http://www.namespace.org.za/ectindex.html is the only place
I could find the ECT bill. It deals with regulating Internet dataflow, spamming
.co.za registration, data fraud, phising scams etc.
It does not mention data crossing roads and makes zero mention of CCTV and public/council cooperative networks.
Que incidence streaming CCTV data over what is essentially their very own private telephone exchange[no Vans license] can't just have this 'right' so to speak absolved by a wave of the pen. It seems that no matter what the law
says if you use CCTV as a ruse or excuse to run fiber from roof to roof, nobody will do anything about it. The ECB is not even close to the draconian Act.96 and just look how
everybody is ignoring it.
The usual constitutional safeguards are in the ECB. A cyber investigator must obtain a court order to kick down your door. Self-regulation of such a community network should keep
Icasa happy.
scope for exeptions for non-profit activities but i cannot
imagine it will explicitly legalise mesh networks
Ofcourse non-profit activities should be addressed in the bill. At the moment Que incidence is spending millions of rands in a complete regulatory void. Either their networks must be legalized or shutdown. The situation at present is unbearable.
Lets just explore the CCTV issue further. The phrase
explicitly legalize mesh networks. The issue is not the tranmission medium mesh networks,fiber, Dslam or smoke signals but
data crossing boundaries.
So what you mean are that there are two types of data -
Internet,commercial,Voip and
public safety/CCTV/Non-commercial data
The commercial data crossing boundaries won't be legalised but the CCTV data will.
Now how on earth does anybody expect this demarcation to be enforced? It's like trying to make a law that says communities can send video over their joint fiber link but not voice.
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