Sagar Biswas :
It is not yet sure when the ban on popular social media network Facebook [FB] would be withdrawn; because the Bangladesh government is interested to ink a deal with the network authorities before unlock the facility to the common users.
The government in fact wants that FB would ‘response quickly’ after getting complaints about objectionable [mainly defamatory comments against any religious or political person] contents in any personal or group page, officials said on Wednesday.
At the same time, the government likes to negotiate with FB about revealing the identities of some users whom are ‘highly suspected’ for a number of cyber crimes in the recent days, the officials said.
Meanwhile, the FB authorities responded to the email sent by State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim on Monday proposing discussions over some adverse effects of its misuse.
In the email, sent by Public Policy Director of FB [India, South and Middle East] Ankhi Das on Tuesday, the Facebook Inc expressed their eagerness to discuss the protective security measures with Bangladesh government.
The FB authorities have apparently agreed to discuss all the issues mentioned in the email by the Bangladesh government for discussion, the officials said.
‘We are expecting a senior executive ranking official of FB [Asia Pacific region] on 6-7 December next. They [FB] want to sit with us. We also want the same. Actually, the government wants to notify FB about our social context,’ Tarana Halim said yesterday.
About the obstacles, the Minister said, ‘The FB authorities usually do not show any interest about defamatory contents [usually posted by some users in Bangladesh]. Rather they want a case in this regard, if someone complains.’
Senior officials of the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry told The New Nation last night that FB earlier wanted to sit in meeting with Bangladesh in January next year. But the Bangladesh government does not want to spend more time in this regard. Rather, the government wants to hold the meeting with FB by this month [December].
Describing the necessity of FB’s quick response, Tarna Halim said, ‘Suppose we have lodged a complaint that a village girl will commit suicide – and FB took four days to take away the content. In this situation, it will not be possible to save the village girl. So, we will ask them [FB] how quick they can cooperate us in such situation.”
Laying emphasis on signing a deal with FB, she said, ‘About 73 per cent women of the country are victims of cyber crimes. But the FB doesn’t give any importance whenever we make a complaint, as we have no agreement with FB. So, we must ink a deal with them.’
Tarana Halim said, ‘Apart from violence against women, the issue of provocation [defamatory contents against different religions] will be in agenda of the meeting. We will present some case histories [incidents of violence occurred in different parts of country in the recent days] in the meeting through power point presentations.’
At present, it is also not sure when the curb on using two message sending and calling sites — Viber and WhatsApp Messenger – would be withdrawn.
Earlier on November 11, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that her government was contemplating to block Viber and WhatsApp Messenger temporarily in the country to track down the cyber criminals. Just after a week, the government on November 18 simultaneously blocked FB, WhatsApp and Viber citing state security reason.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Authority [BTRC] officials said the ban would be withdrawn after getting green signal from Ministry of Home Affairs.
According to statistics provided by BTRC, at present the number of FB users in Bangladesh is about 3 crore. A few of them are now using alternative way [proxy server] to get the link.
