third south asian meeting

Third South Asian Meeting on the Internet and Freedom of Expression

Dhaka, Bangladesh14-15 January 2013

Abu Saeed [email protected]

Aaron Swartz: 1986-2013

“Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves.”

A stone for Aaron Swartz

The dark age

A miracle had happened in 1997

Oslo 2006

“Raindrops keep falling on my head…”

Ubiquitous Universal Access

Operator1 Effective Regulation

• License• Spectrum

• Interconnection• Internet Bandwidth

Universal Service

•Ubiquitous voice/data•Ubiquitous broadband

Operator2

Operatorn

1997 →

2015 →

Reduce poverty by 50%

Brazil did it in

2008!

1 EB = 250 million DVDs5 EB = A transcript of all words ever spoken

Skype is the limit• ILD traffic grew 4% in 2011, to

438 billion minutes.

• International Skype-to-Skype calls (including video calls) grew 48 % in 2011, to 145 billion minutes.

• Skype added 47 billion minutes of international traffic in 2011 — more than twice as much as all the telephone companies in the world, combined.

“If all of Skype’s on-net traffic had been routed via phone companies, global cross-border telephone traffic would have grown 13 percent in 2011, remaining in line with historical growth rates.”

TeleGeography analyst Stephan Beckert

Policy uncertainty

20.90%

29.10% 29.50%32.90%

40.10% 40.10%

45.40%

India Thailand Philippines China Cambodia Pakistan Bangladesh

Source: A Future Within Reach 2008

Networked Readiness Index 2012Rank 113 (Out of 142); Score 3.2 (1-7)

The Global Information Technology Report 2012, WEF

97. Preferential right of Government in emergency.

(1) During war declared, or a situation of war created, by a foreign power against Bangladesh, or during internal rebellion or disorder, or in a situation where the defence or other security of Bangladesh or any other urgent state-affair needs to be ensured, the Government shall have preference compared to the operator or any other user in using a radio apparatus or telecommunication system.

97. Preferential right of Government in emergency.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or in any other law for the time being in force, when the President declares emergency or the Government considers necessary in the interest of the security of the state or public order the Government may suspend or amend any certificate, order or licence issued or granted under this Act or suspend particular services provided by an operator for a specified period.

97A. Special provision for the security of state or public order.

(1) Notwithstanding anything contrary contained in this Act or in other law in the interest of the security of the state or public order the Government may from time to time for specified period, empower the Intelligence Agency, National Security Intelligence Agency, Investigating Agency or any officer of the law enforcing agency to intercept any message sent by any user of any telecom service operators or conversation between the telephone users or record the same or collect information thereof and may direct the telecom service provider to extend all out co-operations in this regard and the operators shall be bound to comply with such direction.

(2) For the purpose of this section the term Government shall mean the Ministry of Home Affairs and the provisions of this section shall be enforceable with the approval of the Minister or Minister of State in charge of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

98. Power to make rules.

• For carrying out the purposes of this Act, the Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, make rules consistent with the provisions of this Act.

99. Power to make regulations.

(1) For carrying out the purposes of this Act, [with prior approval of the Government] the Commission may, by notification in the Gazette, make regulations consistent with this Act and the rules made by the Government.

(2) Within 7 (seven) days of publication of the regulations in the

official Gazette, the Commission shall send to the Ministry, a copy of such regulations and the Ministry may, upon examination of the consistency of the regulations with this Act and the rules, direct necessary amendments to the regulation, and the Commission shall take necessary steps accordingly.

Where is the rule or the regulation?

Thank you

Abu Saeed [email protected]