Justice and Correctional Services minister, Michael Masutha, has confirmed that he is currently looking at introducing amendments to the RICA Act, to close any potential loopholes allowing for mass surveillance of the South African public.<\/p>\n
In a written reply to a parliamentary questions session, Masutha said that the revision of the RICA is in an initial drafting phase and that it was therefore not possible to indicate at this early stage what would be covered in the bill.<\/p>\n
However, he indicated that both the issue of targeted interception and mass surveillance are being considered under the revisions.<\/p>\n
“Although the RICA currently provides for strict standards before an interception direction may be issued for targeted interceptions (the interception of indirect communications, real-time communication-related information or direct communications), international developments will be taken into account during the reviewing process, to provide for appropriate and proportional safeguards and oversight mechanisms in respect of applications for targeted interceptions,” he said.<\/p>\n
“The aspect of mass surveillance is also being considered with a specific aim to ensure that such a surveillance process will be subject to appropriate safeguards and oversight mechanisms to protect the rights of individuals who may be targets of mass surveillance measures,” he added.<\/p>\n
Mass surveillance?<\/b><\/p>\n
In an analysis of the reply, Legalbrief’s<\/a> <\/strong>Pam Saxby noted that the question was likely brought up following media reports of a\u00a0\u2018loophole\u2019 which allows government agencies to use section 205(1) of the Criminal Procedure Act (evidence relating to an alleged offence) to access the metadata of phone users \u2013 bypassing the RICA.<\/p>\n In August 2017, statistics published by\u00a0MTN, Vodacom, Cell C and Telkom showed that law enforcement agencies are spying on the communications of at least 70,000 phone numbers each year.<\/p>\n However, in an analysis<\/a> <\/strong>of the statistics,\u00a0the Right 2 Know (R2K) campaign believed the number could be much higher.<\/p>\n The statistics submitted by Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and Telkom showed that\u00a0that law enforcement requested call records for\u00a0at least\u00a070,960 phone numbers every year.<\/p>\n Due to incomplete records (only Vodacom and Telkom could say how many phone numbers were contained in the warrants it received) the actual number is estimated to be much higher.<\/p>\n Extrapolating from this data,\u00a0Daily Maverick<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0journalist Heidi Swart said the estimated total could be as high as 194,820 phone numbers each year.<\/p>\n
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