Paul Jacobson

For those who don’t subscribe to the iCommons mailing list,Heather has just sent out the following email to the iCommons community:

Dear friends,

At the 2 August iCommons Board Meeting, the board decided to make some difficult but necessary changes at iCommons. It has become clear over the past months that our vision for iCommons is different from the Board’s and that it would make more sense to enable the current team to be able to implement our vision independently, while iCommons develops a lighter, federated structure that enables global membership while keeping core costs low.

During the next few months, we’ll be transferring keyp projects over to The African Commons Project in South Africa and handing over to the new iCommons staff that the board will appoint. The team that has been running iCommons in Johannesburg will also soon be announcing its plans for the coming year, which includes, among other things, an iSummit in South Africa in October, 2009.

We’re very sad to be saying goodbye to the organisation that we’ve all worked so hard to build over the past two and a half years, and we hope that the new iCommons and the new African Commons Project – along with Creative Commons – will find clearer ways of collaborating with one another in the future for the greater good of the global commons.

Best wishes,

Heather.

This announcement is pretty significant because it means that the iCommons community will see quite a significant change occurring at iCommons in the coming months as the current team moves from iCommons to the African Commons Project to continue and initiate what will surely be innovative and fascinating projects.

At the same time iCommons itself will move in a different direction as a sort of community development organisation for the benefit of the broader Commons-based community.

Both shifts are pretty exciting and although my time at iCommons comes to an end at the end of this month, I am looking forward to seeing how the team continues to grow and innovate in the African Commons Project and how iCommons shifts its emphasis to make a greater contribution towards community building overall. I have been privileged to have the opportunity to work and interact with Heather, Kerryn, Daniela, Rebecca, Rosanne, Hettie, Anna, Stephanie, James and Raj on one hand and with the iCommons board, in particular Ronaldo Lemos, Lawrence Lessig, Joi Ito, Catharina Maracke, Paul Keller, Tomislav Medak and Jimmy Wales (unfortunately I didn’t have an opportunity to interact all that much with Laurence Liang and Jonathan Zittrain during my short time at iCommons) on the other hand.

The bottom line for anyone involved in the broader community or interested in the community’s work is simple: watch the space!

Technorati Tags:
icommons, african commons project, heather ford, changes, strategy, announcement

The SA Stats employee who vandalised Wikipedia by removing content relating to AIDS in South Africa has been found guilty at an internal disciplinary enquiry. He had his toys taken away from him for 6 months (that is, no Internet access) and has to work with an employee assistance program.

The employee’s punishment is generally regarded as both a slap on the wrist and indicative of the government’s general stance on HIV/AIDS in South Africa. Although Stats SA claimed they view such an act in a very serious light, clearly what Stats SA sees as serious is not what the rest of us regard as serious. Clearly having accurate information about how the government addresses a major disease that kills millions of South Africans available on a public encyclopedia is not a very big deal, especially to a government body that deals in accurate and reliable information.

(Source: ITWeb)

Technorati Tags:
stats sa, wikipedia, vandalism, aids, hiv, south africa

I have been reading various reports about the Mbeki-Pikoli-Selebi debacle and the growing awareness of the constitutional crisis that we are in the middle of because of the reasons and manner in which the President dealt with Pikoli. A quote from a movie I saw the other day seems appropriate. I took myself off to see “One Night with the King” and at one point in the movie Esther asked King Xerxes 1 of Persia a question about his previous queen, Vashti, and his answer was something along the lines of “I am the king, I answer to no-one”.

All this talk about an imperial presidency in South Africa may either be accurate or may be going to the President’s head. He clearly doesn’t feel obliged to answer to his citizens when asked about the whole affair. Either that or he should fire his PR team. Remaining silent on this matter is a terrible idea. Granted he has appointed former Speaker of Parliament, Frene Ginwala, to conduct an inquiry into Pikoli’s conduct and his suspension but even that is highly suspect because the former Speaker’s mandate assumes the President’s rationale is competent and she is believed to be too closely aligned with the President to render a finding that will be generally accepted as unbiased.

I haven’t been holding my breath for the President to respond to calls for transparency and, quite frankly, for him to respect the dictates of the Constitution so I found it really interesting that Cosatu has now called for a “broader political” inquiry into this matter and its expression of concern about the constitutional crisis the President’s actions have precipitated.

My concern is that the struggle for leadership of the ANC has become the President’s primary preoccupation rather that governing the country in the interests of all its citizens.

Technorati Tags:
constitution, crisis, mbeki, president, pikoli, selebi, constitutional crisis

A colleague of mine, Daniella Kafouris, and I are going to be running a short workshop on new media and technology law issues which will be of interest to anyone who is looking at implementing new media technologies in a business environment and just about anyone who is making use of IT in the workplace.

The Web and information technology are important components of an increasing number of businesses’ operational and marketing initiatives. It therefore becomes important that businesses are aware of the some of the issues that could arise through their use of the Web and information technology generally, as those issues pertain to them. Our aim is to introduce you to many of these issues through these workshops and perhaps give you a few ideas about how to approach these issues in a constructive and more effective manner.

A few people have expressed concern that the workshop will be in legalese. Please rest assured that Daniella and I have been training hard and can speak pretty good non-legalese English and will be presenting the workshop in English (there is a risk that we may have a faint legalese accent though).

