Bangladesh in bottom 10 on data governance
Bangladesh was in the bottom 10 in a global ranking on data governance, shows a report by George Washington University.
The university's Digital Trade and Data Governance Hub ranked 68 countries and the European Union on 26 different indicators and published the report last month.
Bangladesh ranked ninth and scored less than both Pakistan and India.
The report found that Bangladesh is yet to institute laws concerning data, such as a personal data protection law, an open data law for the proactive release of government information, or laws allowing for the right of data portability.
It was, however, noted that Bangladesh has a law recognising the citizens' right to information.
The Hub observed that Bangladesh does not have a public-sector data ethics framework, which provides guidelines for public servants to deal with data ethically and responsibly in the course of their work.
The country also does not have any government-made guidelines to regulate how nongovernmental entities can share data in different contexts.
It also does not have bodies responsible for supporting personal and public sector data sharing among governmental entities – something that countries ranking higher had, stated the report titled Global Data Governance Mapping Project.
Bangladesh was marked further down for not being a part of any trade agreement governing the free flow of data across borders.
This is the situation at a time when the centre noted an increase in the number of nations adhering to a trade agreement with the free flow of data.
"High-income nations do more to govern data and, in particular, more on the international and responsible attributes.
"In contrast, lower- and middle-income countries tend to focus their data governance efforts on structural or regulatory actions rather than develop strategies or put forward human rights/ethical guidelines," the report read.
Countries who scored less than Bangladesh are Tunisia, Bolivia, Egypt, Algeria, Botswana, Cuba, Iran and Tanzania.
Bangladesh's personal data protection law is currently in a draft stage.
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