Crackdown on internet users in Bangladesh: An E-Bangladesh exclusive

RAB & Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) pinpointing internet users with a fast connections. ISPs instructed to reveal admin password, user data. "Traffic scanners" to monitor internet users. BTRC memo leaked to E-Bangladesh. RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) members assisted by BTRC (Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission) officials are conducting house-to-house searches in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet pinpointing each and every internet user with a fast connection.

[An E-Bangladesh exclusive.]

RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) members assisted by BTRC (Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission) officials are conducting house-to-house searches in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet pinpointing each and every internet user with a fast connection. In an unprecedented move that clearly violates privacy rights and threatens freedom of speech and communication, a special cell comprising RAB and BTRC officials are now collecting user details — name, address, login and usage statistics — from all the ISPs (Internet Service Provider) in order to profile more than 450,000 internet subscribers in the country.

Officials from different ISPs in Dhaka, Sylhet and Chittagong have confirmed to E-Bangladesh that they were verbally instructed late September by the authorities to:
Provide a list of all their subscribers with name, address and connection details. Share the admin password of internet gateway servers. Facilitate installation of "traffic scanners" provided by RAB on gateway routers.

A memo issued by BTRC that instructed ISPs to share/reveal sensitive private data of internet users, business details and technical information was leaked to E-Bangladesh. This memo, BTRC/E&O/ISP-Gen.(302)/2007-1697 , issued on September 26, was signed by Dilshat Ara Shela, Assistant Director Engineering & Operations, BTRC. It instructed and advised 72 ISPs in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet:
To provide BTRC with details of bandwidth lease and usage. To provide details of "corporate/dedicated/shared" clients: Name, address, IP. To provide copies of technical agreements with connectivity providers. To reveal individual client MRTG URL with user id and password.

"ISPs must have complete information regarding the exact location of the client," the memo advised. Failure to comply with BTRC demands may result in closure of the ISP, it warned.

A senior BTRC official, on condition of anonymity, claimed to E-Bangladesh that BTRC is assisting RAB members in their crackdown on illegal VOIP operators. He could not, however, explain why regular home users are being targeted.

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