Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society

Category: ICT policies

  • Interception of Communications Act 2010

    The Interception of Communications Bill 2010 was laid in the House of Representatives by the Minister of National Security, Senator Brigadier John Sandy.

    The Bill seeks to “provide for and about the interception of communications, the acquisition and disclosure of data relating to communications, the acquisition of the means by which electronic data protected by encryption or passwords may be decrypted or accessed and other related matters.”

    From the text of The Interception of Communications Bill 2010 :

    This Bill seeks to provide the legal framework within which public or private communications, which are being transmitted by means of a public or private telecommunications network, can be lawfully intercepted. An interception of communication is lawfully done only when it is done pursuant to a warrant issued by a Judge on an application by an authorized officer. Consequently, it is an offence for a person intentionally to intercept a communication being transmitted without an order of the Court. In general, a warrant would be issued only to investigate, prevent or detect a specified offence, and would be valid for an initial period of ninety days, but may be extended by the Court for two further periods, each for ninety days. The Bill also makes provision for an oral application for a warrant in urgent circumstances, subject to certain safeguards. Finally, the Bill provides that the content of a communication or communication data, which is lawfully obtained, is admissible as evidence in any criminal proceedings.

    The introduction of the bill follows a statement by the Honourable Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on November 12 2010 in the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament House of Representatives of concerning the unregulated interception of communication of several individuals by an agency of the state,as well as the Special Anticrime Unit of Trinidad and Tobago (SAUTT).

    The Bill went into Committee Stage in the House of Representatives. The Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago was invited by the Parliamentary Committee for its comments and the Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (TTCS) forwarded some comments on the Bill to the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago on November 23 2010.

    Amendments to the Bill were made in the House of Representatives and the Bill went to the Senate where it also went into Committee Stage and further amendments made.

    The Bill was assented to in December 3 2010 and proclaimed by the President in mid December 2010.

    On December 7 2010, a Bill titled “Interception of Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2010” in the Senate. This Bill seeks to amend Clause 26 in the Interception of Communications Act 2010 to add “, subject to negative resolution of Parliament,” after the word “Order”.

    Clause 26 of the Interception of Communications Act would therefore now read

    “The Minister may by Order, subject to negative resolution of Parliament, amend any of the Schedules to this Act.”

    The Schedules to this Act documents the Application for a Warrant, the Statutory Declaration in support of an application for a warrant, and the form to notify the Minister of National Security.

    The Interception of Communications (Amendment) Bill 2010 was passed in the Senate on the same day (December 7 2010) and was subsequently introducted and passed in the House of Representatives on December 10 2010. It was assented to on the December 20 2010.

  • Laptops in Schools (2010)

    In June 2010, the Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society put together some comments regarding the laptops-for-children program (in which every child going on to secondary school will be provided with a laptop) that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago was proposing to implement for September 2010. These comments were forwarded to the Ministry of Education.

    Read TTCS comments on Laptops in Schools Programme (PDF ; 190K)

     

     

  • Govt of Trinidad and Tobago releases Consultative Document for the Policy on Cinema Exhibition and Video Entertainment

    The Government of Trinidad and Tobago (GoRTT) has released a “Consultative Document for the Policy on Cinema Exhibition and Video Entertainment in Trinidad and Tobago.” (PDF ; 671K) in May 2009

    The proposed policy “is targeted to the proprietors/ businessmen, administrators and law makers involved in providing availability to, and regulation of such availability of, film and video entertainment products to the public of Trinidad and Tobago.” and applicable “..to all persons exhibiting, intending to exhibit or otherwise making available motion pictures, video games or any form of video entertainment via rental, sale or arcades to the general public.”

    (Update 18th May 2009 : The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society has open a wiki page (Note link is to a saved version of the wiki page as a PDF) to gather answers to the questions asked in the document. If you have never used the TTCS wiki, you can request access to the TTCS wiki and once added, you can edit the TTCS wiki page)

    (Update: On June 30th, 2009, the TTCS submitted its comments : TTCS Comments on Consultative Document on Draft Policy for Video and Cinema.pdf

    In this proposed policy, the GoRTT states the following policy positions :

    • The current mechanism for censorship of material is unwieldy and impractical in the contemporary setting. In the interest of encouraging personal choice of the consumer, the Government proposes to introduce a rating classification system which will guide the content of the motion picture and video entertainment product.
    • Accordingly the framework should be focused on content regulation and/or management in the interest of protecting the citizenry (and especially minors) from unwanted or unexpected exposure to harmful, distasteful or socially malignant content. Such regulation shall include all forms of motion picture (film, videocassette, DVD, etc.) and/or video entertainment products (commercials, electronic games etc.), and auxiliary materials associated with the marketing and release of such products.
    • In an environment of continued convergence of information and communications technologies, and the new channels and media thereby facilitated, it is essential that the framework is technology neutral;
    • Where there are gaps in the overall legislative framework, or where it is necessary to provide clarity for applicability herein, the framework shall defer to parent frameworks associated with the maintenance of public safety and the preservation of public order.
    • The framework will support easy entry into the industry of video entertainment sales or rental service providers, reducing regulatory overhead as much as possible in this area of activity which has neither control of supply nor market dominance, considering the multiple channels by which these products can be obtained. In that regard, regulation will be limited to that which is sufficient to ensure compliance with the content management provisions pursuant to (2) above.
    • To facilitate this function, the Government proposes to convert the Film Censors Board to a sectoral regulatory body: – the Film and Video Review Authority to –
      1. Classify film and video entertainment products, as well as auxiliary marketing paraphernalia (posters, advertisements etc.);
      2. Licence Exhibitors;
      3. Licence Exhibition Venues
      4. Undertake to inspect operations of Exhibitors and Proprietors to ensure adherence to the provisions of this Policy;
      5. Develop codes of practice in conjunction with Exhibitors and Proprietors; and
      6. Advise the Minister on recommended regulatory instruments and orders to support the management of the regulatory framework herein established.

