Cybercrime should be stopped by using technology: Telecom Minister

Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mostafa Jabbar said the crime related to technology could not be tackled without technology. Stakeholders, including technology users, regulators and law enforcement agencies, need to be aware of cyber-crime prevention. He said that in order to keep digital management error-free, SIM registration and KYC etc. should be error-free and if customers have minimum skills in using digital devices, it is possible to prevent various digital crimes including mobile financial services. The minister was speaking as the chief guest at a meeting on the results of a research paper titled "Policy Research Institute (PRI) The State of Digital Financial Services Consumer Protection in Bangladesh" in Dhaka on Wednesday. PRI's executive officer Dr. Ahsan Mansoor; Wolfgang Heinzi, Amazon's Country Director for Bangladesh and Sri Lanka; Kamal Qadir, CEO of bKash; Sahabuddin Shipon, Vice President of e-Cab; and Sonia Bashir Kabir, Digital Technology Entrepreneur. And others spoke on the event. PRI researcher Dr. Ashikur Rahman presented the keynote address. The Minister of Posts and Telecommunications described the expansion of digital financial services in Bangladesh as a wonderful development and said that mobile financial services have reached out to the common people of the society especially the marginalized farmers, fishermen, small traders and the backward classes. He described the findings of the Digital Financial Services Consumer Protection study as a very timely initiative and said that the research would make a significant contribution to policy making to address existing shortcomings in the existing system. He thanked PRI for publishing the research. The Minister appreciated the role of stakeholders in the expansion of mobile financial services and said, Our mobile financial services are a shining example to the world. Mr. Mostafa Jabbar, a pioneer of digital technology development, said that the Digital Bangladesh program announced by the People's Leader Sheikh Hasina in 2008 has established itself as a role model in the world. Mentioning the unimaginable change in the lives of the people of Bangladesh in the last 13 years of continuous digitization, Mostafa Jabbar, the promoter of Bangla language in digital technology, said that besides formulating digital security laws in the country, formulating policies for digital commerce was a challenge. A time will come when business trade will mean digital trade. He hopes to keep life safe through the use of digital technology in Digital Bangladesh. The speakers noted that the research paper on digital financial services is very timely and emphasized the need for regulatory mobile phone operators and financial service providers to work together to address the issues identified.