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Phillip de Wet

Phillip de Wet

ITWeb contributor

Phillip de Wet is an ITWeb contributor. He joined ITWeb in 1998 as a student journalist, and spent four years covering everything from telecoms deregulation to Y2K. He later helped launch Daily Maverick and a South African version of Business Insider, after being involved in two magazines and a newspaper that failed.

At the Mail & Guardian, he wrote about topics including corruption and service delivery protests, and covered foreign affairs for News24, where he still writes a regular column on international relations. He is a contributor to The Stack, a publication for ICT leaders in the United Kingdom, and helps to edit non-profit investigative journalism.

Articles

Stop the ‘Please Call Me’ madness

As the saga drags on and on, it’s clear Nkosana Makate and Vodacom should have stopped listening to their lawyers a long time ago.

Trump is asking nicely that you use America's non-woke AI

The “Visionary AI Action Plan” touted by US president Donald Trump shows America wants to win in AI by distorting the market.

Kids watching porn is only tip of internet freedom discussion

If we don't get some contrary views and critical debate on online age verification, it could impact internet freedom and democracy.

OpEd: UK gives Google all its data in fear

The UK fears hackers, China fears spies – and South Africa must soon decide whose AI data game it wants to play, and why.

OpEd: Bad managers can't LLM

Not everyone is a natural prompt user and some people are simply paralysed by fear of any new technology.

OpEd: 'Why isn't it in SA?' The bright side of AFRINIC's drama

The latest AFRINIC drama played really well for South Africa, as many question why AFRINIC is registered in Mauritius and not SA.

OpEd: SA can't cyberwar, but it's got friends if one finds it

In a cyberwar, South Africa will be cyber-toast, as it has barely paid lip service to establishing a military cyber command.

OpEd: IM made open plan great; AI is about to kill it

Knowledge workers repeatedly have to deal with the resentment prompted by another change in physical space and infrastructure necessitated by tech.

OpEd: It's not you, AI conversations are really hard right now

While AI is getting tangibly real, there is utter madness on the dealmaking side, and it’s nearly impossible to talk about AI outside the expert sphere.

OpEd: Diplomats think your IT systems should be on a war footing

Government regulation demanding greater system resilience for even non-critical sectors won't be far behind.

Emerging Technologies

OpEd: Starlink nearly took SA down a dangerous road

How diplomacy over telecoms regulation was balanced against international political pressure on a global stage.

Figures at your finger tips

On the up, to where it belongs

Gartner believes global telecoms network providers will start spending again in the next three years. In South Africa the environment is different, but expectations are still upbeat.