Measures to enhance and assure trust and security

Policy Brief

At a time when the government bodies have been claiming of doing needful for the development and implementation of broadband in the country, complaints are rife that the policies relating to the ICT and broadband have not been effectively implemented thereby deferring the development. To substantiate here, the recent MIS report prepared by Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has placed the internet penetration rate at 58.31 in Nepal, but the access and speed of internet is not reliable. Similarly, ICT is taken as an important catalyst to achieving SDGs, the wavering commitment, delayed setup and utilization of infrastructures1 and overlapping responsibilities clearly shows that internet expansion and the implementation of related policies are waiting proper attention. 

The stakeholders representing various sectors including academia, law, media, research, technology, security bodies, and government agencies came up with the views pointing out the need of rigorous implementation of the policies on the ICT and broadband in a recent engagement on broadband policy and regulatory process in Nepal. The four-day long program discussed and debated multifarious issues relating to ICT and internet in Nepal along with the comparison with some countries2. In view of the need to fill the policy gaps and to accelerate implementation, the members of the group engrossed on' Measures to enhance and assure trust and security' has come up with some recommendations to the NTA, the State agency to implement and regulate the ICT policies.

The group believes that the due attention to the recommendations it made would result in the country realizing the use of ICT and internet as the real drivers of innovation in business, government and society thereby achieving the development goals.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS/RECOMMENDATIONS

Recommendations 
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1.	Chief security officer be managed in IT and IT-enabled industries 
2.	Computer emergency response team (CERT) be guaranteed under the Home Ministry with ICT experts and stakeholders
3.	Government be pressed for devising an independent ICT Ministry 
4.	ICT awareness be built on PPP model
5.	ICT Master Plan (with roadmap- from where to begin implementation, which area to focus, illustrate in policy and act) be made and implemented accordingly
6.	Standardization guaranteed of data centre being supported by different private organizations,
7.	Provision of ethical hacker in policy and implement strictly be ensured
8.	Information System (IS) audit for the critical information system be ensured
9.	Advocacy to prevent child pornography and online safety be enhanced

THE RESEARCH

We, the participants falling in the group named 'Measures to Enhance and Assure Trust and Security' adopted the following methods for the research to make the above mentioned recommendations-  

a)	Study of constitution, laws, policies and regulations: The provision of the supreme law of the country- Constitution- were studied to know whether the current policies have any incompatibility in terms of citizen's right to information and freedom of expression. Similarly, the Consumers' Protection Act 1996, Broadband Policy 2015, ICT Policy 2015 were studied rigorously to draw the points for reform. 
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b)	Focused Group Discussion: During the four-day discussion, the group made notes about the views, complaints and suggestions furnished at different levels by the speakers and attendants. The group actively engaged on making questions to the paper presenters to become clear on the points. As the discussion program was attended by the multi-stakeholders, the views were obviously diverse but focused on the broadband policy and the related infrastructures. The inputs by the international experts were worth contribution to our research.

c)	Study of related Opinion/Articles: Even the articles and opinions by the experts and the news on the related topics were collected from the national and international media were studied and their relevance to the topic was drawn.

Recent MIS Report on Internet Penetration in Nepal 

Although the NTA data shows such progress that more than half population of the country is linked to internet, the reliable interent is a perstinent concern.

References 

1.	Constitution of Nepal-2015
http://www.lawcommission.gov.np/en/documents/2016/01/constitution-of-nepal-2.pdf 
2.	ICT Policy 2015- http://www.nta.gov.np/en/legislation/policies
3.	Broadband Policy-2015, ICT Policy- http://www.nta.gov.np/ne/legislation-np/policies-np 
4.	Consumer Protection Act, 2054 (1998)
http://www.wipo.int/edocs/lexdocs/laws/en/np/np010en.pdf
5.	Nepal Telecommunications Authority, MIS Report (14, March 2017 – 13, April 2017) 
http://www.nta.gov.np/en/mis-reports-en

AUTHOR/S

1Narayan Prasad Ghimire, ICT policies await strict implementation for development,
http://www.newsabhiyan.com/news-details.php?nid=86414 

2Narayan Prasad Ghimire, "Stakeholders debate broadband policy and regulatory process"
http://www.newsabhiyan.com/news-details.php?nid=86077, accessed 16 July 2017

Sameer Sharma,  Role of ITU in Building Security & Trust in Cyberspace, accessed 16 July 2017
http://www.nta.gov.np/files/cyber%20Security/ITU_Initiatives_on_CYB_GCI_2016_NTA_Nepal.pdf