Updates on Digital Rights

Situation in Malaysia

By Dr. Jun-E Tan

https://slides.com/jun-e/iffsea-malaysia

Background

• Ongoing political crisis, whereby coalition government of Pakatan Harapan (voted in in 2018) was ousted without a general election, in February 2020

• Current incumbent has only a thin slice of majority. History of draconian rule, without an election manifesto to keep them accountable

• Crackdown on refugees and migrants due to Covid-19

Digital Rights Issues in the Time of Covid-19

• Mass surveillance for public health
• Prosecutions connected to fake news on the coronavirus
• Policy direction: move towards digital space

Current data privacy protections

• Malaysia is fifth worst country for privacy protections and government surveillance, out of 47 countries studied (Comparitech, 2019) - bottom five are Malaysia, Thailand, India, Russia, China
  • Extensive data collection on compulsory national ID card
  • Facial recognition (e.g. border control) and CCTV widely used but few safeguards
  • Data breaches that involved financial and medical details
  • Inter-governmental agency data sharing is in place (MyGDX)
• Personal Data Protection Act under process of review (source)
• Advisory issued for data collection during the Covid-19 conditional movement control order can be viewed here

Coronavirus Surveillance

• Contact tracing apps:
  • MySejahtera: Health self-assessment and access to latest information.  Used by Ministry of Health to track persons under surveillance.
  • GerakMalaysia: Location-based, used by police to manage limited interstate travel (processing applications as well)
  • MyTrace: Bluetooth technology determines duration and distance from one person to another. Location information is collected (?).
  • SELangkah: Visitor registration system in the state of Selangor, using QR code
• Drones used to monitor places under the enhanced movement control order (EMCO)
• Facial recognition and thermal scanning software used (source)
• Google Forms used to collect health data during quarantine, no opting out (source)

Source: Malay Mail

Source: New Straits Times

Restrictions on FoE online

• Anti-Fake News Act was scrapped in Dec 2019, but individuals are still prosecuted for spreading dis/misinformation under other laws
  • 268 investigations of Covid-related fake news. 178 are still under investigation; 30 have been charged in court; 11 were issued with warning notices; and 18 people pleaded guilty to the offence under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998. (source)
  • Covid-19 being used as an excuse by political parties to bring back the Anti-Fake News Act

Source: Malay Mail

Source: Malay Mail

Moving towards the digital

• Free mobile Internet till the end of the year (between 8am-6pm) (source)
• Online learning: e.g. partnership with Coursera to upskill unemployed worker (source)
• Government has allocated RM75mil to promote gig economy and provide a social safety net for workers in the informal sector (source)

Source: Malay Mail