3.4 Technological environment The technological environment continued to grapple with what can be termed as a topical issue in both the first and second quarter: The Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act. In April, five NGOs petitioned the Lusaka High Court for a declaration that various provisions of the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act are unconstitutional and should be struck off the statute books34. The five NGOs argued that sections 11, 12, 29, 38, 40, 54, 59, 65, 69, 72 and 74 of the Act severely threaten the right to privacy, the freedom of expression, the right to freely impart and receive information, the freedom of conscience, the freedom of the media and the right to a fair trial. The NGOs further argued that the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act No 2 of 2021 contains several provisions which threaten the right to protection from deprivation of property guaranteed by Article 16, the right to privacy guaranteed by Article 17, the right to protection of the law guaranteed by Article 18, the freedom of conscience guaranteed by Article 19, the freedom of expression guaranteed by Article 20 (1) and the freedom of the press guaranteed by Article 20 (2). The NGOs added that the Act seeks to facilitate wide scale surveillance and interception of private communications with insufficient safeguards for constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms. Meanwhile, the Zambia Information Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) urged politicians to be aware of the consequences of perpetrating hate speech. ZICTA Board Chairperson, Frightone Sichone, stated that: As Zambia commences the political campaign period in preparation for the upcoming elections in August this year, it is important that all citizens, particularly, politicians from both the ruling party and the opposition parties as well as their supporters are aware that there will now be consequences for perpetrating hate speech, character assassination, fake news and other related vices that have been happening online in the past few years. This law therefore, is expected to introduce a conducive online environment for users of digital platform in the country. The Act provides for the protection of persons against cybercrime and provides for child online protection. It also prohibits the use of hate speech and safeguard the peace of the country. We all know that hate speech led to genocide in Rwanda35. Arguably, the Act has certain progressive provisions which could strengthen the regime against cybercrimes which are on the rise. Prior to enactment of the Act, the legal regime against cybercrime was anchored on the Electronic Communications and Transactions (ECT) Act No. 21 of 2009 and the ICT Act No. 15 of 2009. The two Acts were not as effective given certain limitations posed by rapid advancements in technology as well as the challenges regarding admissibility of electronic evidence for effective prosecution of certain cyber or digital crimes. The Cyber security and cyber crimes Act was, thus, an attempt to cure this challenge identified in the implementation of the two precursor laws. However, the law has an expanded scope with various provisions which provide remedies beyond 34 The NGOs include Chapter One Foundation Limited, Bloggers of Zambia Limited, Governance, Elections, Advocacy, Research Services (GEARS) Initiative, People’s Action for Accountability and Good Governance in Zambia and Alliance for Community Action. The petitioners prayed to the Court to make a declaration that sections 1, 12, 29, 38, 40, 54, 59, 65, 69, 72 and 74 of the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act are unconstitutional and should be struck off from the statute books. A detailed analysis of various suppressive sections of the Act is contained in the first quarter State of the Media Report. 35 Mr Sichone said this during a courtesy call on the Copper Belt Permanent Secretary, Bright Nundwe in May. See https://www.themastonline.com/2021/05/14/zicta-warns-politicians-against-propagating-hate-speech/ 16 State of the Media in Zambia