Digital Security Act, 2018 of Bangladesh: A Study on the Press Freedom and Journalistic Investigation

Abstract

The Act is enacted to ensure National Digital Security and enact laws regarding Digital Crime Identification, Prevention, Suppression, Trial and other related matters. When the whole world is connected through the internet, it is so tough to protect privacy. Digital Security Act 2018 is such a law which protects the right to privacy of an individual .This Act refers to controls over personal information, controls over one’s own body and control over personal dignity. This new law has however shown a more restrictive approach towards freedom of expression in its wordings and application than the former one. This excessive interference with free expression has encouraged demands from people of many walks for the abolishment of the DSA. The purpose of the law as mentioned in its preamble is to “ensure digital security and prevent crimes committed on digital platforms.” Hence we should not have been worried about the law. But the problem is that DSA goes much beyond its defined scope and ventures into the territory of media and journalism. The law goes against the very nature and practice of independent journalism that stands to protect people's right to know and exposes abuse of power and corruption