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Jokowi asserts need to protect privacy
Streaming video platform Netflix launched in late July The Great Hack, a documentary on the dire state of privacy in the United States and Europe, where people spend much of their time online and volunteer countless nuggets of exploitable information
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span>Streaming video platform Netflix launched in late July The Great Hack, a documentary on the dire state of privacy in the United States and Europe, where people spend much of their time online and volunteer countless nuggets of exploitable information. The two-hour movie’s conclusion is terrifying: Big business and politics have been mass-mining users’ everyday data, ranging from Facebook “likes” to online subscriptions, for profit and power.
It ends by calling personal data “the world’s most valuable asset [...] surpassing oil”.
Fast-forward three weeks and it appears that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, or at least his speech-writers, have watched the documentary, as the President asserts the importance of personal data protection in his State of the Nation address before members of all branches of government —the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.
The annual speech came on the eve of Indonesia’s Independence Day, which falls on a Saturday this year.
“We have to be vigilant about the threat of cybercrime, including the misuse of personal data. [Personal] data is the nation’s new wealth, it is now more valuable than oil,” the President said in his speech at the legislative complex on Friday.
“We have to push for data sovereignty [in the country]. The people’s rights over their personal data should be protected. The regulation should be prepared immediately, and we should not compromise,” Jokowi said.
He added that Indonesia needed to be aware of new challenges posed by technological progress. The country should respond to such challenges that threatened national unity by “regulating [the matter] in a measurable manner”, the President added.
Many lauded Jokowi for highlighting the urgency of personal data protection in his annual address amid looming concerns about privacy in Indonesia, including the lack of regulations mandating the protection of sensitive information.
Numerous revelations about privacy breaches have made headlines recently, including the selling of bank customers’ personal data to credit card salespeople, the misuse of users’ contact lists by peer-to-peer lending applications as well as several instances of doxxing.
However, the country has yet to issue a regulation on data protection. The idea for a data protection bill was initially proposed by then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s administration back in 2006, and a draft has been in the works at the Communications and Information Ministry since 2014.
The bill is intended to consolidate legislation on data protection, which is currently spread out across more than 30 laws, including the 2013 Citizenship Administration Law and the 2016 Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law.
The Communications and Information Ministry reportedly has completed the draft and has already requested that President Jokowi issue a presidential letter to hand the bill over to the House of Representatives for deliberation.
The ministry’s information applications director general, Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, said his office had already held several informal meetings with House of Representatives Commission I overseeing communication and information, which had echoed hopes to pass the bill soon.
Digital rights group the Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet) expressed appreciation for the President bringing up the issue in his State of the Nation address, saying a regulation on data protection was necessary in the information age.
“Aside from data theft for commercial purposes, the people also face a threat of personal data misuse for political affairs. This should be prevented by issuing a regulation on the protection of people’s personal data,” SAFEnet regional coordinator Damar Juniarto said in a statement on Friday.
He added that the regulation should put the people’s interest first, as stipulated in the Constitution. “The country should not bow to corporations and their interests; therefore, the government should work with civil society and academics in drafting the regulation.”
