ZAMBIA’S NEW CYBER LAWS ARE THERE TO PROTECT YOU NOT TO WATCH YOU

ZAMBIA’S NEW CYBER LAWS ARE THERE TO PROTECT YOU NOT TO WATCH YOU

By Shalala Oliver Sepiso

Zambia’s newly assented-to Cyber Laws i.e. The Cyber Crimes Act # 4 of 2025 and the Cyber Security Act # 3 of 2025 are not about surveillance of citizens as many are positing but are they are there mainly for digital or data protection.

Your private communication on devices remain yours and secure. The law is there to protect that communication and not to pry into it. The law respects your freedom, your data and your space. There shall be no random snooping around as there are safety valves to protect citizens. Section 37 says there shall be no random monitoring.

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There isn’t much difference between the surveillance in the USA by authorized agencies and the interception provided for under Section 30 of the Cyber Security Act # 3 in Zambia. In this section, there’s an oversight provided. Both the person who requested for interception and also the service provider who routed the intercepted information to a control center are required to make a report to a Judge within a specified time. So there’s enough judicial oversight. Law enforcement will still need a court order to act. That’s not dictatorship but it is due process.

The Cyber Security Act # 3 of 2025, which was referred to by the US Embassy in Zambia a few days ago, is the law which provides for interception of critical information. It is not different from the surveillance laws in the USA.

Under this Act;
Section 3, establishes the Cyber Security Agency
Section 4, gives functions of the agency
Section 5, details the appointment of the Director General of the agency.

The opposition is mainly complaining about the following crimes found in the Cyber Crimes Act # 4 of 2025:
1. *Section 3*. It is an Offense to access someone’s phone or computer (5yrs imprisonment).
2. *Section 4*. It is an Offense to Modify, Delete, obstruct etc someone’s data (5yrs imprisonment)
3. *Section 5*. It is an Offence to communicate “critical information” to someone not authorised (15yrs imprisonment)
4. *Section 6*.!It is an offence to possess “critical information” (15yrs imprisonment)
5. *Section 10*. It is an offense to record private conversations even if you are part of the conversation (2yrs imprisonment)
6. *Section 19*. It is an offence to publish information which is misleading (2yrs imprisonment)
7. *Section 21*.!When you receive summons or police call outs, for Cyber Crimes its an offence to disclose that (5yrs)
8. *Section 22*. Its an offense to be rude, indecent or vulgar with intent to humiliate (2yrs imprisonment)
9. *Section 24*.!It is an act of domestic terrorism to attempt to incite ethnic divisions among the people of the Republic (Imprisonment for life)

But the question is what is wrong with ensuring these crimes are well spelled out and prosecuted?

In Zambia insulting other people online is considered free speech. Defaming others is considered freedom of expression. When arrested for these we cry persecution. This should not be the case. Only those who abuse social media and electronic systems can complain about these crimes detailed him.

Ordinarily, apprehension is always there when laws are made.

Nevertheless, whatever you do be law abiding. If you are law abiding there is nothing to fear or worry about. Even those who own newspapers have legal departments that check whatever they wish to publish before its published to avoid being sued for libel. Comedians too like Trevor Noah have legal advice before they open their mouth on stage to tell a joke least they be sued for slander. But in Zambia it has been freedom of lawlessness. This law will teach some help people to change for the better. The American Ambassador agrees that American citizens can fully operate within these laws: He advises: “assess the implications of this law and ADJUST accordingly

In the main, these new cyber laws fight fraud, trafficking, exploitation but they do not fight your privacy.

Zambia’s children, businesses, security installations, airports, banks and borders are now safer online.

The same way soldiers defend our land and our physical borders, cyber security experts will now be legally equipped by the law to now defend our digital borders and internal installations.

Cyber abusers now have to beware because the law to catch them and deal with them is finally here.

The reality is that we already live under alot of surveillance both in the digital world and in the physical world. Google, Facebook and TikTok, for example, are already collecting so much of our personal data and preferences all the time and mostly with our consent and volition. Yet, we never hear persons complaining about this as invasion of privacy. Almost all nations have a tab on all their citizenry and foreign nationals in their jurisdiction for security and other purposes. There is nothing inherently sinister about the cyber laws. Wrong doers and those with a penchant and propensity to do wrong can’t like them though.

Many argue that, whereas surveillance will be overt in Zambia, in foreign jurisdictions surveillance and recording of citizens is covert. We can remind ourselves of Edward Snowden, who made revelations of these actions through Wikileaks, the media organization that was founded and run by Julian Assange. Snowden, a whistleblower who leaked classified documents, once worked for the US government in one of sensitive agencies i.e. the National Security Agency through as a government contractor called Booz Allen Hamilton as a computer security consultant. The truth is the Zambian Cyberlaws don’t give government agencies unfettered access to everything about everyone everytime.

Oliver S shalala
Upnd consultant