Internet watchdog cracking down on dodgy websites in South Africa

The organisation warned that, while adults are more likely to fall victim to certain types of scams, schoolgoers aren’t immune to being targeted.

ISPA said scammers also try to trick schoolgoers, with fake giveaways, scholarships, and job recruitment scams being the most common.

“Online scammers target different age groups for different types of scams,” said ISPA.

It explained that older adults are more likely to fall victim to romance and charity donation scams, middle-aged adults to investment and pyramid schemes, and young adults to virtual currency scams.

“Schoolgoers are not immune from being targeted,” said ISPA.

“Parents are no doubt resting a little easier knowing that ISPA is removing an average of three to four problematic websites from the local internet every week.”

Of ISPA’s take-downs in the past year, 44% were for security-related infringements, including scam and phishing sites, 40% were for intellectual property infringements, and 6% concerned human dignity.

ISPA explained that many scams targeting South Africans rely on local websites, offering fake training certificates, fake job recruitment for a fee, and fake puppies.

“These scammers — frequently based overseas — set up websites pretending to be local businesses because consumers are more likely to purchase fake goods from a site that appears to be local,” it said.

ISPA chair Sasha Booth-Beharilal warned that online threats to South Africa are real, but said parents can mitigate these threats through preventative action, such as requesting a website take-down.

ISPA said its take-down notice (TDN) procedure can be used by parents, guardians, or anyone who reasonably suspects that a website is unlawful.

“Once a take-down is lodged for a site, the site host must act expeditiously to remove the site, ensuring that nobody else can be scammed by that website,” it says.

“Reporting and eliminating problematic online content boosts online safety for all South Africans.”

The representative body only accepts take-down requests that fall under its jurisdiction, noting that a large portion of content reported via the TDN is hosted overseas.

“Only a third of the take-downs received involved content hosted by ISPA’s members, but the process is extremely effective for dealing with valid requests,” it said.

It added that 96% of the take-down notices it received resulted in the removal of the problematic website content.

235 members and counting

The body said the take-down notice process is a significant benefit for ISPA members, as they are shielded from liability for third-party content they host or carry.

“ISPA membership now stands at some 235 firms who have committed themselves to upholding the ISPA code, including the take-down notice process,” it said.

Requesting a take-down notice is reasonably straightforward, requiring users to submit an online form to get the process going.

The form requests information like the name of the ISPA member, providing a link to the infringing content, and submitting personal and contact details.

It also requests descriptions of the infringing content and the remedial action the submitter wishes the service provider to take.

“If, for some reason, you are unable to use the web form, you can also email a take-down request to takedown@ispa.org.za,” ISPA says.

However, it notes that submitting the form will likely result in a faster response as ISPA won’t need to recapture the request.

ISPA will then investigate the content and the request. However, it says ISPA members are entitled to refuse a take-down.

“The ISPA member hosting the content is not obliged to remove the content identified in your request,” it says.

“Typically, a hosting company will review the content against its terms of service and/or acceptable use policy and remove content in clear violation.”

Issued on MyBroadband by Myles lllidge | https://mybroadband.co.za/news/internet/606495-internet-watchdog-cracking-down-on-dodgy-websites-in-south-africa.html