[Itpolicy-np] Crackdown riles ISPs

[Indiver Badal]

Read the story by Kuda Dixit -
http://www.nepalitimes.com.np/issue/2010/09/3/Nation/17427

The cabinet's new Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), set up last
month, has already come under fire for being overzealous, and
violating constitutionally guaranteed privacy laws in going after
Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

The new 'FBI-style' unit was set up by the government two weeks ago in
response to a nationwide rise in abductions, financial scams,
cyber-crime and call-bypass syndicates. The high-powered and
well-resourced force works under the direct control of the chief of
police and is designed to act immediately to counter organised crime.

However, by targeting Nepal's ISPs, the CBI has stirred a hornet's
nest among IT companies, constitutional lawyers and consumer advocacy
groups, who say the unit is overstepping its bounds.

Sirish Karmacharya of the internet provider Namche was arrested this
week and jailed for having provided bandwidth to customers who were
allegedly using it to bypass calls. Nepal Telecommunication Authority
(NTA) sent a letter this week to ISPs, warning of stiff punishment if
they didn't fulfill conditions for operation that include filtering
pornographic and 'horror' content. NTA wants material that 'incites
racial and religious hatred' and is against the 'national interest'
filtered.

"The conditions are too broad and ISPs can't be held responsible for
what the subscribers use the internet for, it's their private
business," explains Binay Bohara of the ISP Association. "In any case,
filtering content is very expensive, cumbersome and difficult."

Constitutional lawyer Satish Kharel goes a step further and says NTA's
conditions for use also violate the constitutionally guaranteed right
to privacy. "Only parliament can pass laws restricting fundamental
freedoms, it can't be done by NTA or the police," Kharel says. "This
is an infringement of the constitution and also goes against the right
to privacy under international human rights instruments to which Nepal
is a signatory."

Kharel, who specialises in telecommunications, says if the government
is serious about going after those misusing Voice over Internet
Protocol (VOIP), it should investigate the real culprits and not those
who are simply selling the connection.

KIRAN PANDAY
Following the NTA directives to the letter would effectively shut down
YouTube, Facebook, popular Nepali portals like cybersansar.com,
mysansar.com, and even nepalitimes.com, because some of the comments
in the feedback section could be construed to be objectionable.

Minister of Information and Communication, Shankar Pokharel, said the
government was losing billions in international call-bypass and was
forced to act against operators with VOIP. "The state needs
information on who is using excessive bandwidth at all times of the
day, without this data it is difficult to catch the culprits,"
Pokharel told Nepali Times. "All we are asking is for the ISPs to pass
on this information."

The police say they have been handicapped by their inability to access
mobile phone and internet usage data in going after criminals. DIG
Arjun Singh Bhandari says, "Our main concern is to ban VOIP calls as
it becomes difficult to trace criminal activities, and organised
crimes have been carried out using VOIP. We have requested ISPs to
help us in our investigation."

But Karmacharya's arrest and the fact that he has been presumed guilty
until proven innocent has sent shockwaves through the ISP community,
and lawyers are aghast at the lack of due process in the case. This
has led to suspicion that the police are themselves involved in
extorting ISPs. "It now seems to be our turn to be milked," said one
cyber café owner in Thamel.

Kunda Dixit

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-- Thanks
Indiver