Digital Dangers: The Misuse of the Internet in Contemporary Bangladesh

Digital Dangers: The Misuse of the Internet in Contemporary Bangladesh

A.J.M. Nur-E-Alam

A Department of Law, North Bengal International University, Rajshahi

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.905000494

Received: 12 May 2025; Accepted: 22 May 2025; Published: 25 June 2025

ABSTRACT

The rapid expansion of internet access in Bangladesh has brought significant opportunities for communication, education, and economic growth. However, this digital transformation has also given rise to a host of challenges, particularly concerning the misuse of internet platforms. This study explores the multifaceted nature of internet misuse in contemporary Bangladesh, focusing on issues such as cyber bullying, online fraud, misinformation, data privacy violations, and the exploitation of social media. By analyzing recent incidents, legal frameworks, and public awareness levels, the paper highlights how unregulated or malicious online activities are impacting individuals, communities, and national security. The research also discusses the role of law enforcement, digital literacy, and policy reforms in addressing these concerns. Ultimately, this study aims to contribute to a more informed discourse on responsible internet use and the need for balanced digital governance in Bangladesh.

Keywords: Internet misuse, Cybercrime, Cyber security, online harassment, Digital safety, online fraud

INTRODUCTION

Internet means the global network through which we can interchange data and information by computers, cell phones and other devices. It’s a communication network through which we can use data instantly and by the grace of it the telecommunication procedure becomes easy and accessible world widely. Now-a-days we largely depend on the internet. That’s why the misuse of this internet also raises simultaneously. At present we face enormous problems in case of using internet. So it’s time need to improvise the present situation significantly.

Objectives

The central focus of this study is to find out the root causes of misuse of internet and its drastic spread among the new generation teenage people. Beside this the other objectives of this study are as follows:

• To discover the real scenario of misuse of internet among the new generation people.
• To suggest few effective guidelines in order to eradicate this problem.
• To pinpoint the challenging issues regarding the proper use of internet.
• To eradicate the barriers regarding the issue of righteous use of latest, modern technology.
• To find out the lacunas of existing legal system regarding this issue.
• To justify the ways of proper development of uses of internet.
• To evaluate the proactive role of BTRC.
• To reorganize the existing IT sector for the rapid development of Internet.
• To renovate the prevailing situation into the mood of sustainable development.
• To remove the existing weak infrastructure of present internet system.

METHODOLOGY

This paper is of qualitative in nature. Content analysis method has been applied in this article. Information or data has been collected from the secondary sources like facts, figures, data, books, journals, reports, opinion, and internet and so on. Relevant judicial decision has been collected from various sources. A number of books have been studied and consulted to find the necessary information. Various national and international articles by different authors have been critically observed.

Conceptual Framework

Here is a Conceptual Framework for a study on “Digital Dangers: The Misuse of the Internet in Contemporary Bangladesh”, especially focusing on the causes, forms, and consequences of internet misuse, along with potential responses:

Definition of Internet

In general sense, Internet means the global computer network providing a variety of information and communication facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols.

The Internet is a large computer network linking smaller networks to one another. Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the WWW Consortium, has a simple description of the Internet: “it’s a bit like a postcard with a simple address on it. If you put the right address on a packet, and gave it to any computer which is connected as part of the Net, each computer would figure out which cable to send it down next so that it would get to its destination. That’s what the Internet does. It delivers packets—anywhere in the world, normally well under a second.”

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, Internet means the large system of connected computers around the world that allows people to share information and communicate with each other.

Major Features of the Internet

1. The World Wide Web.
2. E-mail.
3. News
4. Telnet
5. File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
6. Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

The World Wide Web

• The World wide web is a part of the internet, which supports hypertext documents, allowing users to view and nevigate different types of data.
• A web page is a document encoded with hypertext markup language (HTML) tags.
• HTML allows designers to link content together via hyperlinks.
• Every web page has an address, a uniform resource locator (URL).

E-mail

• Electronic mail (e-mail) is the most popular reason people use the Internet.
• To create, send, and receive e-mail messages you need an e-mail program and an account on an Internet mail server with a domain name.
• One Internet based service called news, includes tens of thousands of newsgroups.
• Each newsgroup hosts discussions on a specific topic. Newsgroups a some indicated its users special topic of interest, such as food. cake.
• To participate in a newsgroup, you need a news-reader program hat. left you read articles that have been posted on a news server. You can post articles for others to read and respond to.

