Internet freedom in SA

As far as free internets go... other than for the porn watchers. We are pretty free.
 
falcon786 said:
Porn is blocked in SA? :confused:
Click to expand...

You are not allowed South African porn sites, the FPB have the power to rate something as illegal and block it.

The no South African porn sites was a retarded law. It just meant South African porn website owners moved their sites offshore. So is accumulated and made outside the country. So SARS & SA loses out, and the site owners gain.

What idiots.
 
ghoti said:
You are not allowed South African porn sites, the FPB have the power to rate something as illegal and block it.

The no South African porn sites was a retarded law. It just meant South African porn website owners moved their sites offshore. So is accumulated and made outside the country. So SARS & SA loses out, and the site owners gain.

What idiots.
Click to expand...

Ok I see.I didn't even know porn was censored in SA lol useless system indeed.
 
Before I read the article... I thought that our internet was "pretty free"
But then the article tells me that we score 26/100... and that is apparently really free.

I don't mean to be a stick in the mud... but what are these numbers based on? Why is Estonia's internet "more free"?

How can the USA claim to be 12/100 when they have insane homeland security laws, and the NSA monitors EVERYTHING! How can they be "more free" than us down here where our governments don't have the budget for wholesale monitoring like they do?

what do the numbers mean?
how does the scoring work?
what needs to be in place to score 10? 15? 20? or 50?
if our internet is so free... why is certain content shaped?
why do so many people get warning emails from their ISPs?
why don't we have more servers based in SA? steam? WoW? etc?
Do they take into account that ONE COMPANY controls the IPC network? and that company doesnt allow its employees to post here? Sound free?

I wanna know if we beat Australia at something!

I wanna know what freedoms we do have... and what freedoms we don't!

the article raises more questions than answers IMO. I'd love more details!
No link to the original article?
No link to the study?

EDIT

Went poking around the FREEDOM HOUSE wiki page, still couldn't find links to the study.
What I did find... is this "Freedom rating page"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indices_of_Freedom

Checked South Africa out... they rate us as "Flawed Democracy"
OUCH!
 
Last edited:
OverKill69 said:
Before I read the article... I thought that our internet was "pretty free"
But then the article tells me that we score 26/100... and that is apparently really free.

I don't mean to be a stick in the mud... but what are these numbers based on? Why is Estonia's internet "more free"?

How can the USA claim to be 12/100 when they have insane homeland security laws, and the NSA monitors EVERYTHING! How can they be "more free" than us down here where our governments don't have the budget for wholesale monitoring like they do?

what do the numbers mean?
how does the scoring work?
what needs to be in place to score 10? 15? 20? or 50?
if our internet is so free... why is certain content shaped?
why do so many people get warning emails from their ISPs?
why don't we have more servers based in SA? steam? WoW? etc?
Do they take into account that ONE COMPANY controls the IPC network? and that company doesnt allow its employees to post here? Sound free?

I wanna know if we beat Australia at something!

I wanna know what freedoms we do have... and what freedoms we don't!

the article raises more questions than answers IMO. I'd love more details!
No link to the original article?
No link to the study?

EDIT

Went poking around the FREEDOM HOUSE wiki page, still couldn't find links to the study.
What I did find... is this "Freedom rating page"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indices_of_Freedom

Checked South Africa out... they rate us as "Flawed Democracy"
OUCH!
Click to expand...

Here are their methodologies:

http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net-2012/methodology-explanation

"THE SCORING PROCESS

The index aims to capture the entire “enabling environment” for internet freedom within each country through a set of 21 methodology questions..."
 
dougatthewoods said:
Here are their methodologies:

http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net-2012/methodology-explanation

"THE SCORING PROCESS

The index aims to capture the entire “enabling environment” for internet freedom within each country through a set of 21 methodology questions..."
Click to expand...

Yeah... i found that page after some snooping.

pretty fair IMO. at least the methodology is pretty sound. And I'd have to agree with the general findings.
And it explains why the US is rated 12 and not lower...

could have included the link to the report in the article though... just saying. Interesting stuff.
 
OverKill69 said:
Yeah... i found that page after some snooping.

pretty fair IMO. at least the methodology is pretty sound. And I'd have to agree with the general findings.
And it explains why the US is rated 12 and not lower...

could have included the link to the report in the article though... just saying. Interesting stuff.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I think we gained most of our points in the section "A. OBSTACLES TO ACCESS (0-25 POINTS)" and maybe some in the monitoring questions.

It would be nice to see a breakdown per country per question - it would provide a lot more meaning than a simple score out of 100 as most African countries will suffer a bit in the "obstacles to access".
 
OverKill69 said:
Before I read the article... I thought that our internet was "pretty free"
But then the article tells me that we score 26/100... and that is apparently really free.

I don't mean to be a stick in the mud... but what are these numbers based on? Why is Estonia's internet "more free"?

How can the USA claim to be 12/100 when they have insane homeland security laws, and the NSA monitors EVERYTHING! How can they be "more free" than us down here where our governments don't have the budget for wholesale monitoring like they do?

what do the numbers mean?
how does the scoring work?
what needs to be in place to score 10? 15? 20? or 50?
if our internet is so free... why is certain content shaped?
why do so many people get warning emails from their ISPs?
why don't we have more servers based in SA? steam? WoW? etc?
Do they take into account that ONE COMPANY controls the IPC network? and that company doesnt allow its employees to post here? Sound free?

I wanna know if we beat Australia at something!

I wanna know what freedoms we do have... and what freedoms we don't!

the article raises more questions than answers IMO. I'd love more details!
No link to the original article?
No link to the study?

EDIT

Went poking around the FREEDOM HOUSE wiki page, still couldn't find links to the study.
What I did find... is this "Freedom rating page"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indices_of_Freedom

Checked South Africa out... they rate us as "Flawed Democracy"
OUCH!
Click to expand...

Why are you so obsessed with beating Australia in something? I believe South Africa is considered a flawed democracy because of the very weak opposition and racial based laws (i.e. so called Affirmative Action) Furthermore, the vast majority of South Africans seem to vote based on race and not performance. Sadly I don't think the "failed democracy" title will change until Jesus comes.
 
Africaner said:
Why are you so obsessed with beating Australia in something? I believe South Africa is considered a flawed democracy because of the very weak opposition and racial based laws (i.e. so called Affirmative Action) Furthermore, the vast majority of South Africans seem to vote based on race and not performance. Sadly I don't think the "failed democracy" title will change until Jesus comes.
Click to expand...

I want us to beat Australia at something... ANYTHING!

Why I point out our score as a "flawed democracy", is because this is an international institution rating us... and not ourselves. It's one thing when we b1tch and moan about this and that... and it's another thing entirely that a legitimate organization looks at us with an objective study and stamps "flawed democracy" next to my country.

The opinions you wrote are a prime example of the perpetuated negativity by white south africans... over and over... seeded in some form of truth, yet clung to like a warm security blanket.
The reality is far more complicated... far... far... more complicated.
 
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