Vumatel has started rolling out fibre-to-the-home broadband in Mitchell’s Plain, Cape Town.
A Trojan Horse?
The Lobby Group Right2Know has crossed swords with Vumatel subsidiary, Vumacam, over the legality of its roll-out of more than 15,000 surveillance cameras on the Vumatel fibre network in Johannesburg.
Some have complained that the CCTV cameras, which serve private companies and not the state, are encroaching on the right to privacy.
Right2Know says the collection and sale of information to third parties without a person’s consent infringes the law.
R2K spokesperson Murray Hunter says there is no oversight over the surveillance and security industry, resulting in poor accountability and transparency:
-“Unchecked surveillance has become a serious threat to democratic principals in the 21st Century.”
-“There’s a city-wide surveillance programme set up by a private company without public engagement”
For the full article and to listen to the in-depth discussion on The Eusebius McKaiser Show :
San Francisco has become the first US city to ban the use of facial recognition technology by the police and local government agencies. This is a huge win for those who argue that the tech — which can identify an individual by analyzing their facial features in images, in videos, or in real time — carries risks so serious that they far outweigh any benefits.
As EMFSA we prefer fibre over wireless as it is much safer when considering EMF exposure. However, apart form the concerns raised above, in our post below we ask: “Will these Johannesburg ‘camera poles’ be fitted with cellular antenna (Wi-Fi/4G/5G/”small cells”) at a later stage?”
Johannesburg – Security Camera Poles for Public Surveillance Network