Advisory council okays draft of new cyber security act
The interim government's advisory council yesterday passed the draft of the Cyber Surokkha Adhyadesh 2024 to ensure the security of vulnerable people in cyberspace.
The new cyber security law "will protect media freedom", said Shafiqul Alam, the chief adviser's press secretary, at a briefing.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. All controversial sections of the previous law that were used by the last government to muzzle the press and dissent voices have been dropped in the new draft of the cyber security law, he said.
"The new law will in no way curtail the freedom of the press. You can be sure of this -- we want to make cyberspace safe for all vulnerable people in the country. There are incidents of many people being cheated -- many women and children are being bullied," he added.
On November 7, the advisory council decided in principle to repeal the Cyber Security Act which has been used to curb press freedom and suppress political dissent.
In September 2023, parliament passed the CSA , replacing the Digital Security Act (DSA) 2018.
Rights defenders and journalists pointed out at the time that the provisions used to repress dissent were carried over from the DSA to the CSA.
The advisory council also decided to implement the recommendation from the "Promotion Committee for Retired Officers Deprived of Promotion", Alam said.
Earlier this month, the committee in its report recommended the promotion of 764 retired officials to various ranks, including deputy secretary, joint secretary, additional secretary and secretary with retrospective effect.
The officials, who retired between 2009 and August 4 this year, believe that they had been deprived by the AL regime.
The government started the legal process to extradite the fallen autocrat Shiekh Hasina from India, Alam said.
"But it is a long process -- we are hopeful that Sheikh Hasina's extradition will take place soon and she will face trial."
Hasina's crimes in the last 15 years were "horrible".
"About 3,500 people faced enforced disappearance. Thousands of people have been extrajudicially killed. About 1,500 people died during the July uprising," Alam added.
Asked about Adviser Mahfuj Alam's controversial Victory Day Facebook post, Apurba Jahangir, deputy press secretary to the chief adviser, said the post was deleted within hours of posting and "was entirely his personal opinion and it was not government's opinion".
Mahfuj later shared another post from his Facebook account where he made things clear, Jahangir said.
Also at the press conference, Alam said Bangladesh has launched a negotiation with South Korea on an Economic Partnership Agreement in an effort to open a broader window for economic cooperation between the two countries.
"Bangladesh is looking for a bigger market going beyond the European and American markets."
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