ORGANISATION:
VOICE (Voices for Interactive Choice and Empowerment)
VOICE is a rights-based research and advocacy organization working around the issues of food sovereignty, governance and human rights, media and communication rights, and information and communication technologies. It is engaged in policy research and advocacy and strategically works through networking and partnerships for a new development paradigm.
PROJECT:
Information Control Mechanisms: The Status of Surveillance and
Censorship in Bangladesh
This study investigates the framework of access to information and the mechanism of blocking and controlling the free flow of information, with an emphasis on identifying existing practices of censorship and surveillance in Bangladesh. It also emphasizes the on-going incidents, motivations and targets for surveillance along with legal policies and steps in terms of surveillance and blocking communications.
Bangladesh is undergoing massive surveillance through “lawful interceptions” of Internet and telephony traffic.
Blogs and YouTube have been blocked, bloggers and journalists arrested, and authorities have ordered ISPs to pass username and password information to intelligence agencies.
There are gross violations of communications and information rights by the government, despite the enacting of the Right to Information Act.