Ministry of Interior lawyers and data specialists continue to meet to discuss the first draft of a sub-decree on the management, use, privacy safeguards and security of data the government has collected that can potentially be used to identify individuals.

On January 18, specialists from the ministry’s Legislation Council and heads of the ministry’s general directorates and departments discussed an initial draft comprising six chapters and 16 articles.

Ministry secretary of state Bun Hun – who also leads the Legislation Council – told The Post on January 26 that the purpose of this sub-decree was to determine rules for the management, use and privacy protections for identifying data that would serve public interests, promote service provision quality and develop the nation in a highly efficient and secure manner.

“Having examined and studied it, our specialists have identified some difficulties. Currently, individuals’ data and identities can be taken and used without any guarantees for the protection of their privacy or the security of their data and without legal protections.

“That’s not good. This purpose of this sub-decree is to provide such protections,” he said.

Cambodia has never had a law on management, use and protection of privacy for identifying data and the ministry is still formulating the law on civil registry and other related laws. Bun Hun said this sub-decree will make it easier to implement those laws in the future.

Tob Neth, deputy director-general of the General Department of Identification, said in order for this sub-decree to be clear, specialists have to seriously and carefully examine how data identifying individuals can be properly stored or used without affecting their privacy.

“Individuals’ data can be anything from addresses and phone numbers to ID or account numbers. It also can include very private details like their health condition, finances or political affiliations,” Neth said.

Affiliated Network for Social Accountability executive director San Chey said the networked nature of the present era has caused concerns about privacy protections for individuals, with added concerns regarding those entities that hold large databases of identifying information about people, such as the government and social media companies.

He said respect for and consideration of individual privacy is a good thing and should be incorporated into the government’s digital policies.

“I hope the government figures out how to keep our information private and secure if they are going to collect and store it in databases. Leaks of private information to social media happen too often and they damage the honour and image of the nation.

“Anyone keeping a database of Cambodian’s private information should be strictly regulated and held to the highest security standards,” he said.