Telnet

• Telnet is a specialized service that lets you use one computer to access the contents of another computer a telnet host.
• A telnet program creates a “ Window” into the host so you can access files, issue commands, and exchange data.
• Telnet is widely used by libraries to allow visitors to look up information, find articles and so on.

File transfer protocol

• File Transfer protocol (FTP) is the internet tool used to copy files from one computer to another.
• Using a special FTP program or a web browser, you can log into an ETP host Computer over the internet and copy files on to your computer.
• FTP is handy for finding and copying software files, articles and other types of data. Universities and software companies use FTP servers to provide visitors with access to data.

Internet Relay chat (IRC)

• Internet Relay chat (IRC) is a service that allows users to communicate in real time by typing text in a special window.
• Like news, there are hundreds of IRC “channel” each devoted to a subject or user group.
• You can use a special IRC program to participate in chat room discussions but many chat rooms are set up in web sites, enabling visitors to chat directly in their browser window.

History of the Internet

The history of the Internet dates back to the late 1960s, rooted in a U.S. Department of Defense project called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network). Initially designed to facilitate secure, decentralized communication among military and academic institutions, ARPANET successfully demonstrated packet-switching technology, which allowed data to be broken into smaller packets and transmitted across multiple routes.

In the 1970s, researchers Vent Cerf and Bob Kahn developed the TCP/IP protocol, which became the foundation of modern Internet communication. On January 1, 1983, TCP/IP was adopted as the standard protocol for ARPANET, marking the official birth of the Internet.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, the Internet gradually expanded from military and academic use to public and commercial domains. The introduction of the World Wide Web (WWW) by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 at CERN revolutionized how information was accessed and shared. The creation of web browsers like Mosaic (1993) and later Netscape made the Internet user-friendly and visually engaging.

Throughout the 2000s, the rise of broadband connectivity, social media platforms, e-commerce, and mobile internet transformed the Internet into a global socio-economic force. Today, with over 5 billion users worldwide, the Internet is an integral part of communication, education, governance, and commerce.

Different Types of Cyber Crime

There are many types of Cyber crime frequently happened in our country. Day by day its just increasing in an alarming rate. This the age of internet and Globalization and by virtue of this technical development we gain a notable progress. Though the role of internet is praiseworthy still we face inordinate insecurity because of the overflow rate of cyber crime.

Denial of Service Attack (DOS attack)

A denial-of-service attack (DOS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users. It involves flooding a computer resource with more requests than it can handle consuming its available bandwidth which results in server overload. This causes the resource (e.g. a web server) to crash or slow down significantly so that no one can access it.

Phishing

Phishing is the fraudulent attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and money), often for malicious reasons, by disguising as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

Techniques of Phishing are-

• Spear Phishing
• Covert redirect
• Voice phishing
• SMS Phishing
• Link Manipulation

Web Jacking

Web jacking derives its name from “hijacking”. Here, the hacker takes control of a web site fraudulently. He may change the content of the original site or even redirect the user to another fake similar looking page controlled by him. The owner of the web site has no more control and the attacker may use the web site for his own selfish interests.

Cyber stalking

Cyber stalking is the use of the Internet or other electronic means to stalk or harass an individual, group, or organization.

It may include false accusations, defamation, slander and libel. It may also include monitoring, identity theft, threats, vandalism, solicitation for sex or gathering information that may be used to threaten, embarrass or harass. A cyber stalker doesn’t physically follow his victim; he does it virtually by following his online activity to harvest information about the stalkee and harass him or her and make threats using verbal intimidation. It’s an invasion of one’s online privacy.

Data diddling

Data Diddling is unauthorized altering of data before or during entry into a computer system, and then changing it back after processing is done. Using this technique, the attacker may modify the expected output and is difficult to track.

Software Piracy

Theft of software through the illegal copying of genuine programs or the counterfeiting and distribution of products intended to pass for the original.

Salami Attacks

Salami attacks are used for the commission of financial crimes. For e.g. A bank employee inserts a program into the bank’s servers that deducts a small amount of money from the account of every client and the bank employee will make a considerable amount of money every month but no account holder will probably notice this unauthorized debit.

Password Cracking

Password cracking means to decrypt a password or to bypass a protection scheme by breaking a password.

