TEHRAN – Iran’s Information and Communication Technology Ministry submitted the personal data protection bill to cabinet on Sunday.

The bill, which aims to protect online privacy of Iranian citizens, was introduced during a ceremony on the sidelines of the 24th Iran International Exhibition of Electronics, Computer & E-commerce (ELECOMP 2018) on Saturday.

The ceremony was attended by ICT Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, MPs Kazem Jalali and Parvaneh Mafi and Ramazan Ali Sobhanifar.

Speaking at the event, Azari Jahromi said that such laws are necessary to protect citizens’ online privacy.

Nowadays many startups and other online services have access to personal data of users, hence it is necessary to protect the online privacy of citizens by passing laws on this issue, he stated.

The bill is not only proposed for Iranian messaging apps but all the services which have access to the user’s personal data, he explained. 

“The bill is the first experience of the ICT Ministry in proposing a bill. It is completed with the help of academics and benefiting from crowdsourcing,” Azari Jahromi wrote on his Twitter account on Saturday night.

Crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining information or input into a task or project by enlisting the services of a large number of people, either paid or unpaid, typically via the Internet.

Privacy matters!

Azari Jahromi pointed to the speech of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in which he called the trespassing of users’ personal space as a haram act.

On April 9, the Leader stated that it would be haram for domestic social apps to trespass users’ personal space.

He suggested that government and judicial bodies should take care that people will not be victimized by social apps and that their personal information remain secure and private.

Privacy and security of data, which have been shared in cyberspace matter to all users of messaging application and Iranians are not exception.

Following this, in a note on his Instagram account in April, Azari Jahromi highlighted the importance of data security and privacy, saying they are observed in cyberspace in Iran. 

“Our religion and laws highlight the importance of privacy,” he said.

SB/PA
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