How and who to punish for irresponsible social network posting
WINDHOEK – The posting of gruesome crime scene pictures of the late Mirjam Tuyakula Nandjato, as well as the frenzied dissemination of the news of her death via SMSs, social networks, has again ushered to the fore the question of control measures for discourse on social networks, as well as the dissemmination of information by private citizens in the new age of social media.
The police, the Legal Assistant Centre, the Ombudsman, as well as the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology have all reacted strongly to the manner in which the public handled Nandjato’s death, with the police actually going as far as to monitor social networking sites in an effort to catch those responsible for uploading the pictures. Adding insult to injury was the viral speed at which the news spread, ending up on the NBC language services even before the family was formally notified about Nandjato’s death by the police. This week the director of information and communication technology development (ICT) in the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Henri Kassen revealed that the ministry is in the process of finalising a law that will govern online activity through the Electronic Transaction and Cyber Crimes Bill. Contained in the proposed law is a clause that provides legal remedies to punish those posting insensitive content and avail recourse to those wronged by offensive postings. The so-called ‘take down notice’ clause would allow parties to apply for defamatory and insensitive content to be removed from internet sites to prevent further publication.
“Once it’s off there are legal remedies available,” said Kassen. However, as of now there is very little law enforcement agencies can do to police social networks. Last week the police wanted to take action against the culprits under the ‘obscenity law’ – which generally deals with the publication or dissemination of photographic material that is deemed too explicit in nature, indecent and obscene, which range from sexually explicit to disturbing pictures. Deputy Commissioner Edwin Kanguatjivi of the Police Public Relations Division,
informed New Era on Friday that they are investigating how the photos got on the internet. “What if it was your sister or mother. It’s morally wrong,” he added.
The Legal Assistance Centre is proposing legal education for the public on the rights of others and on how far the public can express itself without breaking the law. “Unfortunately many people do not even know that it is wrong [and] unfortunately that is how the social media is,” Legal Assistance Centre lawyer Ricardo Mukonda said. As of now the only way to have such content removed is through the courts, which is an expensive and time consuming exercise. Further, social media users tend to use pseudonyms, making it difficult to trace them easily. Unless a law is put in place to control the owners of social networks to sensor such activities, the only immediate solution would be to run legal education campaigns for people to learn about the rights of others, said Mukonda. Ombudsman Adv. John Walters says members of the public should refrain from circulating gruesome and insensitive photographs of deceased people as this is harmful to the families and close relatives of victims. “To see a photo of a beheaded person is a gruesome act. What kind of message are you sending to the family (of the victim)? It must be condemned in the strongest terms. People must refrain from such callous actions,” Walters said. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology Mbeuta Ua-Ndjarakana says circulating photographs of deceased people, especially on the internet (emails and social media) is a question about the morality of the person who circulates such messages.
Walters and Ua-Ndjarakana said they understand that sometimes people do what they do without any malevolent intentions, in order to highlight what is wrong. However, they also added that that is not always the way to go about it. “You cannot circulate gruesome acts without the consent of the family. It’s just immoral and heartless. It is hurting and dancing on the nerves and feelings of those who lost their loved ones,” said Ua-Ndjarakana. Additional reporting by Tunomukwathi Asino.
By Alvine Kapitako