Be careful with your WhatsApp messages going forward.
The president is about to sign new restrictions into law and it could land you in jail.
The Cybercrimes Bill will outlaw threats of violence against individuals or property, and you can’t incite others to do so either.
You may recall times when the EFF would publish on social media the home addresses or cell numbers of people they objected to for whatever reason.
That could soon be illegal, opening them up to possible prosecution.
But more importantly for ordinary people, sending around compromising pictures of people will soon also land you in trouble with the law.
And that means “revenge porn” will now be an offence written in law.
That is when mostly men post pictures of their former partners online, to avenge having been dumped.
But the law may also possibly be used in those cases where women accidentally post nude pictures of themselves on WhatsApp groups and then the pictures are copied and reposted.
In the one case I remember, the already-humiliated woman was also horribly harassed by morally corrupt men calling her phone and making vuil remarks.
Forwarding a picture like that (or any other picture that violates someone’s sexual dignity) without the person’s consent, will now be a criminal offence.
And companies like WhatsApp and Vodacom will be forced by law to help them find you.
So think twice before you do this because the prescribed punishment is 10-15 years imprisonment.