Cyber Vandalism

Vandalism is an action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. Cyber or web vandalism generally involves editing online content in a malicious manner. It involves adding or removing or modifying content which is offensive.

Cyber Warfare

Cyber warfare involves the actions by a nation-state or international organization to attack and attempt to damage another nation’s computers or information networks through, for example, computer viruses or denial-of-service attacks.

 Cyber Defamation

Defamation or libel conducted via digital media, usually through the Internet is treated as Cyber Defamation.

Cyber Hoax

A computer virus hoax is a message warning the recipients of a non-existent computer virus threat. The message is usually a chain e-mail that tells the recipients to forward it to everyone they know.

Cyber pornography

Cyber pornography means the act of using cyberspace to create, display, distribute, import or publish pornography or obscene materials.

IMPACT OF INTERNET USE

The Internet has profoundly transformed modern life, reshaping how individuals communicate, work, learn, and interact. While it brings immense advantages, excessive or unethical use also introduces serious challenges.

Internet Users of Bangladesh

An individual who has access to the Internet at home. This indicator does not record use, or frequency of use, but only access. In order to have access, the hardware equipment must be in working conditions, the Internet subscription service must be active, and the individual household member must have access to it at any time (there must be no barriers preventing the individual from using the Internet). The hardware equipment may or may not be owned by the household. There are no age limits (minimum or maximum), so an Internet user can be of any age. There can be multiple devices and services within the household. The data is collected through annual household surveys administered by individual countries based on ITU guidelines. The United Nations Statistics Division has recommended collection of data on households accessing the Internet also outside of home, but this is not a Core ICT Indicator. An “Internet User” is therefore defined as an individual who can access the Internet, via computer or mobile device, within the home where the individual lives.

Internet Services of Bangladesh

Internet Service Providers (ISPs)

 In 2005 there were more than 180 ISPs operating in the country. ISP’s are regulated by the BTRC. In 2015 there were 126 licensed ISPs providing services nationwide and 84 ISPs providing services in the central zone.

Mobile Operators

Because fixed line penetration rates are and are expected to remain low, most Bangladeshis’ first experience with the Internet is likely to be via mobile services. An estimated 90% of Bangladesh’s Internet users got their access using mobile services in 2010. Out of the six mobile operators, Grameenphone and Banglalink offer 3G services in 64 districts of Bangladesh, others offer 3G Internet service on some specific areas and EDGE or GPRS GSM Internet service on rest of the areas. Operators are working on expanding their 3G services on all areas. The sole CDMA operator, Citycell, offers EVDO.

Broadband

Broadband Internet and e-commerce in Bangladesh is slowly progressing. In 2009 there were 50,000 fixed broadband Internet subscribers. Though broadband Internet access is available, the charges for high-speed connections are higher than in other south Asian countries, though this is changing. In Bangladesh Broadband is legally defined as128/128 kbit/s, which is not in line with the ITU’s definition and many broadband Internet services may not be considered true broadband internationally.

WiMAX

Three companies, Banglalion Communications Ltd., BRAC bdmail Network Ltd., and Augere Wireless Broadband Bangladesh Ltd., won licenses to operate WiMAX in Bangladesh in September 2008. The three firms purchased the licenses at auction for 2.15 billion BDT (US$31 million) from the BTRC under an agreement that pays 27.50% of revenue to the government. Brac bdmail declined to start the service. Banglalion and Augere (branded as Qubee) launched commercial WiMax services by the end of 2009.

Cyber cafes and Local Service Providers (LSPs)

Expensive and slow connections available from individual homes have created a demand for cyber cafés with higher-than-average bandwidth. The number of cyber cafés was estimated to be roughly 800 in 2009, unchanged from 2005. Cyber cafes were first regulated by the BTRC in 2009, but fewer than 150 had obtained the required license by the end of 2011. Many cyber cafés have expanded as Local Service Providers (LSPs) as a way to make use of their idle (out of business hours) bandwidth. Because the root problem of scarce bandwidth remains, LSP subscribers continue to suffer from slow connections and inadequate bandwidth (96-128 kbit/s on average). A general complaint of customers and internet users is that such subscriptions are good for nothing except for surfing rich-text and images over the web. The younger internet users in the urban areas have started to familiarize themselves with other more data demanding internet applications and usage. But streaming applications fail to work over low bandwidth. Games, voice, video-conferencing and the like also suffer from latency issues. Further, these LSPs are known to forcefully cache web resources (transparent proxies) and to aggressively block traffic related to the following applications in order to save bandwidth: Windows update, Team Viewer and similar remote assistance applications, Torrent trackers and other P2P ports/patterns, voice/video applications which mostly make use of P2P architecture, online gaming and just about anything else except WWW. Some LSPs generally block all ports except HTTP/HTTPS. Bandwidth/latency benchmarking sites including SpeedTest.net are blocked to stop customers from complaining about share of bandwidth. Despite these limitations, LSPs succeed by keeping the majority of the customers happy with local FTP servers, mostly filled with unlicensed movies, software, games and TV shows.

