Friday, 29 October 2010 08:37

Online Information Trafficking

Written by Thom Henderson

pigspotterNow I just made this term up inspired from a twitter user doing something that I heard on the radio in Australia about 8 years ago.

This was the trafficking of information on traffic police. In Australia it was always on every news broadcast, half hourly, where the radio stations would let the listeners know exactly where all the mobile speed traps and road blocks were. Here in Sunny South Africa we ask twitter user Pigspotter

What kind of information is this to spread to the rest of the nation? Is this even legal in some places? Does it solve the problem of fast, drunken and reckless driving?

We will compare and contrast our findings. But with the new protection of information bill about to be passed we can probably assume that the National government would not want our law abiding police officers locations spread throughout the country so we can all slow down and forget about having to shed a buffalo to the piggy’s bank. Where does this put us when it comes to the law and civil liberties like the freedom of speech?

Our local site I’m referring to is an easy site with a short description and a display of their twitter feed. Here there is active relevant content and tons of useful information on where NOT to get caught. Now I’d think our nation would have adopted the radio station approach much like the Aussies but alas this would not help with the government coffers. So I hope our protection of information has no laws trying to regulate the internet, and lets all hope to receive any more speeding fines thanks to social media traffic reporting, sounds a lot more legitimate.

 

 

 

Last modified on Friday, 29 October 2010 07:53
Thom Henderson

Thom Henderson

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