News
Bill to tone down powers of Online Safety Commission
View(s):Removal of the power of the Online Safety Commission to issue notices to internet service providers and internet intermediaries to deny access to online locations is among the Online Safety Law amendments presented to parliament this week.
The Online Safety (Amendment) Bill was presented to parliament on Thursday by House Leader Susil Premajayantha.
The amendments to the bill, which was passed in parliament in January, are being introduced after concerns were raised by stakeholders over certain sections of the original law.
The draft bill extends the application of the law to cover statements communicated, intending to harass a target person by publishing any private communication of such a person and online publishing of photographs, audio, or video of abusive or pornographic nature without the expressed consent of a person.
The bill empowers the Commission to make a code of practice by way of rules to address harmful online content and behaviour, including hate speech, incitement to violence, misinformation, disinformation, cyberbullying and harassment, and online sexual exploitation or abuse.
Once the amendments are passed, internet service providers and internet intermediaries will have three months to formulate a code of practice on a voluntary basis or communicate their desire to the Commission to jointly formulate a code of practice, together with the Commission.
If they fail to do so within the stipulated period, the Commission will take steps to formulate such a code of practice, publish a draft in electronic form, and seek comments, observations, and recommendations from the internet service providers and internet intermediaries within three months and take steps to reach concurrence and consensus with them.
The Commission will also take steps to hold public consultations on the draft code of practice for three months prior to its issuance and place it before Parliament for approval.
The best way to say that you found the home of your dreams is by finding it on Hitad.lk. We have listings for apartments for sale or rent in Sri Lanka, no matter what locale you're looking for! Whether you live in Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Matara, Jaffna and more - we've got them all!