Impact of Internet Use

There are numerous impacts of Internet use found from the previous research. The Negative impacts of Internet use includes, the impact on interpersonal relationship where the relationship of an individual is getting further from surrounding. Individual might face behavioral problem due to over usage of Internet where they are reacting differently than the normal behavior. Some other physical problem might occur due to long use of the Internet.

Some physical problems are migraine or headache, sleep pattern disrupt etc. Some other problems include psychological problems where an individual are unable to control their emotions and the way of thinking due to long hour use of the Internet. They tend to increase the net serving time and eliminate the set schedule. Moreover, the impact of Internet use does not limit to affect an individual only but might also affect the study performance of an individual. The condition is getting worried when the work problem has brought some impacts to the people working together and to the company that the individual is working with. Putting aside the negative impacts, Internet use however brought some positive impacts to the user. The Internet provides users with information, connecting worldwide, promoting research, and work with other people from overseas country effectively.

Interpersonal Impact

Interpersonal problems are recurrent difficulties in relating to others. It could be argued that interpersonal problems are the problem people react differently in a situation where other peoples in that situation expecting other ways. The interpersonal aspect was important for the Internet users. Those who use the internet for long time for social function purposes might be having some problems such as the compulsive use of Internet, withdrawal from social activities, decrease the tolerance, facing time management problem, interpersonal and health problems. The researcher also argued that excessive Internet users exhibit more severe Internet addictive behaviors. The extent of Internet use increases depression and decreases self- esteem. Wellman and Guile reported that online relationships can be strong and could strengthen real world relationships but later it could be faded it. As such, 75.5% of respondents prefer to use the Internet when they feel isolated; 50% of respondents reported complaints from family members for being online for longer hours; less than 50% of respondents think that they were more effective online than offline. The relationships between excessive Internet usage and interpersonal problem are increasing rapidly. Li and Chung stated that it is very important to know how Internet users formed their relationship with their friends through online or normal social life. According to them it is also necessary to check hither the people are missing their social engagement, whether they more comfortable with online friend and reduce the contact with the people in reality or not. In addition, the interpersonal problems are also identifiable based on the family members’ complaints toward excessive Internet users’. Furthermore, isolated eeling that leads to excessive Internet usage can also be used to determine interpersonal problems.

Behavior Impact

“Behavior” is based on internal personal factors including cognitive, affective and biological events and conditions of the external environment that influence each other bi-directionally. A study conducted by Brenner and Scherer concluded that time mismanagement effects are generally associated with heavy Internet use. Health research has suggested that heavy recreational use of the Internet among a group of 572 college students was correlated with additional problems including; late evening use, social isolation and sleep disturbances and a decline in academic performance. Half of the respondents in the Pakistan study had to reschedule their activities to compromise with online hours, and they skipped meals for being online. This research analyzed whether the respondents always need to reschedule their time due to heavy Internet usage. Other researchers also conducted researches on the time spent on the Internet usage in behavioral perspective.

Physical Impact

Heavy Internet users were much less likely to engage in the following health promoting behaviors than the rest; attempting to eat a healthier diet, taking nutritional supplements, trying to increase physical activity levels, and were shown to be significantly more likely to be overweight Body Mass Index (BMI >25), have hypersomnia (>10   of sleep/day) and have adverse effects on their studies. The adverse effect would be; migraine or headache, less sleep, and backaches because of prolong hours of Internet usage. Sleep patterns are disrupted due to late night logins high resulted to excessive fatigue, impairing academic or decreasing occupational performance, and may decrease the immune system, leaving the addict prone to disease. Sitting at the computer for longer hours also means that addicts are at higher risk in developing carpal tunnel syndrome.

