“Surveillance is the business model of the internet”—Bruce Schneier, security expert and privacy specialist
"Ultimately, in the long run, whether we win or lose, we are not going to be on their side. So we might as well do what we have to do as well as we can."
On April 14, 2016, the European Union adopted the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) with the aim of giving control to people over their personal data, recognising certain “digital” rights that individuals are entitled to regarding how their personal data is collected and used.
Dr Md Shahjahan Mian, Professor of the Department of Bengali, Dhaka University talks to Shamsuddoza Sajen and Moyukh Mahtab about the importance of studying and preserving old Bengali manuscripts to write a comprehensive history of the Bengali speaking region.
Liz Chater, a family history researcher based in the UK, has been working on the Armenian communities in South Asia since 2010. Currently, she is working with the Armenian Church of the Holy Resurrection in Armanitola on the Bangladesh Armenian Heritage Project, which aims to "build the stories, starting from the ground up" of the Armenian communities of Bangladesh and India. In an interview over email with Moyukh Mahtab, she talks of her own heritage, which led her to her research interest, and of her past and present projects.
Sabrina Zarin, Barrister-at-Law, (Hon'ble Society or Lincoln's Inn, UK) and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, Partner in FM Associates, talks to The Daily Star's Moyukh Mahtab about needed reforms in sexual violence and harassment laws in Bangladesh and the importance of raising awareness, especially among children.
Apparently “inspired” by last year's safe road movement, the DMP has come up with yet another action plan to deal with Dhaka's anarchic—to put it mildly— traffic situation.
Naomi Burke-Shyne, Executive Director of Harm Reduction International, and international NGO “dedicated to reducing the negative health, social and legal impacts of drug use and drug policy”, talks to The Daily Star's Moyukh Mahtab (over e-mail) about the global failure of wars on drugs, and how a health-based approach to drug policy could save lives and promote the well-being of citizens.
These stories tend to start with – “It was just another normal day at the office.” Not true. You know you saw it coming from a mile
Was 2014 the year technology and social media took over activism?
It started out as something quite harmless. That one page application that he needed to submit to his university – why not take a print from the office – it is just one page after all. Next week when the eight page copy-pasted assignment needed to be printed out, the office printer was again the obvious choice.
Music invokes the deepest emotions in me. That must be the reason I have the most intense feeling of rage and fantasise of scenarios
Munem Wasif is one of the first photographers in the Bangladeshi photography scene to make it big on a global platform. What started out as a hobby for this student of sociology has now reached a level of quality for him to be working at the prestigious Agence VU. A documentary photographer, Munem has three books published - the latest of which deals with his long time muse - Old Dhaka. ‘Belonging’ explores the old city through the eyes of an artist looking beyond the place he grew up in.
THE international furore over the recent detainment of David Miranda, the partner of Glenn Greenwald, who was working on the NSA revelation files, was one about freedom of speech and intimidation.
