Recommendations that Internet service providers (ISPs) be prosecuted for failing to remove child pornography from their servers could be implemented soon through beefed-up legislation.
At Parliamentary hearings on child abuse, triggered by concerns over recent cases of child rape, deputy minister of Home Affairs Charles Nqakula said loopholes in legislation regarding the Internet would soon be closed.
"We have a draft bill ready and we will put it into the Parliamentary system as soon as possible," Sapa quotes him as saying. The bill is to "create a relationship" between ISPs and authorities.
Amendments to the Film and Publications Act are the most likely route for the changes.
Late last year, the Film and Publication Board recommended an update to legislation which would see ISPs prosecuted if they failed to remove child pornography from their systems once notified of its existence.
Under the proposal, an ISP would be considered to be aiding and abetting in a crime if it failed to act.
The board said a register of ISPs would need to be established.
At the time, the ISP Association said its membership was already fully cooperating with the authorities in such cases, and cautioned that any removal notification system that did not use a court order would have to be clearly defined. The body did not support a register of ISPs, saying illegal content could be hosted on computers outside the control of an ISP and that procedures should be applicable to all such hosts.
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