Dear Ms Vayapooree,
I sent the an email to the following to the Information and
Communication Technologies Authority on 19 May. I have not received
any reply from the Information and Communication Technologies
Authority. I am copying this message to the Chairman of the ICT
Advisory Council.
I am the representative of the Mauritius Internet Users for the
"National Internet Filtering System" issue. On 12 May 2015, Dr M K
Oolun, Executive Director of the Information and Communication
Technologies Authority sent a letter to Mr Ish Sookun about the
"National Internet Filtering System" issue. A copy of the FAQ at
https://www.icta.mu/it/csa_faq.html was included in the
letter. Both the letter and the FAQ refer to section 18(1)(m) of the
ICT Act 2001:
"section 18(1)(m) of the ICT Act 2001 as amended where one the functions
of the ICT Authority is to take steps to regulate or curtail harmful
and illegal content on Internet and other information and communication
services."
Is the Information and Communication Technologies Authority
responsible for taking measures to discourage or prevent the flow of
content which is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene, or
menacing character or infringing intellectual property rights and
international and domestic cyber laws?
I read Licence No. C08/2004/007 issued to Emtel Limited under the
Information and Communication Technologies Act 2001 (as
amended). The document has the name A. B. Radhakisson, Chairman,
Information and Communications Technologies Authority. However, the
document is not signed [1]. Could you please confirm whether that
internet service licence is valid?
There is the following in Section 14 of the document:
"14.1 The Licensee shall take all the necessary measures to discourage and
prevent the flow of content which is grossly offensive or of
an indecent,
obscene, or menacing character or infringing intellectual
property rights
and international and domestic cyber laws.
14.2 The Licensee shall be liable and assume the sole
responsibility for any
claim or damage arising out of default of the licensee or
any breach of
Clause 14.1 above."
Is Emtel Limited liable and solely responsible for any breach of
Clause 14.1 of the document?
The answer to "where is the system hosted?" is [2]:
"The system setup is presently hosted at the ICT Authority"
Could you please confirm whether the system is hosted at the ICT Authority?
The answer to "Which ISPs use the filter?" is [2]:
"Emtel Ltd, Data Communications Ltd, Mauritius Telecom."
I read Licence No. C08/2012/008 issued to Hot Link Co Ltd. under the
Information and Communication Technologies Act 2001 (as
amended). The document [3] does not contain any name and is not
signed. Could you please confirm whether that internet service
licence is valid?
If the licence is valid, why is Hot Link Co Ltd. not using the filter?
The answer to "What system is used to do the filtering?" is [2]:
"The software is Netclean Whitebox, the leader in providing child online
safety protection."
Is there a reason why the Information and Communication Technologies
Authority is stating that vendor is "the leader in providing ..."?
The answer to "What happens if a user logs in to a banned site?" is [2]:
"You will see a message saying that access to the site has been banned.
Instead an ICTA blockpage will be displayed."
Does the Information and Communication Technologies Authority collect
any personal data if "a user logs in to a banned site"?
I could not find a privacy policy on the Information and
Communication Technologies Authority web site. Does the Information
and Communication Technologies Authority have a privacy policy?
Regards,
S. Moonesamy
1.
https://www.icta.mu/documents/licences/isp/ISP_Emtel.pdf
2.
https://www.icta.mu/it/csa_faq.html
3.
https://www.icta.mu/documents/licences/isp/ISP_Hot_Link.pdf
Received on Thu Oct 01 2015 - 05:50:07 PST