Surveillance and censorship on internet criticised

Civil society members at a roundtable on Thursday criticised the government for imposing surveillance and censorship on Internet access and for the move for re-registration of mobile SIMs by taking details of individual subscribers.

They also feared that details of individuals, which were stored for the preparing the national identity cards and which were given for re-registration of mobile SIMs, could be abused by the government or any other agencies to undermine democratic values.

‘For free flow of information and peoples right to know, no government should impose surveillance and censorship on Internet access and block any websites,’ said former chairman of Bangladesh Telecommu-nication Regulatory Commission, Syed Margub Morshed, at the roundtable held at National Press Club.

VOICE, a right-based activist group, organised the roundtable on ‘Access to Information: Internet Surveillance and Censorship vs People’s Rights Protection’.

Margub said that it would be a futile exercise if anybody wants to block any website to censor or hide any information.

He said that the first pressure on BTRC for re-registration was created by different security agencies in 2005. ‘There was no need for such re-registration by taking the details of any individual. How will the government ensure protection of information of the individuals,’ he said.

Criticising the move on mobile re-registration, Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, executive director of VOICE, in his key-note paper asked, ‘Do we know why we put every details to use the mobile phone or how can we be ensured that the information or data given to a prescribed form will not be leaked out or used for other purposes.’

He said that the interception of emails is on the rise and surveillance of mobile telephones has become s regular practice.

Ahmed alleged that over the past two years, RAB members assisted by the officials of BTRC conducted house-to-house searches in different cities pinpointing each and every Internet user.

He also claimed that a special cell comprising RAB and BTRC officials are collecting user details like name, address, and logging and usage statistics from all the Internet Service Providers to profile internet subscribers in the country

He also criticised the government for blocking some social websites like youtube on March 9, 2009 after the site hosted a recording of a meeting between the prime minister and military officers.

Akhtaruzzaman Manju, president of ISP Association, admitted that they were instructed to block some of the websites and some contents were filtered.

Former secretary Karar Mahmudul Hasan and D.Net executive director Ananya Raihan also spoke on the occasion.

http://www.newagebd.com/2009/jun/05/nat.html