💬 What SA Estate Security Can (and Can't) Ask For

Hi there!

Remember laser tag? A free iPhone game called Light Wars AR turns your phone into the blaster. Point it at a friend through the camera and tag them, indoors or out, with no vests or headsets.

It works offline at up to about 30 metres, so the whole garden is the arena.

Back in the real world, the guard at your estate gate plays a different game, collecting your details. So we looked at what an estate can and can't make you hand over at the boom.

We also look at:

Ever been turned away for refusing to have your licence scanned? Hit reply and tell us.

Justin, Kobus and Rowen

Live in an estate, or visit one? You've probably handed your driver's licence to a guard to scan without being told where that data goes.

The Information Regulator wants that to change. Its draft code for gated access sets out what estates, complexes and office parks may collect at the boom, how long they can keep it, and what you can do about it. It's still a draft, but the principle behind it already applies: under POPIA, an estate may only collect what's adequate, relevant and not excessive.

The draft lists what's enough: your name, why you're visiting, your time in and out, and your registration number only if you drive in. On the excessive list are a copy or photo of your ID, your home address, email, cellphone number and employer.

Its preferred alternatives are simpler. You write your name for the guard to check against your ID, the resident confirms you're expected, or you get a permit or sticker for your car.

The draft says consent isn't voluntary if getting in depends on handing over your ID number or fingerprints. If you object, the estate must offer you another way in, not turn you away.

The draft's suggested limits: visitor registers for 30 to 90 days, CCTV footage for 7 to 30 days, and scanned ID data deleted automatically after 30 days. Nothing is kept forever.

The draft makes the body corporate or HOA responsible, with a named information officer. It treats the security company and the access-control supplier as operators. That means an operator agreement, trained guards, encrypted visitor systems and a duty to report breaches. Once the code is finalised, it takes effect 28 days after it's gazetted.

Most door and window sensors are simple. A magnet on the door holds a reed switch on the frame closed. Open the door, the magnet moves away, the switch opens, and the alarm knows.

The weakness is old and well known. Hold a strong magnet against the switch, and it stays closed while the door swings open. Security research firm IPVM describes intruders finding the contact with a compass and holding a rare-earth magnet over it, sometimes through a wooden or even a metal frame. A US test lab showed kids doing the same to sneak out at night with a magnet worth about R4.

Newer contacts measure the magnetic field itself instead of relying on a switch. A second magnet changes that reading, so the sensor flags tampering rather than staying quiet. Olarm's newest entry sensor, part of the Olarm ONE system, has a built-in magnetometer for exactly this, plus temperature and humidity sensing.

A door contact on its own is a single point of failure. Make sure indoor motion detection covers the doors that matter, so a fooled contact still gets caught. Ask your installer whether your contacts are standard reed switches, and whether your back and sliding doors could have tamper-resistant ones.

Don't let contacts carry high-risk entry points alone; layer them with motion detection. Where sensors can report magnetic tampering, treat a tamper signal at an armed site as an attempted defeat, not a fault.

 SAFE AND SOUND  "Hi Mom, this is my new number." South Africans lost R2.4 billion to banking scams in 2025, up 29%, mostly through WhatsApp, calls and social media that talk people into paying. Signal: Agree on a family code word, and phone the number you already have before you pay anyone.

 BLACK FRIDAY  Makro's first Black Friday deals end on 10 November. Makro is releasing its sales in batches before 27 November, with up to 60% off in the first one. Delivery is free over R650. Signal: A steep discount at one store can be the normal price at another, so compare before you buy.

 ROBOTICS  Apple is building a HomeView that turns to face you. The R6,300 HomeView has only just launched, and Apple is already working on a bigger one on a swivelling robotic arm, with cameras that could switch on the lights when you walk in. It's aimed at 2027, at around R16,500. Signal: Smart displays are getting eyes and arms, which means the same privacy questions as cameras.

 POWER  Cable thieves cause millions in damage for scrap. Criminals are cutting power lines and wrecking transformers to steal copper that's worth little once sold. City Power puts the cost of replacing one vandalised transformer at R800,000 to R1.2 million. Signal: Report cut cables or open kiosks on your street straight away; the sooner it's logged, the sooner the repair.

 WORK AND PLAY  Nintendo's Black Friday sale has started. The SA Nintendo Store has cut the Switch and Mario Kart 8 bundle from R9,299 to R4,999, and games and accessories join the sale on 16 November. Signal: The Switch 2 is only 4–8% off, so the original Switch bundles are where the real savings are.

You need an iPhone, and a contact who also uses iMessage. About two minutes.

01 Open Messages and pick the person, or tap New Message.

02 Tap +, then Check In (tap More if you don't see it), then Edit.

03 Select When I arrive, tap Change and search for your home address. Choose how you're travelling, and add extra time if you'll stop on the way.

04 Tap Done, then send the message.

05 That's it. If your iPhone doesn't arrive in time and you don't respond to the prompts, your contact gets your details automatically.

A little fun over this past weekend: Oom Bester was out of his cooler box for Halloween, and 88 players ran 562 times and spent more than 8 hours chasing wors around the neighbourhood in Olarm's Wors Run Halloween game. Top wors hunter Rickus Ross scored 3,418 points, and Oom owes him a boerie roll. Halloween's over, but the game is still free to play if you want to try it.

Africa Tech Festival · 17–19 November · CTICC, Cape Town. The continent's big telecoms show, with a free expo.

rAge Expo · 27–29 November · Johannesburg. Gaming, gadgets and South Africa's biggest LAN party.

The biggest saving is R420 off the EZVIZ outdoor camera at Makro. Makro's first Black Friday batch runs until 10 November, so check the rest while you're there.