Government’s cyber crime legislation should have exemption clauses or guarantees for journalists and whistleblowers to ensure press freedom, says Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner.
The legislation seeks to establish a Cyber Security Agency to handle all cyber security-related concerns including referring matters to the police, providing advice on cyber-related matters, promoting risk assessment activities, as well as establishing internal and joint procedures between the public and private sectors to manage incidents and mitigate cyber threats associated with these.
Clauses also pertain to a member of the board or any person in the service of an agency who without lawful excuse “communicates/reveals any information or matter connected with/or related to the agency’s functions to an individual or body.”
It also pertains to such persons who “obtain, reproduce or retain possession of any information or matter connected with/or related to the functions of the agency which that member/officer/other employee is not authorised to obtain/reproduce/or retain in his possession.”
Such conduct constitutes an offence, liable on summary conviction to a $50,000 fine and two years’ jail.
Speaking during yesterday’s Lower House debate on the bill, Warner noted concerns over the legislation by some, including the T&T Publishers and Broadcasters Association (TTPBA). Warner, who said he’d gone to the TTPBA to get their views on the bill, questioned when consultation had been done on the bill, with whom and when.
He noted concerns had been raised when the bill was first piloted in 2014—though it later lapsed—and asked if the concerns that existed then had been addressed. Warner said press freedom and journalism “depend on whistle blowers” who pass information to journalists. He said the TTPBA was concerned that witnesses to wrongdoing may be discouraged by the bill.
He said among the concerns over the initial 2014 bill was the fear that reporters could face fines or jail for “giving information in the public interest” and that whistleblowers might face similar penalties.
He asked Government if the same “risks” to reporters existed in the current bill and if it intended in any way to “muzzle investigative journalism.”
Warner said, “I don’t know the front from the back of a computer but I went to people who know about cyber crime and consulted with them (on the bill). We have to have a free media, if not the Fourth Estate is dead,”
“Right now it’s whistleblowers and reporters who are preventing corruption in state sectors from getting worse. If you intimidate them, nothing will stand in the way of corrupt practices. Prove media concerns have been put to rest,” he added
He said the situation was important in view of how Government was “using its majority to assault democracy.”
Warner said he wasn’t saying to “throw out the baby with the bathwater...we know of malicious invasions of computer systems [but] we have to protect the Fourth Estate.”
Calling for exemptions or guarantees for journalists and to protect whistleblowers, Warner said the National Gas Company (NGC) had been engaged in “frivolous spending” and was now on a witch hunt.
He claimed NGC employees were “being searched more than in prison” and that the LifeSport issue wouldn’t have come to light if it hadn’t also been for whistleblowers.
Warner said it was time to address cyber bullying and the racist statement of Jaishima Leladharsingh was an example.
He questioned cyber bullying in schools and via the laptops Government had provided to students.
Government MP Rupert Griffith said global cyber crime was estimated at $113 billion— enough to buy an iPad for everyone in Chile, Peru, Mexico and Colombia. (GA)
Ministries want more funding
Various ministries have made requests for supplementary funding apart from the 2015 allocation, but Cabinet has made no decision on this, Finance Minister Larry Howai said in Parliament yesterday.
He said the situation was normal in a fiscal year, but until Cabinet determined if there was need or justification to seek any supplementary funding, he couldn’t pre-empt any decision on the matter.
Howai also said he expected the IMF’s upcoming 2015 report to echo some of the observations of the last statement, particularly on policy tightening.
The minister said 2014 observations included that the time for policy tightening was drawing near, sustainable growth required reconfiguration of fiscal growth policies (but also noted the impending general election climate), greater flexibility in the foreign exchange market and the need for more structural reforms to diversify the economic base. Howai said T&T’s economic buffers remained strong and he therefore didn’t think the IMF was alarmed.