The Cybercrime Bill 2023, which the government tabled yesterday, seeks to, among other things, create a legal foundation for law enforcement authorities, including the intelligence agency, to continuously monitor and intercept particular communications linked to individuals or locations that are being investigated.

The Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy is guiding the bill’s introduction, and MPs heard its first reading Wednesday.
If enacted, the law will empower a police officer below the ASP rank and an intelligence or cyber security agency officer below the deputy director rank to petition the high court for the issuance of warrants for the gathering of traffic data for particular criminal investigations, or if they have good reason to suspect that traffic data is linked to particular communications or is connected to individuals who are being investigated.

The Bill states that an ex-parte application for such a warrant must be made. If the court grants the request, the responsible officer may seize and secure a particular computer system, programme, or set of data. They will also have the authority to inspect and verify that any computer system is operating as intended.
If someone is discovered to be abusing the authority conferred by this section or impeding its execution, they risk a fine of up to D1 million or up to two years in jail.
According to the bill, a service provider that receives an order on a warrant must abide by it or risk breaking the law, which carries a maximum D1 million fine or jail upon conviction.

In addition, authorised individuals may request a warrant under the Bill from a high court judge, enabling them to gather information, record it using technological methods, or compel service providers to intercept particular communications in real time in order to prosecute a serious crime or fulfil requests for reciprocal legal assistance.

The Bill also aims to make the following illegal: using a computer system to distribute false information or news about someone else, producing, possessing, transmitting, distributing, and downloading child pornography, sharing and disseminating to the public any kind of sexually explicit content created by another person, and using a computer system to threaten, intimidate, coerce, harass, or create physical harm to another person.