Precaution Against What? – The Electronic or E-authentication Frameworks of the United Kingdom, Canada and South Africa

Abstract

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) provide opportunities and can cause setbacks to society. On the one hand, they have revolutionised the manner in which people, businesses or governments communicate and share information. On the other hand, ICTs have, inter alia, provided opportunities for the misappropriation of information in online settings. Because ICTs have become a source from which information is kept and stored, they contribute to information becoming a public good that requires legal recognition. In addition, this acceptance has meant that measures to secure information should be introduced to avert those who may wish to access, use, alter or interfere with information using whatever means possible. These measures are called e-authentication measures. They are preventive in nature and aim to validate and corroborate certain credentials necessary for the granting of authority to access information. In this article, a comparative approach to e-authentication is followed. It looks at the e-authentication structures adopted in the United Kingdom, Canada and South Africa. This approach is selected with a view to ensure that the e-authentication agenda in South Africa responds adequately to the danger of information being misappropriated online.