Cyber law to be finalized in 2004

JAKARTA (JP): The government expects to complete drafting the country's law on cyber crime in 2004, according to State Minister of Communications and Information Syamsul Mu'arif.

Syamsul said on Wednesday that drafting of the law needed a considerable amount of time, mainly because of the lack of information technology (IT) expertise in the country.

"Although we urgently need the law, we cannot finalize it immediately as we're lacking "law drafters" as well as information technology experts to help ensure that the law will be workable," Syamsul told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a seminar on cyber law.

Syamsul said his ministry was currently studying a draft version proposed by a team of academics from the Bandung Institute of Technology and the Padjajaran University.

"We're examining two documents: one on an information technology bill and another on electronic signatures and electronic commerce," he said.

Syamsul said that the documents would be studied by a government team, which would also ask the opinion of other IT experts and consumer groupings, before preparing it as a final draft to be submitted to the House of Representatives.

Head of the government's law drafting team, Ahmad M. Ramli, said earlier that the law would address crimes dealing with the Internet, such as credit card fraud and digital signature fraud that sometimes occur during transactions on the Internet.

It would also address definitions of privacy on the Net, such as how a company should manage confidential information of its customers, he said.

Telecommunications observer RM Roy Suryo said the government must immediately draft the cyber law as it was urgently needed by industries running their businesses through e-commerce.

Citing many cases of cyber crimes, Roy said the cyber law was crucial to protect consumers given that it was very difficult to detect or prove cyber crimes.

"Many new cyber crimes can't be accommodated by the existing law. That's why we need the cyber law immediately," he told The Post.

Syamsul said that his ministry was also considering amalgamating the clauses of the new cyber law together with other clauses on telecommunications and broadcasting laws to increase efficiency.

"We are investigating whether to put them all together under a single law on information and multimedia," he said.(dmr)