Internet regulation mustn't hurt freedom of expression
Light touch laws could be formulated to regulate the Internet but they must not take away freedom of expression and breach privacy, a top expert said yesterday.
Toby Mendel, executive director of the Centre for Law and Democracy, a Canada-based human rights organisation, said, “There is a need for certain laws to regulate the Internet, and sometimes it has to be in a protective way.”
He said laws could be formulated for special speech crimes that could happen on the Internet like cyber bullying.
“But it is very important to keep them as precise as possible, so they don't go beyond their appropriate boundaries,” Mendel told a seminar, “Regulation of the Internet and Freedom of Expression”, in RC Majumdar Arts Auditorium of Dhaka University.
Bangladesh Legal Aid Services Trust (BLAST) and Article 19, a human rights group focusing on freedom of expression and the right to information, jointly organised the seminar.
While the Internet can be used to cause harm and penetrate the most serious crimes, international legislation, based on the guarantee of freedom of expression but also the guarantee of privacy, calls for a light touch approach to Internet regulation, according to organisers.
Mendel said there had not been much regulation of the activities on the Internet and social media platforms in the western world other than regulation of businesses.
Governments have a responsibility to facilitate universal access to the Internet, akin to the services nations provide in many places, he said.
Sara Hossain, honorary executive director of BLAST and a Supreme Court lawyer, said people needed the Internet for communication almost every moment. “At the same time, this technological innovation has brought new challenges.”
She said laws could not be the only solution. “They are one part of the solution.”
She also said the situation in Bangladesh had reached such a point where freedom of expression was under serious threat, following the killings of three bloggers in recent times.
Tahmina Rahman, country director of Article 19, also spoke.
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