Knowledge is power, and nowhere was this more evident than at the panel discussion yesterday which was entitled “Privacy, safety and security in cyberspace:implications for freedom of expression”.
Knowledge is power, and nowhere was this more evident than at the panel discussion yesterday which was entitled “Privacy, safety and security in cyberspace:implications for freedom of expression”.
Chaired by Country Director for Internews Kenya,Ida Jooste, the conversation featured erudite speakers who emphasised in various ways the necessity and importance of digital literacy in the modern age.
Head of Programmes at Media Monitoring Africa, Wellington Radu kicked off the talk by explaining what happens when the importance of digital information literacy is underestimated.
“Those who cannot access the internet have to really sell themselves in order to gain cheaper access, and in doing so they’re ceding their rights to various big companies like Facebook,” said Radu agreed.
Radu, who also has interests in ICTs, Governance and Sustainability, observed that “in the African context, to ensure everyone gets a piece of the pie, we need access that is cheap, fast and for all.” He doesn’t believe access is the only solution, and as previously mentioned, people need to be educated about digital technologies.
“We should talk to people about what it means when they put their photos up on Facebook, and about what Facebook does with these photos,” Radu explained.
He went on to add that without this kind of education, the existing digital divide will be further entrenched.
“We run the risk of the ‘dark forces’ using the internet for the wrong reasons,” he explained.
Manager for Research, Policy, and Advocacy at the Film and Publications Board of South Africa (FPB), Abongile Vanda echoed Radu’s sentiments by recommending multidisciplinary relationships and increased digital literacy as solutions to contentious issues like the publication of online child pornography. The role of the FPB is largely the regulation of media content, publications, games, and films distributed in cinemas and DVD rental places.
“The online environment has been a bit of a headache for the FPB because in terms of legislation, publication now includes online content,” said Vanda. The FPB is the only media organization which has a hotline in Africa.
“People can call in to report child pornography images seen online. Also we have global connections, so if the website is not in South Africa, the content can still be taken down in the country that hosts the site,” Vanda explained.
Vanda discussed different kinds of online abuse, including ‘sextortionism’.
“I put this in at the last minute. It’s usually done amongst young children – ‘if I have a naked picture of you, I’ll put it on the internet unless you give me x, y, z,” Vanda said, laughing mirthlessly.
On a more macro scale, Sue Valentine, Africa Program Coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), showed the audience why literacy in the form of security is particularly important. Valentine exemplified her points with a visual of the National Security Agency’s data centre in Bluffdale, Utah, which happens to be the biggest data reservoir in the United States.
“At this centre, they can crack and retain interactions from people nationally and globally,” Valentine said. “We are being watched, you are being watched.”
A campaign that the CPJ is currently involved in is called the Right to Report in the Digital Age (#RightToReport).
“The idea is to challenge the US government in particular because the Obama administration has been the most aggressive when it comes to surveillance and spying on people,” she explained.
Also viewing security and privacy issues from this macro perspective was Edetaen Ojo, Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda in Lagos. Ojo is deeply passionate about human rights issues and generously shared the African Declaration of Internet Rights and Freedoms with the audience, the second time the declaration has gone public since it was completed.
Ojo explained the rationale behind the declaration as a need to get away from the blanket application of foreign policies around the internet. “Unfortunately, when it comes to these policies, [African] political leaders appear to be replicating very bad practices from around the world, often disregarding context and environmental factors,” he shared.
The declaration was launched last week in Istanbul, and is proposed for a full launch in the first quarter of 2015.
The full declaration can be accessed from www.africaninternetrights.org.
