SUMMARY T his report presents the findings of a survey, conducted in June 2013 via a partnership between the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) and Privacy International (PI). Ninety journalists and bloggers across southern Africa participated in the survey, which revealed that while there is general awareness of privacy laws and regulations in the region, there still is considerable doubt and lack of awareness about frameworks governing communications surveillance and privacy protection. Fifty seven per cent of the survey respondents are aware of privacy laws in their country while the rest are not. Although the majority answered in the affirmative, it would appear that their understanding of these laws – as indicated by their answers – was far from comprehensive. While a handful were able to articulate the meaning and contextual application of these laws in their individual countries, many gave definitions that suggest that either privacy laws are not clearly observed/understood in their countries or they have just not read about them at all. Ten per cent of the respondents have been attacked for their online work, mainly in form of insulting emails and comments on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Some respondents reported being threatened by government ministers in their country. At least half of the respondents who have not been physically abused stated that they know someone (usually a friend or colleague) who has been physically abused as a result of their online work. The common modes of assault are physical abuse and confiscation of equipment. As much as 52% of respondents said they are familiar with human rights frameworks in their respective countries while 36% said they are slightly familiar with these. Nine per cent are not at all familiar with the frameworks. The majority of the respondents combine several tools to conduct their work and general communication. Over 80% of the respondents use laptops and mobile phones, while over 60% use traditional personal computers (PC) and digital cameras. One respondent: “South Africa is in the process of adopting new privacy laws, which govern, among other things, the collection and processing of personal data... More broadly, the constitution guarantees rights to privacy and dignity. The extent to which these limit free speech rights is very much up for debate ... Current intelligence legislation, however, appears to leave unregulated highly intrusive forms of electronic surveillance provided aspects of the communication in question pass out of the country, which leaves many citizens and organisations vulnerable to eavesdropping by the state without credible oversight. Another respondent: “There are laws which regulate the dissemination of private information and also which regulate the collection of personal information.” While the survey reveals that as much as 85% of the respondents have never been threatened or personally attacked because of the work they do online, 60% of them, however, suspect that their communication devices have come under threat from either spyware or malware. In almost all cases, such threats are suspected to have originated from their government. 3