Cyber Crimes Act is not meant to monitor, block social media -House ICT Committee

LEGISLATION WATCH- The Cyber Crimes Act is not intended to allow the government to monitor or block social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, House ICT Committee secretary Ahmed Zidan said yesterday, according to Ahram Gate. The proposed bill is meant to regulate information technology and create a framework for dealing with cybercrimes, such as hacking government servers, Zidan said. MPs had claimed that the bill would, if passed, make it easier to run surveillance of social media, but would require security and police services to seek authorization before tracking any one individual. The committee had approved last month a clause of the legislation allowing the Prosecutor General to ban websites that publish content deemed criminal.