It’s time we catch up with technology

THE vice-chancellor of Divine Word University (DWU) in Madang once said that the university will be a paperless institution of higher learning in Papua New Guinea.
So the technology that will be available to DWU to ensure that the paperless policy is implemented should have been anybody’s guess.
However, the adaptation and the spillover of the technology in the country is fast becoming a reality trend.
Over the last few years, there was a massive sales record of smartphone at a rate of four per annum and internet penetration rate in PNG at the back of this perception is one of the lucrative business portfolio for Digicel, one of the world’s leading Internet Service Providers (ISP).
PNG in anybody’s guess is fast becoming a country mechanised by technology and with this trend, cyberspace crimes like online threats, scams, fake news, false accusations, pornography and blackmailing are being experienced daily by almost everyone in the country.
At this backdrop, let me ponder on legislative efforts to safeguard the rights and interests of the citizens against the unintended outcomes of the technological advancements in the country.
In 2014, the O’Neill Government vehemently tabled the Cyberspace Bill in Parliament amid wider oppositional views as well as increasing cyberspace crimes.
Among other oppositional views, most people wanted the government to keep it’s hands off the cyberspace in supposing that government regulation will kill freedom of speech and democratic rights reserved for citizens.
However, it is undoubtedly clear that freedom of speech and democratic rights are not absolute rights as long as conflicts are an insatiable element of every speech and actions.
In a globalised world and in one that’s disillusioned by technology, interactive media takes prominence as shown by the popularity and growth of over-the-top (OTT) applications such as Facebook, Gmail, Instagram and Google.
Interactive Media is good for secrecy or mutual benefits but in public blogs, lack of proof reading to avoid unintended assimilation of information contained within a piece of post or comment is a crime.
Also, in most countries like the New Zealand and Australia, cyberspace authorities and laws have been introduced to address cybercrimes.
Nonetheless the cyberspace is fast becoming the ‘new world’ and thus it needs a properly recognised institutional mechanisms to create the cyberculture that it truly deserves.
The Cyberspace Bill is one of the most important institutional element that is required for the cyberspace to ensure its full potential is harnessed within the parameters of the technological advancements at the moment.

Mike H, Via email