drones, Mandatory SIM Card Registration and Fica
Author: Dr Dale T. McKinley
15 December 2016
Privacy issues in South Africa have a particular historical significance, given the apartheid state’s systemic violation of the privacy of the black majority and political dissidents in general. A significant part of the struggle to defeat apartheid, to reclaim the human dignity of the oppressed, was the battle to regain both individual and collective privacy. South Africa’s new democratic constitution unequivocally broke from that history by laying down a range of civil and political rights, including the right to privacy. But there has been a consistent failure to match legislative intent with practical implementation and enforcement, as well as an embrace of a range of policies, practices and technologies that have put privacy in the back seat.
This monograph, produced as part of a collaborative research project between the Right2Know Campaign and the Media Policy & Democracy Project, attempts to scope some of the new terrains for privacy in South Africa.
These include:
It is hoped that this initial effort will provide a good foundation for further research and advocacy.
Download the full PDF version of this report here:
Author: Dr Dale T. McKinley
15 December 2016
Privacy issues in South Africa have a particular historical significance, given the apartheid state’s systemic violation of the privacy of the black majority and political dissidents in general. A significant part of the struggle to defeat apartheid, to reclaim the human dignity of the oppressed, was the battle to regain both individual and collective privacy. South Africa’s new democratic constitution unequivocally broke from that history by laying down a range of civil and political rights, including the right to privacy. But there has been a consistent failure to match legislative intent with practical implementation and enforcement, as well as an embrace of a range of policies, practices and technologies that have put privacy in the back seat.
This monograph, produced as part of a collaborative research project between the Right2Know Campaign and the Media Policy & Democracy Project, attempts to scope some of the new terrains for privacy in South Africa.
These include:
- The roll out of biometric databases and smart identification systems, with specific focus on the social security and population management systems;
- The massive increase in CCTV/ALPR hardware and software, along with surveillance in both public and private owned (public) spaces;
- The rapid rise in the use of drones for private use and commercial application;
- The collection, storage, ‘sharing’ and commodification of ever increasing amounts of personal information by both public and private sector entities in specific relation to SIM card registration and FICA.
It is hoped that this initial effort will provide a good foundation for further research and advocacy.
Download the full PDF version of this report here:
| r2kmpdp_new_terrains_of_privacy_in_south__africa_masterset_small.pdf |
Title: Press regulation in South Africa: an analysis of the Press Council of South Africa, the Press Freedom Commission and related discourses
Authors: Dr Julie Reid & Taryn Isaacs
27 November 2015
A national conversation on the effectiveness and functionality of the accountability mechanism for the press in South Africa initiated in 2007, reignited in 2010 and has sporadically continued until the current time in 2015. At various times and on various platforms, different engagers in this debate have posed several different questions about the functionality of the Press Council system, its efficacy and its appropriateness for South Africa. Little of this discourse is however, based on empirical and/or scientific evidence, study or fact. Most of it is based on estimation, sometimes political interest, personal motivations, conjecture or even myth. As such, the Media Policy & Democracy Project collated a list of commonly posed key questions, and developed a set of research categories in order to investigate each, so that each key question could be measured, with regard to its validity or invalidity, against fact and statistical analysis. This report involves a detailed assessment of the performance of the Press Council of South Africa over a five year period, a critical analysis of the outcomes of the Press Freedom Commission, and explains the relevance of these findings to the related political discourses surrounding press regulation in South Africa.
For more information or comment about this report, contact Dr Julie Reid: reidjbj@unisa.ac.za
Download the full PDF version of this report, including all appendices here:
| mpdp_pcsa_pfc_report2015.pdf |
Title: Considering a cross-platform media accountability system for broadcast, print and digital news media in South Africa
Authors: Dr Julie Reid & Taryn Isaacs
February 2015
In December 2014 the MPDP was approached by the Director of the Press Council of South Africa, and by the multi-stakeholder committee investigating cross-platform media accountability systems for South Africa, and requested to produce an assessment of cross-platform media regulatory systems from around the globe with a view to whether such a system would be appropriate for South Africa. This report offers a comparative assessment of cross-platform models adopted in a selection of foreign countries, as well as a critical interrogation of local and contextual aspects which would impact the regulation of print and digital news media under one singular regulatory body in South Africa.
Download the full PDF version of this report here:
Authors: Dr Julie Reid & Taryn Isaacs
February 2015
In December 2014 the MPDP was approached by the Director of the Press Council of South Africa, and by the multi-stakeholder committee investigating cross-platform media accountability systems for South Africa, and requested to produce an assessment of cross-platform media regulatory systems from around the globe with a view to whether such a system would be appropriate for South Africa. This report offers a comparative assessment of cross-platform models adopted in a selection of foreign countries, as well as a critical interrogation of local and contextual aspects which would impact the regulation of print and digital news media under one singular regulatory body in South Africa.
Download the full PDF version of this report here:
| mpdp_considering_a_cpmas_for_south_africa.pdf |
OLDER REPORTS:
Title: 'Nkandlagate' - a critical textual analysis of the press coverage
Author: Prof Jeanne Prinsloo
21 January 2013
About this report:
WHY A NKANDLA REPORT? This research report involves a critical discourse analysis of the press coverage of the Nkandla story by the City Press and the Mail & Guardian between September 2012 and September 2013 (1 calendar year). The Media Policy and Democracy Project is compelled by a concern to contribute to media and communications policy making and development. This report considers how the positions of two of the main stakeholders in South African media policymaking, the ANC and the media, differ from one another, often resulting in confrontation.
What does this report do? This report tests the main arguments contained within the discourses of the ANC and the media, against one another through performing a case study analysis of one of the biggest news stories of the past two years.
Why was the coverage of the Nkandla story selected for the case study? The news media coverage of the President’s private home at Nkandla was selected as the case study for this report because it involves the ANC and more particularly the leader of the ANC party, was produced by investigative journalism, has raised questions of whether a political figure’s dignity and privacy have been infringed by the media and has similarly raised concerns for media freedom in South Africa, including questions surrounding the difficulty of open access to information.
Why were the City Press and the Mail & Guardian newspapers selected for the case study? These two newspapers not only initiated the story by being the first to publish news on the spending of public funds on the President’s private home at Nkandla, but they have since consistently produced a bulk of investigative follow-up stories as well as editorial analysis on the matter.
Why is this report important now? Although this report analyses press coverage for one calendar year from September 2012 to September 2013, the findings of the report have become all the more relevant at the present time, since the ‘Nkandlagate’ scandal presently continues. The main findings of this report, summarised below, are still relevant to the ongoing stand-off between the major players in the Nkandla scandal. For example, in recent weeks the ministers of security and of the police have requested the media to desist from publishing pictures of Nkandla citing security concerns, yet ignoring the implications of the request on media freedom. The Mail & Guardian’s publication of the findings of the leaked Public Protector’s provisional report initiated an immediate scramble by security cluster officials and others to prevent similar leaks. ‘Nkandlagate’ is far from over.
Click below to download the full research report and the summary of the findings.
| mpdp_nkandla_report_summary_of_findings_jan_2014.pdf |
| mpdp_exec_summary_of_nkandla_report_jan_2014.pdf |
| mpdp_nkandla_research_report_21jan_2014.pdf |
Professor Jeanne Prinsloo is a professor affiliated to the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University, where she teaches graduate students for part of the year. Based in Durban, she is also an independent teacher and researcher and has published widely on media, gender, texts and identities.
To read her news article on this report, published on the Daily Maverick, click here.
To read her news article on this report, published on the Daily Maverick, click here.