Topics we intend to cover will include:

• The risk of defamation through the use of social media;
• An overview of intellectual property rights issues on the Web;
• Open content licensing options;
• Protecting your relationships with your customers;
• Technology risks in the workplace;
• Corporate governance as it related to technology risks;
• Information and network security concerns;
• Risk assessments to detemine your possible exposure.

Our first workshop will take place on 30 October 2007 at the FNB Conference Centre on Grayston Drive in Sandton. We are holding a couple seats open for the media so if you are a journalist, citizen journalist/blogger or otherwise write for a related publication, please send us (either Paul or Daniella) an email with your details?

We only have space for 35 delegates so space is limited so please send us (either Paul or Daniella) an email with your name and email address to book a seat. We will get back to you with a booking form. You can find out more at our wiki and also on Facebook (where you can also RSVP directly).

Technorati Tags:
new media, new media law, new media law and policy, technology, security, workshop, sandton

The judgment handed down last Friday has been hailed as a victory for the Health Minister by some publications and as a victory for the Sunday Times by others. Neither party is able to declare an outright victory in this matter. The Minister was successful in having her medical records returned to her or her hospital on the basis that they were unlawfully obtained. On the other hand, the paper was given the go ahead to report on the matter based on notes taken by the journalists and information given by their (lawful) sources.

This judgment was, however, a great success for the press and freedom of expression. The relief the Minister sought was, in addition to return of her medical records, that the paper be interdicted from publishing their comments based on her medical records. The judge had the following to say as he began to address this claim:

Freedom of the press does not mean that the press is free to ruin a reputation or break a confidence, or to pollute the cause of justice or to do anything that is unlawful. However freedom of the press does mean that there should be no censorship. No unreasonable restraint should be placed on the press as to what they should publish.

The judge dealt with the tension between the freedom of the press which has its support in the freedom of expression and the Minister’s right to privacy and dignity. He also commented on the fact that the Minister, as a public figure, is subject to greater scrutiny than a person who is not a public figure although the judge drew a distinction between the press delving into the Minister’s activities as they pertain to her public office and her personal life that is unrelated to her position in the public eye. Just because you are a public figure does not mean that every aspect of your life is an open book to the press.

Because the Constitution is the standard by which all law in South Africa is to be measured, cases such as this one will almost inevitably involve a balancing of rights and Constitutional imperatives. This is a great judgment to read if you are interested in how this balancing is achieved, particularly in this area.

Technorati Tags:
bill of rights, defamation, dignity, freedom of expresion, judge, medi-clinic, privacy, sunday times, Tshabalala-Msimang, medical records, constitution

ITWeb is reporting that a Stats SA data capturer suspected of vadalising Wikipedia recently has been placed on suspension pending a disciplinary enquiry. Stats SA is taking the deletions of the Wikipedia article on HIV/AIDS pretty seriously and has been applauded for acting so quickly.

The author of a book titled “The Political Management of HIV and Aids in South Africa: One burden too many?“, Dr Pieter Fourie, is watching this matter develop with quite some interest. References to his book were among the deletions from the Wikipedia article and Fourie has said that if it turns out the deletions were not the actions of just one person, he may sue. Then again, having written a book censored by the government could prove to be valuable marketing!

Technorati Tags:
stats sa, vandalism, wikipedia

It occurred to me on Friday night that it would have been a good idea to be in court on Friday morning when the Minister’s lawyers and The Sunday Times’ lawyers argued the matter in the High Court before Judge Mahomed Jajbhay on Friday. The reports of the arguments were interesting, although incomplete (there doesn’t seem to have been much more than a superficial coverage of the arguments presented in Court by the larger media companies) because of the different lines they took. Manto’s lawyers argued that parts of The Sunday Times’ papers pertaining to her Botswana experiences should be struck out as “scandalous, vexatious and irrelevant” (affidavits should not contain allegations which cross this line and can be struck out of they do) and further that The Sunday Times crossed the line in its attack on the Minister. The articles about the Minister’s antics were described as part of a vendetta against the Minister.

The Sunday Times’ counsel argued that the reports were in the public interest and that the freedom of expression ought to take precedence over the Minister’s right to privacy. There are often conflicts between competing rights and even where there are rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights involved, the competing interests are weighed up having regard to certain principles set out in the Limitations clause of the Bill of Rights which provides as follows:

In the meantime the Minister has refused to step down and has asked why she should.

Brought to you by: The Times Multimedia

I am sure that evidence supporting The Sunday Times’ allegations will emerge during the next set of proceedings against The Sunday Times. This application is unlikely to be the end of the story and I expect to see Manto sue The Sunday Times for defamation in due course and that is when the evidence against her will be tested.

In theory this matter could precipitate a crisis in government because it opens the door to possible votes of no confidence in Manto and even the President is he is incapable of handling this matter properly. In practice it is unlikely because a majority vote is required and it is improbable that the ANC majority would take such action against its senior leadership, short of a coup against the President. This is one of the challenges presented by such an overwhelming majority of the National Assembly being controlled by a single party and a feature of our democracy. It is also unlikely to change in the foreseeable future because of the ANC’s support base. This is why it is so important to have a national executive that actively seeks to act as fairly as possible and in the public interest. If Manto escapes from this scandal unscathed where there is clear evidence of her misconduct and unsuitability to be a Minister in our government it will mean that we don’t have a government that truly acts in the public interest and rather one that serves its own desires.

Technorati Tags:
anc, corruption, government, government officials, manto, ministers, misguided, political authority, politicians, president, the sunday times