Commencement of the Cybercrimes Act
The President has proclaimed the commencement of the lion’s share of the Cybercrimes Act, No 19 of 2020, with effect from the 1st of December 2021.
Cybercrimes Act
The Cybercrimes Act has finally been signed into law by the President. The purpose of the Act is to bring South Africa into line with international jurisprudence on the detection and prosecution of crimes which are either specific to computers, or which are perpetrated using computers. This is a very brief summary of the sections of the Act that may interest our clients.
PAIA Manuals – Time is Running Out
It has sneaked up on us, but it looks like the long-delayed PAIA manuals must finally be compiled. POPIA is also clamouring to be included in the manuals. End of Exemption from Compiling a PAIA [...]
Commencement of POPI
1st of July 2020 is the date of commencement of the bulk of the remaining sections of POPU. Anyone processing personal information in South Africa will have one year in which to become compliant with the Act.
Virtual Sports Events
We are slowly emerging from lockdown and the cabin fever is abating. We can leave our homes now, but can only lumber our lonely way about, hoping not to crash into a pole when our [...]
Does the Developer Own that Software I Paid For?
Disputes over ownership of software often cross my desk. The story is almost invariably the same: someone has paid a software developer to write code, and there is no written agreement dealing with who owns that code. Then the developer decides that he owns the code and won’t hand over the source code.
COVID-19 Communications Regulations
On the 26th of March 2020 the Minister of Communications gazetted regulations under the Disaster Management Act 57 of 2002. The purpose of these regulations is to ensure that digital technologies are used to their fullest extent to assist with combating the COVID-19 outbreak.
Working from Home – Some Legal Concerns
During the current COVID-19 crisis, many employers will have chosen to allow their employees to work from home. While most employers already have a communications policy that regulates how employees use communications infrastructure in the workplace, it is important to bear a few points in mind when many or most employees are working remotely.
Software Development and Copyright.
1. Introduction Some years ago, I wrote a guide for software developers to briefly explain how copyright law applied to software development. Little has changed since I wrote that guide - the legislative landscape [...]
Amendment of .za Alternative Dispute Regulations
Since 2006 it has been possible to challenge the lawfulness of domain name registrations in the .co.za second level domain in terms of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Regulations promulgated under the Electronic Communications and Transactions [...]