The Legislative Committee should not be considered a new step for the Egyptian government as protection for national electronic security, according to an official with the Ministry of Communications.
Many other countries have made a similar step, the official, who requested anonymity, the official said.
He suggested the committee`s members should study communication and informatics national security in the US and Europe, in addition to their achievements regarding this matter, before issuing local legislations.
It must be considered that Egypt has participated in many international agreements, protocols and treaties concerning information technology in the past, the official added. He considered these treaties, protocols and agreements as progress enabling Egypt to issue a legislation surpassing the international one.
The official expects that under the current circumstances, the committee established by the Ministries of Communications and Justice will not reach satisfactory results. He evidenced this by pointing to the Legislation Committee in the Ministry of Communications, responsible for communication and informatics legislations for the constitution. Although these legislations were important to the national security, the committee did not achieve what was expected from it.
Mohamed Shedid, Executive Director for the Egyptian Information Telecommunications, Electronics and Software Alliance (Eitesal), believes establishing the committee is a wise decision, as we are going through a critical phase. According to Shedid, there is a war against Egypt and its army, with various social networks being used to spread destructive rumours and false news. Even certain correct info should not be published, due to its confidentiality, he said.
Shedid accused some people of trying to control and monitor data that belongs to the Egyptian national security, under the pretext of controlling freedom of opinion and expression. Thus, he called on people to respect the ethics of political and informatics dialogue, except when it comes to the national security of Egypt.
Talaat Omar, Chairman for the Scientific Society of Telecommunications Engineering (SSTE), shares the opinion. Omar believes there is a need to issue firm laws and legislations, for the sake of protecting informatics national security. This is especially true after the development of technology, and the fact that it is applied in many state scopes, which may be misused in a way that harms the national security. This misuse can be through hacking important websites, leaking important info that negatively influences Egyptian national security.
The committee is set to include the Ministries of Defence, Communications, Interior, Information Technology, Foreign Affairs, and Justice.
