South Africa 'hijacking the internet'

There are 3 million South Africans online

South Africa's internet professionals have accused the government of trying to hijack the worldwide web.

The professionals - who include internet service providers and lawyers - have petitioned President Thabo Mbeki not to sign a new bill as expected on Thursday.

What we want is neutrality, technical efficiency, and a fundamental understanding of the Internet

Edwin Thompson Internet provider

The bill will allow the government to take control of the registration and administration of internet domains (website names, addresses and space), and give it free access to information stored on the web.

The government say the new law is also aimed at fighting "cyber crimes".

South Africa has the highest number of Internet users in Africa - totalling almost 3 million in 2001.

"The whole industry has expressed its concern about the new bill," Edwin Thompson, co-chairman of South Africa's Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA), told BBC News Online.

"We are opposed to creating a huge bureaucracy to control an industry that has been fine as it is - and we have said that this amounts to hijacking the cyberspace."

300 signatures

The interests groups say the government control will slow the registration of new domain names for business people and want the function to remain in the hands of the private sector.

They have warned that the government's plans to gain access to private databases will drive away international investments.

Critics say the bill will slow down internet expansion

"Foreign investors will not want to host databases and information systems in South Africa if they know that there will be government interference," Mr Thompson said.

"What we want is neutrality, technical efficiency, and a fundamental understanding of the functioning of the internet."

Among the leading petitioners have been the Information Technology Lawyers Forum, an internet-based group that has been campaigning to have some parts of the bill removed.

They organised the petition, which was signed by more than 300 people.

President Mbeki has not spoken publicly about the bill - but government officials insisted that the signing would go ahead on Thursday.