Illustration: Anwar Sohel
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Illustration: Anwar Sohel
If the proposed regulation for the digital, social media and over-the-top (OTT) platforms is enforced, there will probably be a threat of Bangladesh turning into a “surveillance-based” nation, Transparency Worldwide Bangladesh Govt Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman stated yesterday.
Addressing a digital press convention, the TIB boss stated the proposed regulation largely contradicts the federal government’s high-profile purpose which is to construct a Digital Bangladesh.
TIB organised the convention to temporary the media about its place on the draft “Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Fee (BTRC) Regulation for Digital, Social Media and OTT Platforms-2021”.
The federal government printed the primary draft of the regulation in February for feedback on it from totally different stakeholders.
The graft watchdog raised issues over quite a lot of clauses within the draft regulation, stressing the necessity for bringing vital adjustments to them earlier than going for the enforcement.
In line with clause 6.01 (d) of the draft regulation, both BTRC or a courtroom with competent jurisdiction can difficulty a content material elimination request on grounds associated to sovereignty, integrity or safety of the nation, decency or morality, pleasant relationship with overseas nations, or defamation, TIB stated in its feedback on the regulation.
An middleman should take away the content material promptly, however in any occasion inside 72 hours. Essentially, this requirement raises a number of issues, it stated.
“We have now seen interpretation of the abovementioned grounds made arbitrarily to go well with motivated targets through the years,” it additionally stated.
Underneath Part 57 of the Data and Communication Expertise Act, 2006 and the Digital Safety Act, 2018, hundreds of arrests had been remodeled a decade for expressions on social media, it additional stated.
Clause 7.03 of the draft regulation says upon receiving a courtroom order or directions from the BTRC, messaging service operator is required to trace the originator of a message and disclose details about her or him to the authorities.
Successfully, this provision requires each message, photograph, video and different communications despatched over a messaging service to be “fingerprinted”, it stated.
It added that the majority messaging providers now use end-to-end encryption, which signifies that this clause would require the providers to interrupt these encryptions, violating the official expectation of residents relating to the privateness of their correspondence and different technique of communication.
Iftekharuzzaman stated whereas formulating the regulation, the federal government has to think about that individuals’s basic rights, particularly freedom of speech and freedom of expression, are usually not put in danger within the title of controlling digital, social media and OTT platforms.
The transfer’s primary intention needs to be controlling dangerous components or contents, the TIB beneficial.
Iftekharuzzaman urged the federal government to analyse good practices in numerous nations and take classes from these whereas launching the mechanism within the nation.
It’s important to carry vital adjustments to the draft based mostly on such good practices, he added.
