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Call +234 (0) 8035007778Public Hearing at Nigeria House of Representatives on Draft bill legislation for Cyber Security and Information Protection Agency
Nigeria's House of Representatives Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes will be holding a Public Hearing on the draft legislation for Cyber Security and Information Protection Agency on Wednesday, July 8, 2009.
The Bill is to provide
for the establishment of the Cyber Security & Information Protection
Agency charged with the responsibility to secure computer and
Networks.
Stakeholders have been invited to review the Bill.
Stakeholders are
expected to submit a Written memorandum and make Oral Presentation
at the Public Hearing scheduled to deliberate on the Structure and
Content of the proposed bill.
Date: Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Venue: Conference
Room 0.28, Ground Floor (New Wing), House of Representative,
National Assembly Complex, Abuja
Time: 10: 00am prompt
Brief
Summary on the Cyber Security And Information Protection Agency
(Establishment, Etc) Bill 2008
The bill proposes to establish a Cyber
Security and Information Protection Agency which will be
responsible for enforcement of the provisions of the bill;
investigation of cyber crimes; promoting and adopting anti cyber
crime measures in all facets of society; investigating all reported
cases of cyber crimes and ensuring the prosecution of individuals,
corporate organization involved cyber crime; registration and
regulation of service providers in Nigeria with the views to
monitor their activities; creating public awareness on the nature
and forms of cyber crime.
The Executive Vice Chairman and four other members of the agency
will be appointed by the President subject to confirmation by the
senate.
Several Sections
The bill
is divided into several sections identifying various types of cyber
crime and prescribing measures for offenders. Let's look briefly
into some key areas.
In the section of Unauthorized disclosure of
access, pass word code etc, the draft bill states that
offenders in this area that disclose password, access code; or other
means to gain access to program data or database held in computer
for unlawful purpose or gain, will be liable on conviction to a fine
of not less than N500,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not less
than 3 years.
Another major area is Fraudulent electronic
mail message and spamming. If the bill is passed it will now
be a criminal offence for anyone to send electronic mail messages
with the intent to defraud. The draft bill prescribes that people
involved in spanning should be liable on conviction "to a fine not
less than N500,000 or imprisonment for a term of not less than 3
years or to both such fine and imprisonment".
With regard to Misuse of devices, the
draft bill wants it to be criminal to use devices, codes or other
devices to overcome information security measures to violate the
provisions of the bill.
Identify fraud is also mentioned in the
bill and it proposes that any one who assumes the identify of
another person with the intention to deceive or defraud "commits an
offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of not less than
N500,000 or imprisonment for a term of not less than 3 years or to
both such fine and imprisonment".
A critical component of the proposed bill is the prescribed responsibilities of service providers.
According the draft "Every service provider shall keep all traffic,
subscriber information or any specific content on its computer or
network for such period of time as the Agency may require". It is
important that service providers digest this aspect of the bill. It
has far reaching implications in view of service provider duties and
expectations as well as the sanctions for non-compliance. In view of
the obvious implications certain provisions are also made for
privacy in the area.
Cyber terrorism is a major section in
the draft bill. The draft lists several definitions/examples of
terrorism and specifically states that, "Any person, group or
organization that intentionally accesses any computer or network for
purposes of terrorism, commits an offence and shall be liable on
conviction to a fine of not less than N10,000,000 or a term of
imprisonment of not less than 20 years of to both such fine and
imprisonment".
The draft attempts to address the protection
of intellectual property right in the electronic/online
domain and prescribes sanctions.
It also has a section on pornography in the
online/electronic environment. In particular it identifies
several threats to children using computers and makes several
provisions for the protection of children who use computers.
The draft bill makes several provisions of the protection of critical information infrastructure and the
audit and inspection of critical information infrastructure.
Offences against critical information infrastructure are identified
and stiff sanctions are prescribed for offenders. For instance it
states that "Any person who violates any provision as to the
critical information infrastructure designated under section 23 of
this Bill, commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a
fine of not less than N15,000,000 or imprisonment of a term of not
less than 25 years or both such find and imprisonment".
The proposed bill aims to make it possible to use electronic evidence as primary evidence in court. It
states that "Notwithstanding anything contained in any enactment or
law in Nigeria, an information contained in any computer which is
printed out on paper, stored, recorded or copied on any media, shall
be deemed to be primary evidence under this Bill".
The power to initiate criminal proceedings is
conferred on the proposed Agency. And the bill also contains
information on: Authorized officer powers of search and arrest;
Obstruction of law enforcement officer; Tampering with computer
evidence; Forfeiture of assets; Compounding of offence and payment
of compensation; Attempt conspiracy and abetment
Included in the draft bill are definitions of (technical and legal)
terms and terminologies used in the document.
click for A Submission to the Public Hearing on the Bill to provide for the
Establishment of the Cyber Security & Information Protection Agency at
the National Assembly on Wednesday 8th July 2009 by the African
Information Security Association (AISA)
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What Do you Have to Say? Post Your Comments about this Content Resource Here.
July 7, 2009
Adekoya, Adebayo Felix
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Dear Colleagues,
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July 6, 2009
Idris Sanni of Abuja, Nigeria says:
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Thank you so much. I am a stakeholder. I will be there. But I must complain that there was very little publicity. Is this another attempt to turn national matters into a closed shop?
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