The previous studies have found that excessive Internet use brings several physical problems such as backache  and other body aches after Internet users spent a long time in the Internet. The duration of sleeping time will be used to see the respondents’ passion in surfing the Internet. On the other hand, the fatigue faced by the Internet users also will determine the Internet addiction impact to the young students. Migraine or headache problems also will show the correlation effects with excessive Internet usage.

Psychological and Social Impact

Rotter (1966) originally described the psychological construct of locus of control as an element of personality. Locus of control refers to the perception of the extent to which individuals can control events in their lives. The research by Rotsztein (2003) suggested that the higher the (external) locus of control score (i.e., those who feel that events in their lives are out of their hands) a student has, the more likely they were to have reported problems due to Internet use. Internet addiction also appears to frequently co-occur with psychological disorders such as; other compulsive behaviors and depression (Young, 1998). Studied by Ferraro et al. (2007) in Italy argued that if anybody spent a lot of time using the Internet are probably the most addicted, the addicted person felt the coercive need to be connected again with Internet. Psychology is the science of mind and behavior (Young, 1998). Therefore, to evaluate its’ correlation with heavy Internet usage, this research asked the respondents whether they are experiencing restlessness, irritability, anxiety, and low mood when they are staying for a long time on the Internet. The mind of respondents whether in pleasure and satisfaction mood during online is also used as an analysis of this research. The attempt to avoid stress and problems by using Internet is also one of the psychological problems evaluated in this research.

Impact on Education

Many teaching authority have recognized that unlimited use of the Internet by young students has the potential to reduce, rather to than enhance productivity. A study conducted by Landers in testing personality traits with Internet usage suggested that the negative relationship between education Drive and Internet usage may simply reflect that Internet users who spend a lot of time on the Internet do so at the expense of time that could be spent on studying hard and giving extra effort to get good grad

MISUSE OF INTERNET IN BANGLADESH

Here’s a detailed overview of the Misuse of the Internet in Bangladesh, covering key areas, causes, impacts, and legal responses:

Misuse of Internet

The Internet has been a blessing for humanity. It has made life easy and helped technology improve. We can’t imagine how it is good for us! However, it’s really amazing how much we rely on Google to search information. School work, research, study material and what not can be found on Internet. But unfortunately, our majority of youngsters is using it in a very bad way; wasting their precious time with using Facebook, Skype, WhatsApp and many more. No doubt, because of misusing of Internet students are reducing their interest in their studies and many are leaving schools and the advantages of the internet, come its disadvantages too. Nonetheless, another misuse of the Internet is cyber bullying. People make fake profiles on social networking sites and email ids so that they can anonymously threaten a person. Victims of cyber bullying face psychological issues that interfere with their daily routine and work. It is also one of very bad habit for us, which we are doing. Hence, in modern time, this technology is most important thing for us, which has many positive aspects so it should not be used in a negative way.

There are many misuses of internet faced by us in our daily life. Some of them are most common amongst school children include:

Instant Messaging: a type of communications service that enables you to create a kind of private chat room with another individual in order to communicate in real time over the Internet.

Porn: A slang term used to describe e-mail spam specifically of adult content or of a pornographic nature. Sites containing profane and vulgar language, expletives, revealing attire, adult situations, criminal activity, nudity and any other subjects generally considered inappropriate for children.

Viruses/Malicious codes:

Malicious code is the term used to describe any code in any part of a software system or script that is intended to cause undesired effects, security breaches or damage to a system. It is a security terms that includes attack scripts, viruses, worms, Trojan horses, backdoors, and malicious active content.

Drug/Alcohol Abuse:

Sites encouraging or glamorizing the use of alcohol, tobacco, or illicit drugs, instructions for manufacturing illegal substances, references to drug paraphernalia, “drug culture”, and promoting/selling alcohol and/or tobacco to minors.

Adverse Effect of internet among the adolescent, Juveniles & Teenage

Social networking sites have greatly subjugated and affected the minds of teenager today‘s life. The most common bad effect of social media is addiction – the continuously checking of Face book, Twitter, or other social media updates status. When technology misuse checks their device very often its addiction damage human brains. For kids and teens, this devotion could throw into confusion other valuable activities like centralizing in schoolwork, reading or attractive in sports. Face book and other social media are infantilizing the brain into the state of small hildren who are attracted by scurry noises and bright lights, who have a short attention spread and live for the moment. Pediatricians accomplish that some teenager suffers from Face book depression. After passing a lot of time on Facebook and other popular social networking sites, some teenager become concerned and depressed. They attracted virtual life then real life. If parents are connected with their children‘s social media activities, their children are less possibly to be upset with what befall to them online.

