No Privacy, Guaranteed
Namibia’s mass surveillance framework is out of step with recent African human rights guidance Just as Namibia was about to operationalise its new mass state surveillance framework, it was already apparent that this framework does not align with African best practice guidelines. On 1 April 2024, Namibia’s enhanced mass communications surveillance framework came into force […]
SIM Card Registration & The NCIS
The obscurest state agency is handed a most powerful ‘instrument’ with only presidential scrutiny IN his ministerial statement of 29 December 2023, extending the SIM card registration period to the end of March 2024, Information and Communication Technology minister Peya Mushelenga made it a point to start off by extolling the virtues of SIM card […]
Struggling To Consult
The government approach is not how it should be done This has already been a highly instructive year in terms of what the government considers ‘consultation’. To recap, in the first half of the year, various government authorities rushed to parliament a raft of bills that have to be enacted before the end of September […]
Data Protection in the Age of Mass Surveillance – Part II
The proposed data protection bill is not up to standard concerning fundamental rights, freedoms, as well as privacy Addressing the room early on 22 August 2023 on behalf of the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology (MICT), as she opened what was called a validation workshop for the latest version of the data protection bill, […]
Data Protection in the Age of Mass Surveillance – Part I
Namibian authorities pitch flawed safeguards as pervasive state surveillance looms “Today aims at setting the regulatory framework on how personal data should be collected, stored and processed,” said Linda Aipinge, director of ICT Development in the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology (MICT), on the morning of 22 August 2023 to a conference hall full […]
Quality of Democracy Under Threat
New state mass surveillance powers and looming watered-down privacy protections will damage Namibia’s press freedom standing Just after 9 am on 3 May 2023 the Namibian presidency issued a statement to mark the country’s retaking of first position on the African continent on the 2023 World Press Freedom Index. Pride dripped from a World Press […]
Questionable Harvesting Of Biometric Data
MTC has been scanning fingerprints and taking face photos while the legal framework only requires basic information for SIM registration. In a usually empty retail space just around the corner from the box office inside the MTC Dome in Swakopmund, a crowd of people filled out forms and then queued to have their fingerprints scanned […]
Thinking About Data Protection
A draft data protection bill has been made public and it is clear that it requires a lot more work before it should be tabled in parliament. This Perspectives on Parliament bulletin includes both IPPR and Legal Assistance Centre commentaries on the bill – which have been submitted to the Ministry of Information and Communication […]
Data Protection Bill: Not Fit For Purpose
This review of the proposed Data Protection Bill for Namibia argues that the draft law requires further development to ensure that it meets the requirements of a contemporary data protection framework. The sections on the independence of the Supervisory Authority need to be reconsidered and substantially redrafted, and sections concerning offences, penalties, and administrative penalties […]
