Politics, votes and videos
Saturday, November 9, 2024
Hello and welcome to the weekend.
The votes have been counted. The results announced. And, in all honesty, the winner is not who I wanted. Things could have gone differently, but, I think you have to be gracious and accept the result, no matter how painful it is.
No, not Trump in the White House; I’m talking about the fact that ITWeb TV won silver, not gold, in the news category of the South African Podcasters’ Awards, which were announced last weekend. I’m very proud of our team for making it down to the final two. We’ve worked hard and moved things on in the past year and half since we launched the longer form video interview series. And we’ve got plans for the new year too, to keep providing our viewers insight and news from leading voices from across the ICT sector. If you haven’t checked out any of our video interviews, please take a look at our back catalogue.
Just to show the range of topics covered, last week I chatted to Absa’s group CIO about its digital transformation. And this week, our news editor, Admire Moyo interviewed Multichoice's Frikkie Jonker, who is a driving force cracking down on digital video piracy. Whatever you think of Multichoice and its DStv and SuperSport brands, and I know there any many sports fans out there who aren’t fans of the Randburg-based broadcaster, Jonker does make some concerning revelations in the interview, such as the implications for your personal information that signing up to a low-cost pirate service like Waka TV can have. He also mapped out the intersection of piracy with the world of organised crime. Scary stuff; but that’s undoubtedly part of the broadcaster's anti-piracy narrative.
Another story we featured this week about crime-busting technology, comes from Gauteng, where MEC Bonginkosi Dhlamini talked up the province’s Department of e-Government’s deal with Vumacam, as he reflected on his first 100 days in office. While, from a citizen safety and security perspective, I admire the move, my reflection is that it’s a bit ironic that the public sector is leaning on the private sector to fill a gap that the public sector should have been able to fill itself. Still, at least there’s a public service and benefit being delivered.
The last story I want to raise to your attention also comes from Gauteng’s e-Government department, where its head, Castro Mosina, has similarly called for collaboration from the private sector, this time around cyber security. According to Mosina, the department is committed to education and public awareness campaigns to educate citizens about the dangers of cyber threats. In honesty, I can only applaud this. On a trip to the UK earlier this year, I was struck by how frequently cyber crime and fraud were being used as edutainment initiatives on public service broadcasting to raise awareness, especially on daytime TV, typically aimed at the elderly who are more likely to be victims. The more we can do to raise awareness about cyber threats, the better.
Now, because the online Trump Store has sold out of its $50 trademark caps, I’m off to embroider ‘MAGA’ onto the reverse side of my red EFF beret. I just hope Julius doesn’t mind.
Until next time
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