Cyber Protection Ordinance: Controversial provisions to be dropped

Following the policy decision to revoke the controversial Cyber Security Act (CSA), the government has prepared a draft of a new relevant law named ‘Cyber Protection Ordinance, 2024’. The controversial provisions in the existing law have been excluded from the primary draft of the new law.

Earlier, law adviser Asif Nazrul said there would be no provision in the new law on cyber security where a person can be sued for his words. There would be punishment for actual cybercrime-related-offences only.

Analysing the draft for the new law, it has been found that there is no provision which can be used to term freedom of speech as an offence. In the existing law, there is a provision of punishment for spreading derogatory information and running misleading campaigns against the liberation war, national flag and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.   However, the provisions are not definitive and there is vagueness in these provisions.  Many people were imprisoned taking advantage of this vagueness of the law.

Earlier, in September last year, the then Awami League government revoked the highly criticised and controversial Digital Security Act-2018 and passed a new law titled “Cyber Security Act – 2023”. The human rights agencies and activists across the world termed it as old repressive law with a new label.

The Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) published a research titled “The Ordeal: Five years of the Digital Security Act 2018-2023”. The study analysed information of a total of 1,436 cases filed under the DSA Act from October 2018 to September 2023.

According to the study, of the accused in these cases, more 32 per cent were politicians and 29.40 per cent were journalists. In 78 per cent cases, the plaintiffs were involved in Awami League’s politics.

The Awami League government was deposed in the face of a mass uprising of students and people on 5 August. The interim government was sworn in on 8 August. The decision in policy to revoke the Cyber Security Act was taken in the advisory council meeting on 7 November.

A total of seven controversial provisions have been omitted in the first draft of the Cyber Security Act. The provisions are punishment for hatred, confusion and slanderous propaganda about the Liberation War, the spirit of the Liberation War, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the national anthem or the national flag; for impersonation or sending or publishing offensive, false or intimidating information, for collecting, using and spreading personal information without permission; for publication, dissemination of defamatory information and the provision of searching a person and seizing his or her belongings and arresting without warrant.

The provision of Cyber Security Council in the existing law has been excluded from the draft of the new law. Besides, some other provisions have been excluded, including the provisions regarding transition of power and evidentiary value.

The new law included several other things as an offence including blackmailing, spreading illicit content. The draft also revoked the options of suing anybody at whim using the law. It said only the victim, or any person appointed by the victim and the members of the law enforcement agencies will be able to file cases under this act. People used to feel encouraged to file cases under this act and most of these cases were filed on the allegations of derogatory remarks on the prime minister, ministers and political leaders.

The latest CGS study says 338 of the 1,436 cases filed under this act were lodged by people who have political affiliations. The identities of the plaintiff of some 577 cases could not be confirmed.

The ordinance contains sections 14, 16, 20, and 22 as cognizable and non-bailable cases which are mainly for the crime of causing damage to critical information infrastructure, computers and computer systems and for cyber terrorism and hacking.

However, some cases filed under the Cyber Security Act will be continued under the new law too. These cases were filed for actual cybercrime-related offences. However, the other politically motivated cases will be discarded.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Muhammad Ershadul Karim, associate professor at the Department of Law and Emerging Technologies at the University of Malaya, Malaysia, said, “The title of this law should have been cyber ​​or computer crime or Computer Abuse Act as per the practice of the United Nations or Europe. Cyber ​​security issues are more detailed and cannot be ensured with just one law. This government had a unique opportunity to conduct a detailed study and draft the law considering the practices of other countries in the world and the experience of the past years.”

He said, “The United Nations published the draft of the Cyber Crime Convention last August. The government could have proceeded after verifying and comparing the related laws of Bangladesh with international standards.”

*This report appeared on the print and online versions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Ashish Basu