Law Letter
Cyber pornography and our law
Delara Hossain
In any society when a victim suffers physical harm, we can at least see his/her discomfort physically. However, when a person is victimised by the 'abuse of technology', then he/she suffers mentally which is not apparent but at times more distressful than physical pain and sufferings. In our country, the most recent technological crime involves 'cyber pornography'. Women are always the obvious victims of such crime. It is also true that in most cases, women are not victim by desire and as such, decide to commit suicide to avoid personal and family dishonour and social stigma.
Bangladesh is a poor country and technology is perceived to be an essential factor for the country's development. In our every day life we are using cellular phone, computer, internet, I-pod etc. These technologies are affecting our society in various ways, especially in case of communication network building at national and international levels. Nevertheless, we need to have proper safeguard against the possible abuse of such technology.
We are now in the 21st century and by the help of technology, we have reached from mud to moon. Technology can immensely benefit the society but one needs to be aware of its possible abuse. In many developed countries the society is protected under law against such abuse of technology. However, in our country we do not yet have necessary laws to deal with 'cyber crime' in general and 'cyber pornography' in particular.
There are various reasons for which cyber offences can take place in any society. The major reasons are:
(1) Cheap availability of technology: Due to increasing advancement in scientific invention, technology is made easily and cheaply available to all. For example, in our country any person can buy a cell phone at minimum taka 3000 or can use internet for only taka 20 per hour. So, this cost-effective use of technology is very often ventured by the cyber offenders to further their ill motives.
(2) No qualitative limit on technology uses: There is no quality control over technology uses. Anyone can buy a cell phone or can use internet at any time anywhere and more importantly, for any purpose. Also, there is no age restriction for using technology. As a result any person, even below the age of majority, can visit porno websites. Also, there being no quantitative and qualitative limitation on technology uses, cyber crimes, such as, hacking, cyber pornography, cyber assault etc. are becoming frequent phenomenon in our daily lives.
(3) Absence of legal control: Law is essential to regulate any society. No one can deny that law plays a crucial role in maintaining peace and order in the real world. This is also true for the cyber world. Like the real world, effective legal provisions should be created to control the virtual peace and order. However, in the absence of an effective legal control regime in the cyber world, cyber offences are increasing in number.
Cyber pornography also gives rise to the issue of privacy for the non-consenting victims. Privacy is the expectation that confidential personal 'information' disclosed in a private place will not be disclosed to third parties, when that disclosure would cause 'either embarrassment or emotional distress to a person of reasonable sensitivities.' For this purpose, information is interpreted broadly to include facts, images (e.g., photographs, videotapes) and disparaging opinions. Therefore, a victim of cyber pornography can always complain against encroachment on her privacy. Unfortunately, in our country we do not have any privacy law as yet.
In conclusion, Bangladesh needs to have necessary privacy laws to protect the victims of cyber pornography. The right to privacy in the internet is an emerging human rights which is getting recognised in many developed countries of the world. In this regard, a well-formulated 'Cyber Privacy Law' for Bangladesh is very much a necessity of the time.
The author is a student of the School of Law, BRAC University.
