Milk goes off. Eggs go rotten. Even toilet paper would eventually fall apart if left unused. But digital data, that’s not something that ages. It’s not something that rots. It can’t possibly go off or expire. Your hard drive might eventually wear out and stop working, but if you’re smart and you’ve saved to the ‘cloud’, you’ll still be able to access your data.

We know this because it’s true. We know this because we are not stupid.

So then why are cellular network providers treating us like idiots. I smell something fishy.

I reached out to Vodacom, Cell C and MTN to try and solve this mystery. I’ve tried pickling data and freezing it, but nothing seems to work.

Only Vodacom attempted to reply and they were obviously confused at my intentions because they tried to sell me data.

In all seriousness though, we’re being ripped off again, here’s a more in depth look: Finance 24 – Heated debate over legality of data expiration

Tune in next week when I attempt to find out why my bank charges me to look at statements older than three months. Word has it they employ small boys to run the length of a giant storage warehouse where all our bank statements are kept in paper backups and then they type those statements back into the computer from whence they originally came. This explains the expense.