Cyberspace is a relatively new and unexplored terrain in terms of human rights and obligations that have become popular since the 1990s. Cyberspace has become a traditional means to depict anything with regard to the internet as well as different internet cultures and is defined by the social relations involved rather than its technical implementation. The key feature of cyberspace is that it offers an atmosphere which consists of numerous participants with the capacity to influence each other. This unique feature has enabled people to use the internet in order to spread information in the real time as well as to mobilize people worldwide.
The ITU estimates that about 40% of the world's population is currently using cyberspace in their daily lives. Thus the cyberspace has become a major vehicle for exercising the right to information and freedom of expression nowadays. The UN Human Rights Council stated that 'the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online' and hence it reinforced that posture from 2012 to 2016.
While there exists no express provision on the right to 'access the internet' in any of the international human rights law instruments, it is argued that such access is critical especially in terms of the right to freedom of expression as well as redressing of structural disadvantages. Thus realizing the significance of cyberspace, few States in various ways have recognized the access to the internet as a human right.
Article 39(2)(a) of the Bangladesh Constitution guarantees every citizen's right to freedom of speech and expression which is often treated as an 'enabler of other rights', e.g., ESC rights as well as civil and political rights. According to section 29(b) of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Act (2001), one of the key objectives of the BTRC is to ensure access to reliable, reasonably-priced and modern telecommunication and internet services for the greatest number of people. Despite Bangladesh does not directly recognize the right to access to cyberspace as a human right, barriers to access1 to cyberspace expressly affect the exercise of human rights resulting in the infringement of those rights.
At the universal level, the UDHR (1948) guarantees this right which in its Article 19 provides that, "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers". Article 19(2) of the ICCPR (1966) also states that, "Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice".
Conversely, the right to privacy, i.e., right of people to choose freely under what circumstances and to what extent they will expose themselves, their attitude and behavior to others, is also a fundamental human right which is emphasized in different key documents, e.g., Article 12 of the UDHR (1948), Article 17 of the ICCPR (1966), Article 8 of the ECHR (1950), Article 11 of the ACHR (1969), and Article 43 of the Bangladesh Constitution.
Human right to privacy in the cyberspace is to be considered as a crucial issue that has huge implications towards the freedoms of individuals in this present world, though making a balance between the rights to privacy and protection of the right to information and freedom of expression is a major challenge for this new generation.
Arif Ahmed is a Senior Lecturer in Law at Southeast University and an Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh
