{"id":312816,"date":"2019-04-23T13:57:25","date_gmt":"2019-04-23T11:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=312816"},"modified":"2019-04-23T13:57:25","modified_gmt":"2019-04-23T11:57:25","slug":"one-third-of-south-africans-are-willing-to-let-government-listen-to-their-private-calls-if-it-means-increased-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/technology\/312816\/one-third-of-south-africans-are-willing-to-let-government-listen-to-their-private-calls-if-it-means-increased-security\/","title":{"rendered":"One third of South Africans are willing to let government listen to their private calls if it means increased security"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new survey report by research group Afrobarometer<\/a> <\/strong>shows that a large number of South Africans are willing to give up some of their freedoms if it means increased security.<\/p>\n

The survey was based on face-to-face interviews across more than 30 African countries, with sample sizes of between 1,200-2,400 per country.<\/p>\n

The report found that one common government strategy for limiting freedoms is to claim that it is necessary to curtail individual liberties to protect public security.<\/p>\n

“These measures may be used to monitor political opponents, restrict competition, and limit dissent and public voice expressed through protest or other collective action,” the researchers said.<\/p>\n

“But in the context of spreading threats from violent extremists on the continent, the security argument could become increasingly persuasive.”<\/p>\n

Trading freedom<\/strong><\/p>\n

The survey responses indicate a significant willingness to trade freedom for security – though some kinds of restrictions appear more acceptable than others.<\/p>\n

When looking at privacy of communications, the researchers found that a slim majority (53%) stands for people\u2019s right ‘to communicate in private without a government agency reading or listening to what they are saying’.<\/p>\n

However, a substantial minority (43%) are instead willing to accept that ‘government should be able to monitor private communications \u2026 to make sure that people are not plotting violence’.<\/p>\n

More than two-thirds back the right to private communication in Zimbabwe (69%), Gabon (69%), and Sudan (67%), all countries where civil liberties are still contested, as well as in Zambia (67%), where growing restrictions have raised widespread apprehensions.<\/p>\n

60% of South African respondents said that they support the right to private communications while, while 36% of South Africans said they support the government’s rights to monitor communications.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The survey shows that there is also wide support for exchanging freedom of movement for security.<\/p>\n

Only about one in three Africans (35%) say that even when their country is faced with security threats, ‘people should be free to move about the country at any time of day or night’.<\/p>\n

A solid majority (62%) would instead accept government-imposed curfews and roadblocks under these circumstances.<\/p>\n

Slim majorities support free movement in only four countries: Zimbabwe (54%), South Africa (53%), Cabo Verde (52%), and Tanzania (50%).<\/p>\n

Tanzania is the only country where support for free movement is significantly higher than support for privacy of communications (a 16 percentage-point gap), although support for free movement is also three points higher in Kenya.<\/p>\n

Fewer than one in five respondents prefer free movement to government restrictions in Tunisia (18%), Mali (17%), Ghana (16%), and Madagascar (15%).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Read: Ramaphosa on the death penalty, cutting ministries, and programming in schools<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new report by research group Afrobarometer shows that a large number of South Africans are willing to give up some of their freedoms if it means increased security.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":84165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9878],"tags":[9188,26],"class_list":["post-312816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-afrobarometer","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312816"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":312840,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312816\/revisions\/312840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}