Now a day’s Children pass more time in the family home lonely in front of TV/computer screens than doing anything else. Cyber bullying has occurred that the main issue for teenagers in recent years. In some well circulated cases, victims might be wielded to suicide. The anonymity afforded online could bring out dark impulses which may otherwise be subdued. Because the Internet unauthorized students to remain anonymous on websites or create fake profiles,cyber-bullying has become a significant issue that many children between the ages of 6 to 17 have indicated victims of cyber-bullying more. When you‘re on a social media site like Face book, Twitter, you show a lot of posts people perform different tasks.

That sets up social discrimination that you may be release your life is not as full and rich as those people you see on Face book. Social media main cause for depression like showing intimate post. Many users use social media as addiction. Truly saying that social medial can let you be habit-forming. One of the negative effect of social media or network is its guidance to addiction. Spending more than 4 hours per day on the social sites can disarticulate the focus and attachment from a particular task. As written above, comments and likes on Facebook can encouraging your self-esteem, but in some cases, it also attacks negatively your self-esteem, too. Particularly, they singled out the blow to their self-esteem that comes from find a simile for themselves to equal on Facebook and Twitter as the greatest degeneration.

Cybercrime using Internet

In survey analysis about 33.2% user affecting in cybercrime. Although, SNS is new stage of cybercrime. In Bangladesh, major part of people using Face book for illegal purpose. Face book, a social networking site, has become a major basis for criminals to carry out their operations. These days, many hackers open up fake accounts on Face book and spread humiliating pictures and insidious information to other users. They also steal personal fact, pictures and contact information of other users. Some criminals take pictures or gather pictures from Face book of female students and then writing blogs to reveal or distribute the pornographic content in
Face book to harass them. According to the media, many victims keep quiet to eliminate embarrassment and a few become mentally imbalanced. Many crimes are taking place by using social networking sites. Crafting people are setting trap and who are new in this virtual world fall there. Due to lack of having knowledge about social media it happens. But sometimes it‘s too much dangerous for individual or a group of people.

Disadvantages of Internet

Internet has become an integral part of our lives these days. From paying the electricity bills to planning family get together, everything these days is being done with the use of internet. While it offers so many advantages it also comes with its own set of disadvantages.

Internet Lowers Productivity at Work

While earlier offices had intranet connections that only connected the employees to share emails and discuss business plans, these days internet access is provided in most offices. Even if people do not have access to the internet on their official laptops they have it on their mobiles and can use it whenever they want.

Internet offers so many different sources of entertainment that it is difficult to control the temptation. People these days have the urge to check their messenger and social media profiles every few minutes to see if someone has messaged them. This divides their attention. They are not able to concentrate completely on their work and it thus lowers their productivity.

Those who are addicted to gaming, try to take some time off every hour or so to continue with their game. This is again a major hindrance in work. There are so many web series and videos being sprint almost every day and if you begin watching them once you cannot give up on them.

A recent research shows that people spend most part of their time on the internet while they are at their work place. The work productivity is thus bound to drop.

Work Life Imbalance

There is a lot of competition in the market these days. If the service is not provided instantly the customers tend to leave. Internet has made it easier to access office emails and software from anywhere. So, many times people are even required to work after they have left for home. This is an advantage for the businesses but not for the employees as it creates work life imbalance.

Secondly, since the productivity of work has decreased during the working hours due to distraction caused by internet, people mostly work when they return from the office to meet their deadlines. The time they should spend with their families is spent on the laptop. They are unable to strike a balance between their personal and professional life which is becoming a cause of conflict among families.

Hindrance in Work

Each one of you will agree that internet causes hindrance in work. It is addictive and is a major distraction at work. Whether you are a student preparing for your exams, an office employee, a business owner or a house wife, you cannot deny the fact that internet eats up a good amount of your time – the time that can be utilized in productive tasks. The advent of social media has augmented this addiction. Those who play online games are all the more glued to the internet.

Hacking

Hacking email accounts, bank accounts and mobiles of people to extract their private information is quite common these days. This has become a cause of great concern. People suffer business losses and tension in their personal relationships because of hacking.

