Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      Public money, private plans: MPs demand Post Office transparency

      13 June 2025

      Coal to cash: South Africa gets major boost for energy shift

      13 June 2025

      China is behind in AI chips – but for how much longer?

      13 June 2025

      Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

      13 June 2025

      10 red flags for Apple investors

      13 June 2025
    • World

      Yahoo tries to make its mail service relevant again

      13 June 2025

      Qualcomm shows off new chip for AI smart glasses

      11 June 2025

      Trump tariffs to dim 2025 smartphone shipments

      4 June 2025

      Shrimp Jesus and the AI ad invasion

      4 June 2025

      Apple slams EU rules as ‘flawed and costly’ in major legal pushback

      2 June 2025
    • In-depth

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025

      Digital fortress: We go inside JB5, Teraco’s giant new AI-ready data centre

      30 May 2025

      Sam Altman and Jony Ive’s big bet to out-Apple Apple

      22 May 2025

      South Africa unveils big state digital reform programme

      12 May 2025

      Is this the end of Google Search as we know it?

      12 May 2025
    • TCS

      TechCentral Nexus S0E1: Starlink, BEE and a new leader at Vodacom

      8 June 2025

      TCS+ | The future of mobile money, with MTN’s Kagiso Mothibi

      6 June 2025

      TCS+ | AI is more than hype: Workday execs unpack real human impact

      4 June 2025

      TCS | Sentiv, and the story behind the buyout of Altron Nexus

      3 June 2025

      TCS | Signal restored: Unpacking the Blue Label and Cell C turnaround

      28 May 2025
    • Opinion

      Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

      2 June 2025

      South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

      2 June 2025

      Digital giants boost South African news media – and get blamed for it

      29 May 2025

      Solar panic? The truth about SSEG, fines and municipal rules

      14 April 2025

      Data protection must be crypto industry’s top priority

      9 April 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » Opinion » Dear FPB, free our kids

    Dear FPB, free our kids

    By Richard Firth6 February 2018
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp
    Richard Firth

    The fate of online free speech and digital content hangs in the balance as the department of communications and the Film and Publication Board (FPB) attempt to impose restrictions on digital channels.

    Although the primary mandate of the FPB is to protect children from exposure to adult and other harmful materials, to make the use of children in and the exposure of children to pornography punishable, and to provide consumer advice to enable adults to make informed viewing, reading and gaming choices, many feel the board is overreaching.

    The policy falls incredibly short in several areas. Perhaps the most obvious is the insurmountable obstacles the FPB will face in trying to implement and enforce it. The number of people needed to “police” all the content, particularly when you consider the vast numbers of digitally enabled South Africans who are active online, is astronomical.

    Anyone, irrespective of whether they are an individual or a business, who publishes or facilitates the publication of online material stands to be held liable by the FPB

    Anyone, irrespective of whether they are an individual or a business, who publishes or facilitates the publication of online material stands to be held liable by the FPB. This includes bloggers, small and medium enterprises, giant corporations, social networks and news agencies.

    New regulations mean that the FPB needs to approve all digital media, including online learning systems and materials. The FPB has a system where it charges service providers a flat fee to allow them to publish their content. Those that don’t want to pay the flat fee get charged per medium.

    Netflix and Microsoft, for example, refused the flat fee. Netflix therefore gets charged per movie and per series, making it prohibitively expensive.

    The same applies to books and learning materials. An aspiring author who wants to publish on Amazon, for example, must hope that the online retail giant has paid the flat fee because the additional cost might mean that their book never gets published locally. And those companies that would like to publish learning materials through other platforms might find that the FPB’s fees are too high to justify. Unless a company or individual has all their ducks in a row with the FPB, they cannot publish, and that leaves South Africans the poorer for the lack of content.

    Barrier

    Education and transformation remain the two major pillars on which our country will build a sustainable future. A digitally enabled and educated generation is our best hope of building a globally competitive and prosperous economy. Every educational organisation in the world is strategising about how they convert their course material to massive open online courses and new digital avenues are making it easier for knowledgeable people to publish content to help the world survive in the new information age. But how can we achieve that when we are actively blocking access to many existing educational media because they have not been approved by the FPB?

    Ultimately, the FPB is preventing children from accessing the tools, programmes and materials that are available all over the world. Government is handing out iPads, but there’s little point if learners can’t access half the materials available in the US or other app stores. According to just one online educational channel, Wikipedia, the text of the English version is currently equivalent to 2 565 volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica and it consistently grows by 600 new articles every day.

    The sheer volume of content being generated on an ongoing basis would need an army to control and evaluate. No human department could hope to control and evaluate every piece, so the current system is to the great detriment of learners.

    The primary objective of the FPB should be to preserve the Internet as a vehicle for social and economic development, and therefore to create an environment where political, social and economic innovation can flourish. Suppliers, vendors, developers and other stakeholders would then also be able to contribute to the betterment and growth of our citizens.

    Any policy governing books, movies, the Internet and its content should centre on creating a favourable environment to allow the training and development sector to grow, of which content production is a crucial enabler. The policy should encourage and facilitate an open and competitive online landscape, one that enforces the right to free speech and expression for both users and platform providers.

    The legislation should be rejected, as it is overly restrictive, presenting the Internet as a threat, as opposed to the empowering, democratising entity that it has the potential to be.

    • Richard Firth is CEO of South African software developer MIP Holdings


    FPB MIP Holdings Richard Firth
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleBitcoin rout may have further to go
    Next Article Telecoms bill must be withdrawn, research firm says

    Related Posts

    Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

    13 June 2025

    A shift in South Africa’s communications landscape

    3 March 2025

    It’s time to rethink B-BBEE

    7 November 2024
    Company News

    Huawei Watch Fit 4 Series: smarter sensors, sharper design, stronger performance

    13 June 2025

    Change Logic and BankservAfrica set new benchmark with PayShap roll-out

    13 June 2025

    SAPHILA 2025 – transcending with purpose, connection and AI-powered vision

    13 June 2025
    Opinion

    Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

    2 June 2025

    South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

    2 June 2025

    Digital giants boost South African news media – and get blamed for it

    29 May 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.