Expropriation of intellectual property: The Taxpayers’ Union of South Africa launches campaign

Taxpayers' Union of South Africa

Expropriation of intellectual property: The Taxpayers’ Union of South Africa launches campaign
Expropriation of intellectual property: The Taxpayers' Union of South Africa launches campaign. Photo: Pixabay

The ANC now wants to expropriate intellectual property and data without compensation. The Taxpayers’ Union will fight to prevent this from happening.

When the ANC government first began to talk about expropriation without compensation, much emphasis was placed on land, which is undoubtedly very emotional and populist rhetoric. When the state mentioned property, what they were really after was all your property, including your data and intellectual property.

That intention is made abundantly clear in Government Gazette No. 44389: The Draft National Policy on Data and Cloud.

For starters, the plan proposes the creation of a high-performance computing and data processing centre, or HPCDPC, raising the risk that South Africans will be funding yet another tax-draining state-owned enterprise.

Then, on page 31, the draft policy states the following: “All data generated from South African natural resources shall be co-owned by government and the private sector participant/s whose private funds were used to generate such, and a copy of such data shall be stored in the HPCDPC.”

This should horrify everyone. As stated in the proposal’s scope on page 13, this will include the data of the entire private sector and individual citizens, raising privacy concerns.

Furthermore, the Government Gazette proposes on page 30 that all data in South Africa will be the property of the state, regardless of where the technology company is domiciled.

This threatens to nullify tech investments in South Africa and destroy the sector. International tech companies could pull out of South Africa. It is pure madness!

The Taxpayers’ Union of South Africa is ready to oppose these proposals with all the resources available to us, but we need the help of every one of you.

Firstly, share this with everyone you know to educate them on the terrifying proposals contained in the Government Gazette.

Then, it is also imperative that you fill in a written submission here  to the government where you can express your concerns with the proposals.

Simply fill in your details on the link provided and write a comment on the proposal. The Taxpayers’ Union will then convert every one of these comments into formal letters, print them out, and deliver them personally to the authorities. The state is legally required to process every single letter. If they do not, we have a solid legal argument against the state because it did not follow due process.

The Taxpayers’ Union wants hundreds of thousands of such comments because by doing so, we create an administrative nightmare for the government, and hindering their ability to push through these draconian measures.

This is not a petition.

Petitions are legally seen as single submissions, which makes it easy for the state to respond. Running this campaign through individual formal letters is much more powerful.

If you can afford it, we will greatly appreciate it if you can donate to this legal battle by clicking on the “DONATE” button on the website here

Watch video: Want to stop funding the ANC with YOUR Tax money? Here’s how

You can find out more information on the proposed policy here

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