Child porn has become one of South Africa's most serious crimes officially, with those trucking in it facing prison terms up to 30 years under a round of newly-passed amendments to the country's Film and Publications Act.
That maximum prison term could apply if someone was convicted of producing, distributing, and possessing child porn, since each individually will now carry a ten-year maximum term.
The new amendments will also apply to Internet service providers who don't block access to child porn after law enforcement or citizens tell the ISPs the sites were seen; and, to computer repairers and photo shops who fail to report clients whose hard drives or undeveloped films include child porn.
"I believe that anyone involved in the production, distribution, or possession of child pornography should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law… but I know that most legitimate ISPs block such sites in the United States, but [that] would be based on the timing and technology capabilities of each ISP," Adult Sites Against Child Pornography executive director Joan Irvine told AVNOnline.com, when told of the new South African laws.
President Thabo Mbeki is expected to sign the amendments this week. Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, then a deputy minister, whose department is responsible for enforcing the Film and Publications Act, had promised two years earlier in published interviews that the government would crack down on child porn and its producers and distributors.
Iyavar Chetty, who heads up the Home Affairs Ministry's Film and Publications Board, told reporters the key is making possessing, distributing, and producing child porn individual crimes. "The courts will now be able to sentence per count, rather than treat production, possession and distribution as one offence," he said.
The new amendments also require ISPs to register with the board and co-operate in stopping child porn access. But Chetty made a point of saying that requirement doesn't mean ISPs will have a license to monitor their subscribers' Web surfing habits – "It is not a Big Brother thing of checking up on what you are surfing" - but, only, that if they do receive information about child porn Websites, they are obliged by law to block access.
Irvine said she applauded prosecution of child porn makers and distributors and possessors, but even without knowing all the details of the coming South African laws she said she was concerned for what happens if those untrained in detecting actual child porn – like computer repairers – are made vulnerable to criminal liability if they don't report hard drives with child porn.
"As we know a certain amount of child pornography can be downloaded to a person’s computer without their knowledge," she said. "Some people leave their own country to engage in sexual activity with children in countries that don’t have strict laws about child protection."
That provoked Irvine to applaud the portion of the new laws under which South African citizens who commit child porn crimes abroad can be prosecuted when they return home. That, she said, is a good step toward an international enforcement effort.