The government has taken the initiative to formulate a ‘personal information protection’ law to protect personal information. The preliminary work is over and the department of post and telecommunication is waiting for a report.
Users of Facebook, Google, and You Tube provide personal information which these companies need to protect but often such information is sold to a third party with Facebook being the most criticised.
There are reports that from Facebook, information of 90 million subscribers go to different organisations. In developed countries, there is a provision to demand reparation for such misuse of information but not in Bangladesh.
But if these social media bodies steal information from users in Bangladesh, it will be difficult to catch them since these do not have registered offices in the country.
Post and Telecommunication Minister Mustafa Jabbar, said: “We will soon formulate a Data Security Act; a policy decision has been taken in this regard and work has progressed.”
“We have asked the telecommunication department to assess laws in other countries to make a report,” said the minister.
Unless there was data protection, there would not be any privacy, he added.
IT specialist Reaza Selim adds: “Clause 43, sub clause b of the constitution speaks about preserving rights of the citizens but we do not have such a law or public awareness about it.”
Developed nations are not satisfied with internet security in Bangladesh. More attention had to be paid to this area, added Selim.
India would soon implement such a law and the Indian supreme-court, according to a court verdict declared on Aug 24, 2017, that preserving private details was the basic right of the Indian citizen.
General secretary of the Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum, Mohammad Abdul Huq Anu, observes: “We are happy at the government initiative and the work must be finished fast, otherwise, the consequences will be disastrous.”