Photo: Chief Censor of the Office of Censorship, Mr Jim Abani
Papua New Guinea has been faced with cybersecurity issues and accessibility of indecent and harmful materials on the internet over the past couple of years.
In light of this, Chief Censor of the Office of Censorship, Mr Jim Abani, has called for a public private partnership to tackle cybersecurity issues in the country.
Speaking at the signing of an MOA between the Office of Censorship and PNG Dataco last week, Mr Abani said the partnership is vital in the fight for a safer and secure accessibility of information on the internet.
PNG Dataco Managing Director Paul Komboi reiterated similar sentiments.
Mr Abani admits the responsibility his office holds to monitor and control what's been disseminated through different media platforms has become very difficult, therefore he said a partnership is imminent to tackle this challenge and ensure that media platforms are monitored.
"The approach that we are taking now is to engage and maintain public private partnership. The government cannot work alone to ensure that its goals are achieved, we need to partner with the private sector to ensure that we deliver tangible results," Mr Abani said.
Mr Komboi said Dataco is the state-owned enterprise responsible for the supply of internet services in the country, and is quite concerned that there is no proper legislation to control and monitor what has been accessed on the internet.
However, he stated that partnering with government agencies and private companies in the ICT sector will be a way forward to control cybersecurity issues and most of the illicit content that are accessed on the internet.
"The people of Papua New Guinea need to have confidence now that government agencies are working together in partnership and collaboration with the companies in the private sector to be able to address issues relating to cybersecurity,” he said.
"These are indecent illicit materials that are coming through our network and we must put a stop to it in a way that will not deprive other useful information whilst we pursue our objective of digitalising the country," Komboi said.
