Passing the Cybercrime Code Act in 2016 was Papua New Guinea’s commitment to reform and develop its ICT laws.
While there have been one or two arrests since this, NICTA CEO, Charles Punaha says, enforcement is still a challenge.
“Currently, there’s still a lot of improper use, especially on social media where people are making very slanderous, defamatory and malicious statements. Unfortunately in most cases, these people don’t use their real names.
“The police obviously need assistance because they are not ICT savvy, so we (NICTA) are providing assistance in terms of undertaking the technical investigations. We are trying to address this from IP addresses…we can trace it back to that IP address and identify that person,” he said.
He added that the intention mainly is to make people accountable, and be responsible for what they put out on social media.
In the meantime, Punaha says a case is currently before the courts, to be used as a test case.
This test case is being formulated by a private law firm. And according to Punaha, it is basically looking at sites engaging in improper ICT services with the view of getting the courts to set parameters upon which they can operate.
NICTA has also issued instruction to all the Internet Service Providers to employ administrators to continuously monitor what’s going through their hubs.
“In the event they see statements criminal in nature, their job is to remove these comments on their sites,” said Punaha.
“But I admit that enforcement will be our biggest challenge. Hopefully we can get one or two successful cases through the court and that can stand as a deterrent.”