The United States has welcomed the Bangladesh government’s decision to reform the Digital Security Act.
“We welcome the Bangladesh government’s long-stated commitment to reform the law, to protect freedom of expression,” US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters at a regular briefing in Washington on August 7.
He said the US encourages the government of Bangladesh to give all stakeholders an opportunity to review and provide input on the new draft Cyber Security Act, to ensure that it meets international standards.
“As we’ve previously stated, the Digital Security Act has been used to arrest, detain, and silence critics,” the US State Department spokesperson said.
On Monday, in a major move, the government has decided in principle to replace the Digital Security Act (DSA) with Cyber Security Act bringing massive changes in several provisions of the existing law with a provision of only monetary punishment for publishing and disseminating defamatory contents.
The decision was taken in a weekly cabinet meeting held on Monday at the Prime Minister’s Office with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.