KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 14
Citing that some internet contents are adversely affecting the society, the government is gearing up to implement the internet content filtering system by spending a whopping Rs one billion. However, the stakeholders have said that implementation of such system is easier said than done.
Speaking during an interaction on Saturday titled 'Necessity of content filtering in Nepal', Bijay Kumar Ray, director of Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) said the authority is looking into this matter.
"Currently we are analysing the bandwidth traffic entering from different checkpoints of the country," he said, "Based on it, we are planning to control internet contents."
He further clarified the government is not looking to control any personal or organisational content.
However, the stakeholders have said that they are unclear about the real motive behind the government's decision of filtering content.
Indiver Badal, a board member of the Nepal Internet Exchange (NPIX), said that controlling internet content means identifying contents being supplied through the internet and controlling it via domain name system (DNS). "The government is already controlling internet contents via DNS. However, the recent decision of the government to completely control the internet content is quite difficult."
He further said that Meta data and deep packet inspection (DPI) technology is needed to identify internet content and control it, which will be quite expensive for a country like Nepal. "India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have been using DPI or DNS technology frequently to control internet content, while China has been using all three- Meta data, DNS and DPI system - to filter internet content. Even so, none of the countries have been able to completely control the internet content," he said. Thus, Rs one billion allocated by the government for internet content filtering will hardly suffice to fulfil the government's objective.
Due to the advancements in the field of the information technology, content filtering is not so easy as users tend to figure out a backdoor to access the contents, he said. "It would be more prudent to spend the money allocated for the project on internet literacy," he suggested.
Similarly, Dilip Agrawal, chairperson of WorldLink, said the government's plan to filter internet contents is ambiguous. "Actually only the source can control the contents.
For example, if there is an offensive content on Facebook, only Facebook can control it," he said. "Earlier the government had directed internet service providers like us to control offensive sites, which is actually not our job."
Meanwhile, Sunaina Pandey, former vice-president of CAN Federation, stressed on the need to control internet content considering the rise in cybercrime. "Content filtering is necessary for our country. But, we have to classify the content," she said, "Thousands of people have become victims of cybercrime and offensive contents on the internet," she said. "Police records show that 52 per cent of such victims are aged between 20 and 30 years."
On this point, advocate Baburam Aryal said the government tends to implement new policies instead of analysing and implementing existing ones. "Since 2011, NTA has been raising the issue of internet filtering.
But laws such as Nepal Electronic Transaction Act, Copyright Act, Privacy Act, Information Technology Bill, along with others already exist to regulate IT sector," he said, "However, rather than effectively implementing existing laws, the government is gearing up to introduce a new law, which doesn't make sense."
A version of this article appears in the print on February 15, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
