Bangladesh at risk of becoming 'surveillance-based' country: TIB

[Black_cats]

Published on 08:00 PM, April 03, 2022

Bangladesh at risk of becoming 'surveillance-based' country: TIB​

https://www.thedailystar.net/news/b...ng-surveillance-based-country-tib-2997116?amp

Illustration: Anwar Sohel
Star Digital Report

With the enactment of the proposed regulation for digital, social media, and over-the-top platforms as it is now, there is a risk that Bangladesh will transform into a "surveillance-based" country, Transparency International Bangladesh Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman said today.

Addressing a virtual press conference, the TIB chief said the proposed regulation is largely contradictory to the government's high-profile goal of Digital Bangladesh and its agenda.

TIB organised the press conference to brief the media about its position regarding the draft "Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Regulation for Digital, Social Media and OTT Platforms-2021".

The government published the first draft of the law in February.

The graft watchdog raised concern over a number of clauses of the draft regulation, stressing the need for bringing significant change to those before finalising the law.

According to clause 6.01 (d) of the draft regulation, either BTRC or a court of competent jurisdiction can issue a content removal request on grounds like sovereignty, integrity or security of the country, decency or morality, friendly relations with foreign countries, or defamation, TIB said.

An intermediary must remove the contents promptly, but in any event within 72 hours. Fundamentally, this requirement raises several concerns, it said.

"We have seen an interpretation of the abovementioned grounds arbitrarily to suit motivated objectives over the years," it added.

Under section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology Act, 2006 and the Digital Security Act, 2018, thousands of arrests over a period of over one decade for expressions on social media were seen that can be "reasonably assessed to be lawful", said TIB.

According to clause 7.03 of the draft law, a messaging service is required to trace the first originator of a message and disclose information about him or her on receipt of a court order or instruction of BTRC, said TIB.

Effectively, this provision requires every message, photo, video and other communications sent over a messaging service to be "fingerprinted", it said.

It added that most messaging services now use end-to-end encryption, which means that this clause will require the services to break those encryptions, violating the legitimate expectation of citizens regarding the privacy of their correspondence and other means of communication.

While formulating the law, the government has to consider that people's fundamental rights, especially freedom of speech and freedom of expression are not put at risk in the name of controlling digital, social media and OTT platforms, added Iftekharuzzaman.

The act's main aim should be controlling harmful elements or contents, he said.

He urged the government to analyse good practices in different countries and take lessons from those while launching a controlling mechanism in the country.

It is essential to bring significant change to the draft law based on such good practices, he added.

 

[Bilal9]

I see no problem with surveillance if the information gained is not being used for partisan purposes or being abused. We need surveillance for monitoring the less than savory characters in our society (witness the recent religious puja fiascoes and subsequent fallout). The entire city of London is brimming with security cameras every 100 feet. And that is just the cops.

As far as abuse - you need checks and balances from external sources (since we do not unfortunately have mechanisms of our own) - where sanctions come in.

 

[Solidify]

I see no problem with surveillance if the information gained is not being used for partisan purposes or being abused. We need surveillance for monitoring the less than savory characters in our society (witness the recent religious puja fiascoes and subsequent fallout). The entire city of London is brimming with security cameras every 100 feet. And that is just the cops.

As far as abuse - you need checks and balances from external sources (since we do not unfortunately have mechanisms of our own) - where sanctions come in.

This is hardly the case, every country where social media has penetrated those governments have suffered.
With the ONLY example of a nation where surveillance has not penetrated is China. Why because they block all incoming platforms due to their powerful Communist party practices.