Staff Reporter :The government will soon take decision on unlocking popular social networking site Facebook.”We will soon take the decision to unlock the site,” said Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal.The Minister came up with the assertion after a meeting with the Facebook authorities at the secretariat on Sunday.”We had a fruitful meeting with the authorities of Facebook,” said Kamal adding, “Issues like our national security, abuse of people through Facebook and ways to filter Facebook contents were discussed in the meeting.”He further said, “The government sought their help in this regard and they have assured us of their assistance”. The Minister also said that the government will hold a series of meetings with Facebook authorities in future on security issues and the media will be briefed on the meetings in details.Responding to a question, the Home Minister said, “We have just talked to Facebook officials today (Sunday). We will sit in a meeting with the law enforcement agencies and if they say everything is okay, we will unlock Facebook”. Facebook’s South Asian Public Policy Manager Deepali Liberhan and Legal Consultant Vikram Langeh represented the meet from Facebook while the Home Minister led the Bangladesh side. State Minister for Telecom Tarana Halim, State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak, and a representative from Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission accompanied the home minister.Earlier, Tarana Halim sent a letter to the Facebook authority on November 30, seeking the social networking tool’s cooperation to ensure cyber security in the Bangladesh.On November 18, the government blocked Facebook, WhatsApp and Viber, citing security reasons after the Supreme Court rejected review petitions by war criminals SQ Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid.
