Author: Toby Shapshak

In two months’ time, communications regulator Icasa will finally auction much-needed spectrum for the next-generation of 5G networks. It’s notable that it is the first time in 15 years that these critical radio frequencies are being sold to operators, who were last able to buy spectrum when 3G was launched. Yes, that long ago. But, with all things in South Africa’s telecoms industry, it’s never simple. As much as the operators have been begging for spectrum, there are already legal ructions over how the auction will be conducted. The first of two court cases brought against Icasa in December is…

If two weeks ago you had never heard of GameStop, or Wall Street Bets, you could be forgiven. But not last week, when the saga of the US video game retailer and how an informal army of so-called retail investors brought famed hedge funds to their knees with some $23bn in losses. Wall Street Bets is a so-called subreddit on Reddit, the website that likes to call itself “the front page of the internet“. Reddit has long been the source of memes and other viral internet phenomena, but has never really been known outside of a very tech-focussed audience. But…

I keep thinking of poor Mike Pence. The former US vice president was so infamously captured with a fly sitting on his head – starkly contrasted on his white hair – during the vice-presidential debate last year. It’s become an internet meme in its own right, as much as Bernie Sanders in his seat at yesterday’s inauguration. What made me think of Pence and his pet fly was that I noticed an insect on the roof fan in my study, and couldn’t work out if it was a fly or spider. Using the Galaxy S21 Ultra As it happens, I’m testing the…

Why hasn’t Sfiso Mngadi been arrested and charged for spreading misinformation about COVID-19, as per the regulations which criminalise such an action? The ANC eThekwini councillor started the new year with some spectacularly untrue and/or stupid comments about COVID-19. First he claimed there was no COVID, and then confirmed its existence because of what he claimed caused it using a feat of logic only intelligible to conspiracy nuts. “This disease,” he said, “It is not COVID. We are getting this thing from 5G towers, [some] installed during this period in preparation of the second wave.” Calling for all the 5G…

There is an awful irony in the hack of US agencies as part of some 250 networks compromised by Russian hackers last year. Piggy-packing on Orion software used to manage the many computers on a network – made by US firm SolarWinds ­ – these hackers have gained unprecedented and seemingly unlimited access to American secrets. It was a catastrophic failure of cybersecurity, arguably the greatest cyber hack in modern times. It’s akin to the Allies capturing the Nazi’s cryptography device, the Enigma machine, which allowed them to eavesdrop on German military communications. Instead of directly attacking the networks themselves, the…

Of the many companies who will breathe out in relief that Donald Trump is no longer US president, surely the deepest sigh will come from Huawei and TikTok. Without Trump and his chaotic and spontaneous approach to geopolitics and his haphazard use of executive orders, what does it mean for the Chinese companies that he has been relentlessly attacking? These Chinese firms have been battling perceptions and innuendo from the Trump administration for years, as securocrats have convinced the former president and much of the western world that Huawei poses a threat to telecommunications, despite never providing any evidence. Huawei…

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Marcé Bester is not only Stuff’s new digital editor, but also our publication’s first female editor. I’m also thrilled to welcome Nick Cowen as Stuff’s new Associate Editor, while Brad Lang is now deputy digital editor. Marcé has been with Stuff for three years, having interned for us when she was studying. We tracked her down and hired her after she graduated. And, like all of us at Stuff, she is an ardent gamer.  Marcé says: “Over the past year, it’s become clear that Stuff’s digital channels play a significant role in…

Despite a rush by millions of people to download Telegram and Signal, I suspect the vast majority of people will accept the latest WhatsApp terms of use anyway. It’s human nature and Mark Zuckerberg knows it. The Facebook CEO has been pushing the boundary of what is private and what is permissible for the last 15 years. Remember the outcry when he said in 2010 that “people have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people”. What he failed to mention was that Facebook has been consistently pushing its users…

Facebook has “switched to covert marketing” and is using “paid bots [which are] adding biased information into the WhatsApp Wikipedia” entry because it is unable to compete with Telegram, claims its cofounder Pável Dúrov. After last week’s latest bombshell privacy scandal about Facebook, which owns WhatsApp and now wants users to agree to a new set of terms and conditions or lose access to the messaging app with over 2-billion users. Dúrov says “Facebook has an entire department devoted to figuring out why Telegram is so popular” but he’s “happy to save Facebook tens of millions of dollars and give…

WhatsApp just made it really easy for me to write my first column of the year. Because it wants to change the terms and conditions of its service, WhatsApp now requires users to provide a whole host of information about themselves, their contacts, and location. All of this must be agreed to before 8 February or users would lose access to WhatsApp. Readers of this column know I have long feared and worried about the extensive power that Facebook has over the billions of people who use its messaging platforms. At the beginning of last year, I tried to convince…