Editorial

We may find the fight against social injustices in our community is not as fruitful as we might hope it to be, but the fight against crimes committed in cyberspace receive even less attention, so they are rarely brought to book.

This makes the case against Edgemead store, AVSupply, that much more unique. It is the first case of its kind successfully prosecuted, and sets the precedent for the fight against the contraventions of intellectual property rights.

AVSupply sold devices which were not registers with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) and allowed its users to access pirated movies and TV series which it had not registered for.

Pirate content distribution happens on a mass scale and can be difficult to track when distributors are only recognised by their IP addresses which could be located across borders. This makes the job of law enforcement to catch these criminals, that much more complex. In due time the measures used to expose those who benefit illegally from the intellectual property of others will become more advanced and those committing cyber crimes will no longer be able to hide behind their screen names for protection. But till then, SAPS and SAFACTS are taking baby steps to bring justice to crimes involving intellectual property and cyber space.