    The deadline for comments to  the GoRTT is June 30th, 2009 (updated June 15, 2009)  May 30th, 2009. View/Download

  • Data Protection Bill 2009

    The Data Protection Bill 2009 was introduced in the House of Representatives in January 2009 which was identical to the Data Protection Bill 2008 that lapsed in the previous session of Parliament.

    Following concerns raised by the Opposition, the Bill was referred to a Joint Select Committee in February 2009. The Joint Select Committee Report was laid on May 15 2009. However, the Bill lapsed with the end of the Parliament session in January 8 2010.

     

  • Electronic Transactions Bill 2009

    The Electronic Transactions Bill 2009 was introduced to the House of Representatives in January 2009.

    Following concerns raised by the Opposition, the Bill was referred to a Joint Select Committee in February 2009. The Joint Select Committee Report was laid on May 15 2009. However, the Bill lapsed with the end of the Parliament session in January 8 2010.

  • Data Protection Bill 2008

    The Data Protection Bill 2008 was introduced to the House of Representatives in November 2008 but the bill lapsed in Dec 2008 with the end of the Parliament session.

     

  • Draft National E-business policy of Trinidad and Tobago (July 2008) and TTCS comments

    The Ministry of Public Admin (MPA) has released a “Draft National Policy on Electronic Business for Trinidad and Tobago” around July 2008 for comment.

    According to this document, the aim of the policy is :

    To develop a vibrant and sustainable e-Business industry that will contribute to the transformation of Trinidad and Tobago’s economic paradigm towards one that has a significant knowledge base, through:

    • Strengthening the Nation’s infrastructure;
    • Clarifying market place rules;
    • Developing networks;
    • Increasing participation;
    • Developing the Nation’s human resources; and
    • Developing the Nation’s R&D and Innovation Capacity.

    The objectives of the draft national policy :

    This policy framework intends to identify actions that the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (GoRTT) will need to take in order to create an economic, infrastructural and human resource environment in which e-Business opportunities can thrive. These actions will be taken in collaboration with the private sector, academia, NGO’s and citizens. In this regard, the proposals herein are structured to minimize the direct intervention of Government in taking these proposals forward. This is to encourage increased competitiveness of the ICT sector in Trinidad and Tobago.

    The deadline for comments was October 13 2008 and required comments to be submitted online at http://ebusiness.fastforward.tt/business/townhall

    The TTCS submitted the comments after having a wiki page to document answers respond to the questions in the draft policy, followed by a F2F meeting on October 11 2008.

    View / Download:

     

     

     

     

     

  • Electronic Transactions Bill 2008

    The Electronic Transactions Bill 2008 was introduced to the House of Representatives in September 2008. It “seeks to provide for the transfer of information and records by electronic means”.

    However the bill lapsed in Dec 2008 with the end of the Parliament session.

  • TTCS recommendation to Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards regarding its vote on DIS29500

    As a member of the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards (TTBS) Information Technology Committee, the Trinidad and
    Tobago Computer Society     (TTCS) ) submitted its recommendation on DIS29500 aka OpenXML on March 6th 2008 as per the deadline set by the TTBS.

    You can view our recommendation online at
    https://files.ttcs.tt/comments/TTCS-recommendation-on-DIS29500.pdf (PDF ; 201K).

    Previous posts on DIS29500 :

    Other members of the TTBS IT committee have also made recommendations to the TTBS on whether the TTBS, as a result of being a Participatory Member in ISO/IEC JTC1 SC34 can either approve, disapprove or abstain from voting on DIS29500 to be a ISO standard.

    There will be a TTBS IT committee meeting on March 13th, 2008 to discuss the recommendations received. After, the TTBS will decide and will inform the IT committee on its decision by March 20th, 2008. (Update 22 March 2008 ; the TTBS stated it will “change its vote from abstention to approval” of DIS29500)

    For the first time since the TTCS has submitted comments on various IT related policies in Trinidad and Tobago, we used Google Documents to create and edit the recommendation 1,195 times before the document was complete. This has worked well compared with sending emails of different document versions back and forth, and the TTCS will probably use this facility for future submissions similar to these and other IT related policies.

  • The Role of Open Source Software in Trinidad and Tobago

    thumbnail-comments-on-oss-in-tnt

    In late October 2006, the Ministry of Public Administration and Information (MPAI) has published a discussion paper on “the role of Open Source Software in Trinidad and Tobago”. From the document

    “The aim of this paper is review the role of the Open Source Software (OSS) model within the broader societal goals of economic and social development. The issues discussed herein shall be critical to further engage the Public Service and the wider national ICT sector in developing an action plan going forward. Such a national discourse and action plan will go a long way in meeting the objectives of fastforward, the National ICT Plan, and the regional action plan for the information society, eLAC2007.

    In pursuing the above aim, this consultation paper attempts to: (i) address the major risks cited against the use of the OSS model; (ii) identify uses of the OSS model in various segments of the industry; and (iii) gain feedback proposing a way forward, with opportunity and threats, for OSS in the developmental objectives of Trinidad and Tobago.”