Review body formed to check draft

The government yesterday formed a review committee to scrutinise the draft of the proposed Cyber Security Act, 2015.

The move came in a consultation meeting at the Information Communication Technology (ICT) Division office yesterday amid many stakeholders' fear that the proposed act, if approved, would significantly curb people's freedom of expression on the internet.

Shyam Sunder Sikder, ICT division secretary, was made the head of the committee while ICT expert Mostafa Jabbar the member secretary. The others in the body include professionals, lawyers, journalists and members of different trade bodies and law enforcement agencies.

The review committee was formed by State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak after he had a detailed discussion on the scrutiny of the draft law with industry stakeholders.

The draft law was prepared by Prof Zulfiqar Ahmed of Rajshahi University's Law department.

In the meeting, Mostafa Jabbar, former president of Bangladesh Computer Samity, termed the draft “incomplete” and said it had many scope for misuse.

He claimed that many parts of the draft law could also be criticised from the perspective of human rights.

According to the draft, law enforcers are entitled to seize any electronic device from anywhere if they suspect that was used in a cyber crime, which many see as a violation of human rights.

The draft act has a provision for maximum 20 years of imprisonment for committing “cyber terrorism”, and arrest of suspects without any warrant.

According to the draft, a crime committed online with its effect in another country would be considered cyber terrorism.

A person guilty of cyber crime committed in Bangladesh affecting Bangladesh could be sentenced up to 14 years' imprisonment or fined up to Tk 1 crore, or both, reads the draft.

In yesterday's meeting, state minister Palak said currently no public meeting with hundreds of participants was needed for unleashing “terrorism”.

Anyone could do such crimes using the internet and cause severe damages, he added. 

Prof Mohammad Kaykobad of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology said,”… we need to formulate such a law which will protect our people and give them a secured cyber world.”

Several speakers opined that the country needed a “meaningful” cyber security act.

In response, Palak said the government had a plan to complete all the work on the draft law before August.

“…for securing the banking and other financial sectors, we need to formulate this act without any delay,” he added.

Rezaur Rahaman Lenin, a non-government organisation worker, said, human rights and freedom of speech also need to be ensured while opinions are expressed online.

Experts in the meeting said there were many repetitions between the draft law and the Information Technology and Communication Act, 2006. They called for amending the act. 

The ICT state minister agreed to the issue.

Later, the experts claimed to have found the draft nothing but a compilation of different other existing laws in the country and said the law, once enacted, should follow international standards.

The draft law also has a provision for setting up a “National Internet (Cyber) Security Organisation” for protecting Bangladesh's sovereignty, security and integrity, and friendship with foreign countries and others.

The draft suggested a minimum five years of jail for those who erase or distort someone else's data or send electronic messages with false information to deceive a person.

Taking photographs of others secretly and publishing them without permission would be considered a cyber crime with a provision for imprisonment of up to 10 years, according to the draft.

Legal and industry experts earlier said they were very critical of the draft. According to them, the government wants to formulate the act only to control social networks and the bloggers.

They said the draft does not bring anything new to the table, apart from increasing the punishment for cyber crime.

They even went on to say that the government could not secure people's data but

wants to control people's voices.