Cambodia: Tech experts and CSOs express ongoing concerns of online security and safety; while govt.-introduced legislation appears to curtail online freedoms
"Cambodians’ Digital Security a Growing Concern, Experts Say", 30 June 2022
Experts are concerned that while more and more Cambodians have access to the internet their knowledge of how to protect themselves from cybercrime is still in its infancy.
‘’Based on what I have seen, most Cambodians are not familiar with or know much about digital security. If compared to other countries in the region, Cambodians, mostly young people, were only just introduced to cyberspace,” Chy Sophat, an organizer at Barcamp Cambodia and also a content creator with the focus on technology and digital security, a loose international network focused on technology and the web, told ...
Chea Vandeth, Minister of Post and Telecommunication, also thinks this is a problem, saying only 30 percent of Cambodians have basic knowledge of digital literacy and know how to use digital platforms and the internet to search for and share information.
A cybercrime law has been in draft form …, but has not yet passed, due to debate over its wording…
Khuon Sokpiseth, deputy director of the Ministry of Interior’s Anti-Cybercrime Department, recently told a forum convened to discuss the law, that it so far focuses primarily on child exploitation, online fraud, and cybercrime.
‘’The cybercrime law is still under review and needs to be adjusted accordingly. Technical wording is the main factor that makes it hard to finalize – it is complicated,” he said…
Nop Vy, the executive director of CamboJA, said civil society organizations have urged the Cambodian government to work with them to ensure that they receive enough input from different parties before finalizing the drafting law…