Beyond the Shadows: Reforming surveillance practices in Bangladesh

During the July-August uprising, and in the decade leading up to it, the use of state and security agencies to surveil ordinary citizens became so ubiquitous that people self-censored on public technology platforms and migrated to private, encrypted messaging services. In response to these concerns, various civil society and industry groups are calling for the repeal of the Cyber Security Act, 2023 (CSA) and the dismantling of organisations like the National Telecommunications Monitoring Centre (NTMC) for undermining privacy and other fundamental rights.