Stalking

Everyone these days has a profile on the internet. It has become a trend to post just about everything and anything a person does on the social media. While people do this for show off this can actually create trouble for them. There are people who stalk your profiles to know what you are up to and can intrude in your personal space. This has given rise to crimes such as kidnapping and blackmailing.

Negative Impact on Children

Children get access to almost anything and everything by way of internet. Parents mostly provide internet connection to their kids to enhance their knowledge so they can prepare better for their exams however the later are often tempted towards gaming, social media and other sources of entertainment. Many a times, children also begin watching porn and other stuff that is not good for them.

Spamming

Internet is used for the promotion of businesses. While it is a good medium to promote and expand businesses at times it can be a pain in the neck for the consumers. Many businesses over indulge in marketing of their products and services thereby spamming our inboxes with numerous emails. Often times, the important emails get missed because of spamming.

Over Spending

Online shopping has eased the way we shop. We no longer require wasting time going from shop to shop in search of different things. Everything we require is available on the internet. You can surf through a wide variety of things and order them in fraction of seconds. However, this way we often over spend by buying more than our requirement. Many online retailers also levy convenience charges and other hidden charges that are revealed later. All these lead to over spending.

Loss of Physical Activity

People these days are so engrossed in watching online videos, playing online games and connecting to people online that they overlook the importance of going out and indulging in outdoor activities. This has led to several physical ailments such as obesity, migraine and sleeping disorders. Playing outdoor is essential for the proper growth and development of kids but they prefer online games these days.

Internet Leading to Health Concerns

Here are the various health problems one can incur because of excess internet usage:

Migraine

Being on the mobile or laptop for hours using the internet can cause migraine. Many internet users complain of this problem and are advised to reduce their screen time but it is hard to get rid of this addiction. Thus, constant headache and migraine is common among them.

Effect on the Eye Sight

It goes without saying that viewing the screen for hours as you surf the internet can cause a negative impact on your eyes. This is especially common among those who surf the internet on their mobile during the bed time.

Back Ache

Sitting on a chair watching movies or playing online games can be addictive. Once you indulge in these habits, it is hard to stop. Many people keep sitting for hours to enjoy the experience and incur back ache owing to this.

Weight Gain

Children these days prefer sitting at home playing games online or watching videos rather than going out and playing with friends. Same is the case with the adults. Instead of socialising and indulging in outdoor activities they prefer spending time on the internet. Lack of physical activity has led to weight gain among people. Such a lifestyle has also led to obesity in many.

Sleeping Disorder

People these days sleep with their phones under their pillow or at bed side. They have the urge to check their messages every now and then and wake up at the ring of every message. Using mobile at the bed time can hamper the natural process of falling asleep and can cause sleeping disorders.

Depression

Viewing the pictures and posts of others having fun can create a sense of inferiority. People these days are putting on a false image of themselves on the internet to attract attention. Those who are leading a rather simple life often feel low and isolated as they see others partying and having fun. Internet has also created distance among the family members. All this leads to depression among many.

Negative Impact on Relationships

Internet has brought those living in far off lands closer while at the same time created distance among those living together. People are so engrossed in messaging and connecting with their distant friends and relatives that they have turned blind towards their own kids and family members.

Social media sites, messengers and dating apps have given rise to infidelity. It is leading to conflicts among couples which in turn have a negative impact on their kids and the family as a whole

Present Situation of misuse of Internet in Bangladesh

The BTRC is unable to prevent the misuse of social networking sites by fake account holders as the social media institutions like facebook are often lukewarm in their response.

Fake account holders send trolls, upload objectionable pictures, video footage and post hate messages even on social networking sites. BTRC officials say they cannot do much about this as the social networking institutions like facebook do not respond adequately, he said. Women are facing multiple problems in the family and in social life because of harassment on the Internet.  A female student of economics at Rajshahi University told that she had no facebook account but someone had opened a fake account using her name and picture, and was posting objectionable pictures and information. This came to the notice of her in-laws within a few days of her marriage and she had to face heavy criticism, she said.  She imagines that someone who may have felt jilted had done the mischief. But no amount of explaining on her part would convince her in-laws. The situation became so complicated that she even attempted suicide. Someone recently uploaded a woman private banker’s pictures and personal cell phone number on a pornographic website. She began getting innumerable phone calls, leading to a family conflict.  Harassment, especially of women, is increasing almost daily through the social networking sites in the cyber world.

