People are weird sometimes. Very Weird.
When I started www.digitalapartheid.com, I really wanted it to be a peaceful “demonstartion” of people who are concerned about Browser Rights, the Freedom to access Information and the Freedom of Movement.
However, what has been happening lately, is unacceptable, people are “attacking” the IEC website, I’m not sure what this is suppose to achieve but as someone pointed out to me, it’s doing more Harm than Good, people that use Open Source are generally mild mannered, intelectual and democartic.
Don’t resort to Digital Anarchy, because of what has happened, we have to thank the IEC for addressing the Problem. Share the Love and maybe a Hug.
Kudos Colin.
*Edit Thanks Patric
Dear Mr Fischer
Recent media reports stated that the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)
website is not coping with the number of South Africans trying find out if
they are registered or where their closest registration point is. Problem
one is connecting to the site: “I have Internet Explorer, but get the
following error message when I logon: Internet Explorer cannot display the
webpage. No matter how many times I refresh… I’ve given up.”
Problem two; the IEC’s website’s exclusion of non-Internet Explorer users.
That is: “I, for instance, choose to use open source software… and I can’t
even access the IEC’s site! Why do I even try? They don’t take me (the
voter) seriously, why should I take them seriously.”
The UDM believes in transparency, dissemination of and access to
information. The IEC should pull its socks up! The Electoral Commission’s
Act, in Chapter 2, has spelled out the IEC’s responsibilities. In the same
chapter, paragraph 5) 2) b) it very specifically legally obliges the
Commission to “establish and maintain the necessary facilities for
collecting and disseminating information regarding electoral matters.” The
IEC is simply reneging on its responsibility.
We know that the internet is one of the quickest and best resources to
access information. One of the problems facing us this coming election is
voter apathy especially amongst young South Africans, who certainly must be
one of the biggest internet user-groups. The IEC must make accessing
election information and voter education consumer friendly; they cannot
discriminate based on your browser.
The IEC has a responsibility to ensure that all South African Internet users
can access the Commission’s site (at all times) irrespective of browser,
bandwidth or connection device.
Ms Jana Warffemius
UDM Webmaster
I started www.digitalapartheid.com, in response to the IEC website that doesn’t support Firefox.
The issue is much Bigger than you think …
- The website does not comply to Open Standards
- The website only works on Microsoft Internet Explorer
- The website only works on Microsoft Windows
The Website excludes the Following people
- People that use Firefox, Safari and Opera
- People that use Operating Systems like Mac OS X, FreeBSD, Linux and Solaris
- People that only access the Web via their Cellphones
People can’t use the Website that They have paid for.
So … like I said there and I’ll say again :
If the website http://www.elections.org.za/ does not work in Mozilla
Firefox, I would be strongly motivated to give up my constitutional right
to vote. Fellow South Africans who fought in the struggle would have died
in vain if I can’t fulfill this right. They died so that I could live in a
Free and Democratic South Africa, not in a South Africa governed by Digital
Apartheid.
