Law for safe internet use: PM

Staff Correspondent: The government is going to frame new law to ensure safe, secure and optimum use of internet and information technology in the country.

The Prime Minister said this while inaugurating the weeklong Upazila Digital Fair and Internet Week-2015 through a videoconferencing from her official residence Ganabhaban.

She said digital technology should be particularly safe for children and it should not be used for terrorist and militant activities and for hurting religious sentiment of the people. “Safe and secure use of information technology is crucial alongside its expansion,” she added.

The Prime Minister also asked the mobile phone operators to bring down internet service fees at the consumer level as the government has reduced its bandwidth fees.

"We’ve brought down the price of Mbps bandwidth from Tk 78,000 to Tk 625. I’ll ask the mobile phone operators to bring down the fees at the consumer level," she said.

She also mentioned that if the mobile phone operators reduce the internet service fee it would increase the number of users which will ultimately help up their income.

She emphasised on the stopping illegal VoIP business that creates manifold problems, including financial losses to the national exchequer.

The Internet Week-2015 is being observed in the country with the slogan "password of development is in your hand." The primary objective of the week is to reach internet to 10 million people through internet fairs and giving all out idea to people about internet to create 15 million new users in the next one year.

The Upazila Digital Fair programme is being observed in Dhaka, Rajshahi and Sylhet divisions and 487 upazilas across the country under the auspices of ICT Division, BASIS and Grameen Phone.

State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak, Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) President Shameem Ahsan and Grameenphone CEO Rajeev Sethi also spoke at the occasion.

risingbd/DHAKA/Sept 5, 2015/Shawpon/Augustin Sujan