BANGLADESH Online spaces, privacy and surveillance in Bangladesh Bytes for All Bangladesh Partha Sarker and Munir Hasan www.bytesforall.org Introduction “In enabling the creation of various opportunities for communication and information-sharing, the Internet has also facilitated the development of large amounts of transactional data by and about individuals. This information, known as communications data or metadata, includes personal information on individuals, their location and online activities, and logs and related information about the e-mails and messages they send or receive.” This communications data is “storable, accessible and searchable,” and when it is combined and aggregated and used by the state, it can be “both highly revelatory and invasive.”1 Ever since electronic media were opened to private sector involvement in the early 1990s, successive Bangladeshi governments have encouraged the development of an open internet access and communication regime in the country. Bangladesh currently has 33 million internet users, representing almost 20% of the total population, and ranks 138th out of 190 countries in the Household Download Index compiled by Net Index.2 The World Economic Forum’s 2013 Global Information Technology Report3 ranked Bangladesh 114th out of 144 countries worldwide, with poor scores for its infrastructure and regulatory environment, even though an affordable and competitive communication service is generating exponential growth for users. In addition, localisation and the availability of phonetic Bangla software have contributed to the development of local blog and content hosting services.4 1 Frank La Rue, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of expression and opinion, in his landmark report on state surveillance and freedom of expression during the 23rd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in April 2003. www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/ HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session23/A.HRC.23.40_EN.pdf 2 www.netindex.com/download/allcountries 3 www.weforum.org/reports/global-information-technologyreport-2013 4 Freedom House. (2013). Freedom on the Net 2013: Bangladesh. www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/2013/bangladesh#. U4aWAfldXsF The current government in Bangladesh has a plan to establish what it calls a “Digital Bangladesh by 2021”, with the aim of integrating internet access with development efforts in various sectors. But with widespread digital communication comes a greater threat to security and privacy, and uncertainty on how state and other institutions will address those issues while protecting the rights of individuals. Globally there are two models available to protect citizens. One is the authoritarian model, where the problem is addressed through the development of a surveillance regime with filtering at the control points or on the backbone of the internet, and monitoring of the use of computers. A more liberal approach, on the other hand, is to make people aware of the risks, to develop their capacities and to set down punitive measures that require proper evidence and respect individual rights.5 Bangladesh is often swinging between these two models, and there is a sense in which it is addressing the situation on an ad hoc basis. Policy and political background Communication content can reveal a range of sensitive information about an individual, including a person’s identity, behaviour, associations, physical and medical data, race, colour, sexual orientation, national origins and viewpoints. Or it can show trends in a person’s location, movements, interaction or behaviour patterns over a period of time through metadata or other forms of data associated with the original content. Therefore, this requires significant protection in law. Internationally, regulations concerning government surveillance of communications vary in approach and effectiveness, often with very weak or non-existent legal safeguards.6 The Constitution of Bangladesh touches on the issues of privacy and individual security in several places. Article 11 5 Hassan, M. (2012, June 30). Cybercrime: Implementation must to achieve Vision 2021. The Daily Star. archive.thedailystar.net/ law/2012/06/05/analysis.htm 6 Rodriguez, K. (2013, February 13). Surveillance Camp IV: Disproportionate State Surveillance - A Violation of Privacy. Electronic Frontier Foundation. https://www.eff.org/ deeplinks/2013/02/disproportionate-state-surveillance-violationprivacy 70 / Global Information Society Watch