Citizens' info not safe in govt hand, says mobile phone users' body

Speakers address a session organised by the Bangladesh Mobile Phone Consumers Association at a city hotel today (20 April). Photo: Courtesy

Citizens' personal information is not well-protected in the hands of the government, making it even riskier if handed over to any private entity, leaders of the Bangladesh Mobile Phone Consumers' Association have observed.

Addressing a discussion organised by the association at a hotel in the capital today, they said when government service providers such as the birth registry are failing to ensure the security and safety of citizens' personal information, bringing the private sector in charge of those would be risky.

In his speech, the association's president Mohiuddin Ahmed said, "Due to the failure of the government, details of five crore citizens are open online since last year. The move to let a private firm build and operate a database of all citizen's personal information would be even riskier and illegal."

Advocate Israt Hasan, a supreme court lawyer and a central executive committee member of the association, said from the constitutional and human rights perspective there is no chance to hand over the personal data of citizens to the private sector.

"Section 78 and 79 of the Right to Information Act provides for the protection of personal information of citizens," she said, adding that the High Court on 20 March asked authorities to explain why the creation of citizens' personal database by the private sector would not be declared illegal.

In his speech, Mohiuddin Ahmed further said at present, telecom operators pay Tk5 to verify each of their 19.26 crore customers' personal information from the Election Commission and it would increase to Tk10 as the authorities attempt to engage a private firm for the database service which would add to costs and risks.

He said the telecommunication regulator on 25 January pushed telecom operators to create their customer database and report the updates to the authority by 14 February. "However, the operators did not do it."

In his speech, IT expert Tanveer Zoha, expressed concerns about data security.

"Citizens' information [in the country] is not protected, and no special measure has been taken in this regard. We have no clear understanding of how and where citizen data is stored."

At the event, Communist Party of Bangladesh General Secretary Ruhin Hossain Prince said the constitution protects citizens' privacy of correspondence and other means of communication.

"The government authorities should uphold the right."