Bangladesh’s Digital Security Act has been widely condemned by both experts and the civil society because of its proven track record of abuse -- a direct result of the existing law’s provisions being left undefined and vague. With innocent civilians and journalists being prosecuted under the law, by now it should be clear to all that the draconian DSA harms more people than it actually protects.
But before any of the calls for DSA’s amendment are even acknowledged, it appears the nation is staring at yet another law that has the potential to be weaponized against the press and the general population.
The Data Protection Act 2022 is already being flagged as yet another draconian law that is being hastily enacted without a comprehensive breakdown of what each and every provision would entail. As it stands, the law has no mentions of how a citizen’s personal information would get processed and the consent of the subject of the data is almost completely ignored. This particular issue has been included in the draft law in a vague and haphazard manner that explains little to nothing.
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As we understand, data protection laws throughout the world exist to do just that: Protect the data of any given citizen from being compromised and subsequently abused by bad actors. Such laws, such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, are enacted to protect the privacy of citizens in the current digital landscape, where an individual’s data is far more valuable to corporations than anything else.
Such laws, then, are meant to protect people from abuse, not expose them to it even more.
What’s more troubling is that the Data Protection Act also authorizes law enforcers to investigate such intricate issues -- this is perhaps the biggest red flag, as data protection laws seldom require the involvement of law enforcement as they are more regulatory in nature and are meant to stop corporations from overreaching with citizens’ data.
The draft law, as it stands, is full of inconsistencies, irregularities, and redundancies, and they need to be addressed before it passes. We cannot have yet another draconian law in effect that does more harm than good.