Internet porn access can lead to jail |27 May 2008

This was stressed by members of the safe technology committee yesterday after principal secretary for education Jeanne Simeon launched Child Protection Week at the ministry.

The committee members said various laws provide for the conviction of people who, for example, use their employers’ equipment and time to access or distribute non work-related or unauthorised materials.

“They can be jailed for up to five years and/or be fined R30,000 for doing that,” Jean-Claude Matombe, of the National Council for Children, said.

The safe technology team added that existing laws are a little outdated, having been enacted in the 1990s. The group is now working with the attorney-general’s office to see if the legislation can be revised and made stricter.

Mr Matombe said the committee members fear unwholesome material distributed through the internet often reaches children, who are in many cases more computer literate than adults.
“Such items eventually reach other forms of technology, such as modern mobile telephone sets, and become widely distributed,” he said.

The committee has produced a number of posters and TV programmes, as well as video clips that will be distributed to schools. These will guide teachers on how to warn youngsters about the dangers of information passed through modern devices.

Mrs Simeon welcomed the initiative and said that while tools like computers ease learning, they can also be abused.

She said educating pupils on the dangers of modern communication technology will be part of the schools’ curricular and extra-curricular activities.