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Thread: what does RICA say about web hosting providers & clients?

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    Platinum Member SilverNodashi's Avatar
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    what does RICA say about web hosting providers & clients?

    Does anyone know what the actual RICA law is with regards to hosting providers, and their clients?

    i.e. does web hosting providers need to require RICA verification for every client on their servers? I don't know about you, but it's physically impossible todo this. We don't have a shop in every single town in the country and cannot verify every client whom we don't see face to face.

    And what about our international clients? What do we do with them.
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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    OK. Where does this come from? I thought we had this discussion and it was ISP's that had the headache, not website hosting providers.

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    Platinum Member SilverNodashi's Avatar
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    well, IS (where our dedicated servers are hosted) is now forcing us to RICA, and I tried to explain to them it's not for hosting providers but they are more than happy to give me a R2million fine by October if I don't comply.
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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    IS doesn't just provide webhosting, it's also an ISP. And aren't you selling ISP category internet connectivity yourself nowadays?

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    Platinum Member SilverNodashi's Avatar
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    But they want it for our dedicated server clients, which I don't agree with. This has nothing todo with the connectivity side of things.
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    This doesn't make any sense! They want to RICA hosting too? That no longer borders invasion of privacy, that IS invasion of privacy!
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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    OK. This is what I got so far.

    Wkipedia has this on RICA - which tends to make one think IS is barking up the wrong tree. But Wikipedia is not always totally reliable, so let's chase down the legislation.

    From RICA:

    Information to be obtained and kept by certain telecommunication service providers

    39.(1) Before a telecommunication service provider, other than a telecommunication service provider who provides a mobile cellular telecommunication service, enters into a contract with any person for the provision of a telecommunication service to that person, he or she—
    (a) must, if that person is a natural person—
    (i) obtain from him or her—
    (aa) his or her full names, identity number, residential and business or postal address, whichever is applicable; and
    (bb) a certified photocopy of his or her identification document on which his or her photo, full names and identity number, whichever is applicable, appear;
    (ii) retain the photocopy obtained in terms of subparagraph (i)(bb) and
    (iii) verify the photo, full names and identity number, whichever is applicable, of that person with reference to his or her identification document; or
    (b) must, if that person is a juristic person—
    (i) obtain from the person representing that juristic person—
    (aa) his or her full names, identity number, residential and postal address, whichever is applicable;
    (bb) the business name and address and, if registered as such in terms of any law, the registration number of that juristic person;
    (cc) a certified photocopy of his or her identification document on which his or her photo, full names and identity number, whichever is applicable, appear; and
    (dd) a certified photocopy of the business letterhead of, or other similar document relating to, that juristic person;
    (ii) retain the photocopies obtained in terms of subparagraph (i)(cc) and (dd); and
    (iii) verify the—
    (aa) photo, full names and identity number, whichever is applicable, of that person with reference to his or her identification document; and
    (bb) name and registration number of that juristic person with reference to its business letterhead or other similar document; and
    (c) may obtain from such person any other information which the telecommunication service provider deems necessary for purposes of this Act.
    (2) A telecommunication service provider referred to in subsection (1) must ensure that proper records are kept of—
    (a) the information, including the photocopies, referred to in subsection (1) and, where applicable, any change in such information which is brought to his or her attention;
    (b) the telephone number or any other number allocated to the person concerned; and
    (c) any other information in respect of the person concerned which the telecommunication service provider concerned may require in order to enable him or her to identify that person.
    (3) An applicant may, for purposes of making an application for the issuing of a direction, in writing request a telecommunication service provider referred to in subsection (1) to—
    (a) confirm that the person specified in the request is a customer of that telecommunication service provider concerned;
    (b) provide the applicant with the telephone number or any other number allocated to that person by that telecommunication service provider; and
    (c) furnish the applicant with a photocopy of the identification document of that person which is retained by that telecommunication service provider in terms of subsection (1)(a)(ii).
    (4) A telecommunication service provider who receives a request referred to in subsection (3) must immediately comply with that request if the person specified in the request is a customer of the telecommunication service provider concerned.
    In the section on definitions, we have:

    "telecommunication service provider" means any—
    (a) person who provides a telecommunication service under and in accordance with a telecommunication service licence issued to such person under Chapter V of the Telecommunications Act, and includes any person who provides—
    (i) a local access telecommunication service, public pay-telephone service, value-added network service or private telecommunication network as defined in the Telecommunications Act; or
    (ii) any other telecommunication service licensed or deemed to be licensed or exempted from being licensed as such in terms of the Telecommunications Act; and

    (b) Internet service provider;


    "Internet service provider" means any person who provides access to, or any other service related to, the Internet to another person, whether or not such access or service is provided under and in accordance with a telecommunication service licence issued to the first-mentioned person under Chapter V of the Telecommunications Act;

    "Internet" means the international computer network known by that name;
    I think the problem might be around the interpretation of this little phrase:

    "Internet service provider" means any person who provides access to, or any other service related to, the Internet to another person,

    That's pretty broad! BUT (and this is a big but), internet service providers are not required to register all their clients, only the ones they provide telecommunication services to.

    So what is a telecommunication service? RICA defines this as:
    "telecommunication service" means any telecommunication service as defined in the Telecommunications Act;

    "Telecommunications Act" means the Telecommunications Act, 1996 (Act No. 103 of 1996);
    So now we have to go squirreling down the Telecommunications Act, where we find:
    "telecommunication service" means any service provided by means of a telecommunication system;

    "telecommunication system" means any system or series of telecommunication facilities or radio, optical or other electromagnetic apparatus or anysimilar technical system used for the purpose of telecommunication, whether or not such telecommunication is subject to rearrangement, composition or other processes by any means in the course of their transmission or emission or reception;

    "telecommunication" means the emission, transmission or reception of a signal from one point to another by means of electricity, magnetism, radio or other electromagnetic waves, or any agency of a like nature, whether with or without the aid of tangible conductors;
    By that last definition the transfer of a signal from the hard drive to the display on my computer system is a form of telecommunication, but I suspect this wasn't the kind of telecommunication service the Telecommunications Act had in mind

    Anyway, that's what I could hunt down for now. Enjoy

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