Ensuring safety of mobile users' data

Two years back, the biometric registration along with Voter ID information of mobile subscribers was sought by mobile operators following instruction from the government. The move had led to a debate in the media whether the mobile users' data will be used in a lawful manner by the state. After all, the data of mobile subscribers is confidential information. It is very sensitive for the public as any unauthorised access to it can cause problems for the said user.

The concern may be coming true now. Two dailies published articles recently where it was revealed that the government is going to use the data of mobile subscribers for 'research' purposes prior to the up-coming elections. The information has created confusion and fear among the public. It needs to be mentioned here that Cambridge Analytica, a UK consultancy firm, had used the data of 50 million facebook users in an unlawful manner during the US election in 2016. The incident had sparked widespread criticism across the world forcing facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg to publicly apologise for the misuse of data. He also said that this was a breach of trust and facebook could have done more to stop the data of millions of facebook users from being exploited by Cambridge Analytica for such purposes. In Bangladesh's case of the market survey, who will guarantee that this massive amount of data will be safe?

I hope that the concerned departments of the government will look into the matter and take some steps to ensure that users' data do not fall into the wrong hands.

Md. Zillur Rahaman

Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd,

Lalmohan Branch, Bhola.

[email protected]