Cyber bill raises concerns
Cambodia’s highly secretive draft law on cybercrime, which has never been released publicly, seeks to criminalise online content that “slanders or undermines” government agencies, ministries or officials or affects “political cohesiveness”, a copy obtained by the Post reveals. The law, which was first announced in May 2012 to the trepidation of many netizens, is supposed to be passed this mandate. But the government has thus far ignored calls from civil society groups to release a draft for consultation. Article 19, the London-based freedom-of-expression advocacy group that obtained an English-language version of the draft law, said that it falls “well below international standards” on freedom of expression, information and privacy, and if passed could see “Cambodia’s currently free online space [backsliding] into the country’s deep-seated culture of secrecy and self-censorship”. …
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cyber-bill-raises-concerns
