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New 'virtual police' adds to fears over loss of online civic space, civil freedoms
The establishment of the National Police's cyber patrol unit has raised fears that the state is invading online civic space, adding fuel to the ongoing debate over the far-reaching ITE Law and potential curtailing of civil freedoms.
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Stock illustration of electronic surveillance (Shutterstock/File)
T
he National Police’s move to launch a “virtual police squad”, or cyber patrol, for tracking social media posts containing criminally offensive content, has sparked widespread fear of state surveillance at a time when cybercrime is on the rise in Indonesia.
The cyber patrol was set up last month as one of the 16 priority programs under the newly appointed police chief, Comr. Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo.
The move fulfills a plan announced last year by Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD that the government would establish a special police unit to counter the rampant spread of misinformation online, which he said was “not that dangerous, but [was] ruining [public] opinion”.
The new unit works closely with the cybercrimes division of the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim), and focuses solely on combating hoaxes, misinformation and hate speech through restorative justice.
Restorative justice seeks to hold the offending party personally accountable by determining through consensus what they can do to repair the harm they have done. In short, it approaches justice through rehabilitation and reconciliation, not punishment.
The police force has repeatedly stated that the cyber patrol’s aim was not to restrict freedom of expression, but to educate users on social media ethics.
“It is hoped that the virtual police can reduce hoaxes or post-truths in cyberspace,” National Police spokesperson Insp. Gen. Argo Yuwono said in a statement on Feb. 24. “The police do not restrict or limit the public from expressing their opinions.”
