Indonesia\'s Challenge: Low Literacy, Breached Privacy

KOMPAS/TATANG MULYANA SINAGA

Young people join the Bandung Anti Hoaks (Bandung Against Hoaxes) declaration organized by the Indonesian Anti-Libel Society (Mafindo) during Car Free Day on Jl. Ir Djuanda, Bandung, West Java, on March 31, 2019 (31/3/2019).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is inevitably accelerating the digital transformation of society, infringement into privacy of personal data and hoaxes have become major issues in Indonesia\'s cybersphere.

For this reason, the ratification of the Personal Data Protection Bill is crucial to encourage digital literacy in society.

These two things must be resolved immediately by Indonesia when it comes to problems in the cyber realm. Assurance about legal protection for personal data is still awaiting the completion of drafted regulations being discussed by the government and the House of Representatives (DPR). The Communications and Information Ministry (Kemenkominfo) hopes the bill can be passed into law this year.

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Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, the Director General of Informatics Applications at Kemenkominfo, said on Wednesday (17/3/2021) people needed to increase digitalization awareness to really benefit from the ensuing digital transformation.

This indicates that the pattern of internet use and public information dissemination has not yet reached a good category.

Based on the 2020 Indonesian Digital Literacy survey, Indonesia\'s digital literacy index is still at 3.47 on the 1-5 scale. The higher the number, the better. This indicates that the pattern of internet use and public information dissemination has not yet reached a good category.

KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

Jakarta Police officers wear T-shirts in support of an antihoax campaign at the declaration event for an antihoax movement at the Jakarta Police headquarters, Jakarta, Monday (12/3/2019). The declaration was an effort from the police to encourage the public to reject false news.

"We must take this finding together with cautiousness. We are in the wake of accelerating the digital transformation agenda. Therefore, digital literacy plays an important role,” said Semuel during the launch of a series of pandemic-related digital literacy education activities in collaboration with WhatsApp and ICT Watch.

Head of Whatsapp Will Cathcart concurred, saying: "We believe increased digital literacy will ensure technology remains a positive force for goodness.”

Hoax spread

ICT Watch Acting Director Widuri was also aware about the big gap between education and digital skills in Indonesia, which should spur the movement to improve people’s digital literacy.

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Indonesia\'s low level of digital literacy is reflected by the proliferation of Covid-19 hoaxes during the pandemic, which M. Fajri Adda\'I -- a medic and Covid-19 volunteer -- sees in many cases is deeply rooted in society and blamed for most people’s underestimation of the pandemic lingering threats.

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According to Fajri, the spread of hoaxes can be avoided if netizens refrain from sharing dubious and unfounded information.

"This is in our hands. If, for example, we cannot create positive content, we should not forward unclear content as much as possible,” he said.

On the same occasion, WhatsApp Indonesia Public Policy Manager Esther Samboh hopes the users participate in the effort to curb the spread of hoaxes on the instant messaging application.

However, if a user reports and blocks an account accused of repeatedly sharing hoaxes, this will help WhatsApp assess the behavior of the account and possibly follow up to close it.

End-to-end encryption technology makes Whatsapp unable to follow users’ communication. However, if a user reports and blocks an account accused of repeatedly sharing hoaxes, this will help WhatsApp assess the behavior of the account and possibly follow up to close it.

She added that WhatsApp closed two million accounts a month on average for unscrupulous behavior, most of which were automatically deleted by the server machine without user reports.

AFP/DENIS CHARLET

In this file photo taken on October 21, 2020 shows the logo of the multinational American Internet technology and services company, Google (center), the American online social media and social networking service, Facebook (Top R), Snapchat (Bottom R), Twitter (top L) and Instragram (bottom L) on a computer screen in Lille. - An hearing is fixed on March 17, 2021 in an online hate case opposing Twitter and anti-discrimination groups.

"The system enables the detection of repeatedly forwarded content without the need to read it,” she said, adding that Whatsapp had tried to reduce the virality of content by limiting the number of message to only five people.

Protection

Several features in WhatsApp, according to Esther, are recommended to increase protection of user privacy. One of them – photo profile -- allows minimizing the exposure of information to the public.

Given the possibility of fraud, which might be done through user impersonation tactics or taking advantage of the shared information, features like photo profile and WhatsApp status can be set personally who can view the information.

Esther suggested the information be disclosed only to those already on contacts list.

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Regarding privacy protection, Kemenkominfo’s Information Application Management Director Mariam F Barata hoped the Personal Data Protection Bill, under deliberation since January last year, could be enacted this year. He disclosed the bill was among the already discussed 145 of 371 drafts proposed to the House.

KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

A pedestrian looks at antihoax campaign murals under the Rawa Buntu overpass in Serpong, South Tangerang, on Monday (11/3/2019).

“At the end of March we will resume the discussions and hopefully finish it this year. So, if there is infringement or leakage of personal data, now the law can deal with it,” Mariam said.

(This article was translated by Musthofid)