Yesterday, the Cabinet approved the Principles of the Cyber Protection, Data Protection, and Electronic Transactions Bill. The Bill is meant to provide comprehensive guidelines of what constitutes and what doesn’t constitute to be a cybercrime in relation to the use; of a person’s (electronic) data and electronic transactions. Minister of Information Monica Mutsvangwa said;
Cabinet has approved the principles of the Cyber Protection, Data Protection and Electronic Transaction bill 2018, following a presentation by the Minister of ICT, Postal and Courier Services…The bill calls for harmonization of computer related crime laws in criminal codification act, to the SADC model law computer crime, cyber crime and international best practices
With Zimbabwe (and the world) increasingly going digital, it is imperative to come with tech/digital-specific laws so that there won’t be double standards when the government starts to throw people into jail. Already some civil society groups have pointed out that some parts of the Bill, as it is, infringe citizen’s rights.
Anyway, when the Bill eventually becomes law, the government has to know that setting the law is the end, it has to continuously amend (the law) since technology is swiftly evolving daily. As often and normal, regulations and laws lag behind tech advances.