Convenor of Bangladesh Computer Security Incident Response Team (BD-CSIRT) Giasuddin Ahmed said they had received around 2,000 complaints over the last one and a half years. Of them, 70 percent were related to facebook and various pornographic websites. Most of the complainants have been female students and professional women, he said.

The BD-CSIRT had so far blocked 317 websites since it was formed last year to prevent cyber crime. Of them, 222 were found to be pornographic sites, 60 spreading political hatred, and 35 fanning religious intolerance, the cyber expert said.  But the BTRC was helpless when it came to fake account holders on facebook, he said, as complaints did not elicit proper response. So, it was later compelled to seek the help of an intelligence agency. There was prompt response when complaints were sent to the facebook authorities through the intelligence agency. But, as for women harassment, the steps were not encouraging, he said. “It so happens that a fake account from which objectionable materials are being sent is shut, but another account is opened and continues such activity,” he explained. “And the facebook authorities do not consider real account holders’ contents objectionable though they might be so in our social and religious perspectives.”  The facebook authorities had so far taken action in one case of sexual harassment, he said. “We received feedback after we sent a complaint to them on May 9. Based on the complaint by a woman, her objectionable pictures were removed from the facebook.”

Although sexual harassment through the facebook was clearly a cyber crime, legal complexities in Bangladesh made it difficult to forge ahead, he felt. According to Bangladesh law, cyber crime falls under the Information and Technology Act. There is no mention of the cyber crime in telecommunication law, although the BTRC is governed by this law.  So, the facebook authorities think they do not have enough legal obligations to respond to the BTRC’s call. Head of Programme of BRAC’s Gender Justice and Diversity Division Sumon Ahsan considers sexual harassment as a new social degeneration. Internet service providers and telecom companies have to consider the education level in Bangladesh and the psychic profile of people here whenever new technology is introduced.

They also should make people aware of its misuse, he added. “Those companies spend billions of Tk when advertising their products. Along with this, they should also seriously publicise the ways such products could be misused. It is their moral responsibility.”  He suggested round-the-clock monitoring of the social networking sites and efforts to change men’s attitude towards women.  Square Hospitals’ Clinical Psychologist Sharmin Haque said, “Those who harass others in this way find fun just for that moment. They do not think how terribly it might affect a woman’s personal and social life.”  Bangladesh government had on May 29, 2010, blocked facebook for the first time, but opened it a few days later.

FINDINGS & CONCLUSION

Major Findings

Misuse of Internet is a growing concern for the present context of our country. The current scenario of our country seems that internet abuse become increase rapidly last few years. After 2009 internet become available across the country. As a result we see that the teenage generation started misuse it. The effective usage of internet is a grave challenge for our country. If we want to eradicate the misuse of internet we must have to be conscious about the abuse and negative impact of internet. Furthermore rise of awareness in the root level is urgent, the govt. must come forward to control the concern situation.

Suggestions

For the Government:

1. The Government should ensure that e-safety best practice is well reflected in guidance and exemplar case studies across the curriculum as part of the support being provided to help schools to implement the new curriculum.
2. The researcher also suggest that the independent review of the primary curriculum should be done which must take full notice of e-safety issues.
3. The Government should encourage school owners and teachers to focus on e-safety by identifying it as a national priority for continuous professional development of teachers and the wider school workforce. That in all schools, action must be taken at a whole-school level to ensure that e-safety is main streamed throughout the school’s teaching, learning and other practices.

For parents:

1. It is important for parents to educate them-selves about this technology and the myriad opportunities for fun and learning that it offers. Just as there are different television programs and different kinds of magazines some appropriate for kids of certain ages and some not appropriate for kids at all —there are many types of places to visit in cyberspace. Spending time online with your child is one of the best ways to monitor them and teach them what is right and what is wrong. This will help a lot in cutting down internet crimes and misuse.
2. Ask children to share their favorite Web sites and what they like about them. Help them discover Websites that can help them with their homework, hobbies, and other special interests. Doing this will help you make your children use the internet for the good purposes and will save them from misusing it.
3. Consider locating your home computer in a family area where use can be shared and monitored. Teach your children “netiquette” how to behave online.

CONCLUSION

The internet came late to Bangladesh with the country gaining connectivity in 1996. In the last few years it has grown considerably, although obviously from a very low base. The country must work hard to overcome obstacles associated with the country’s lowly economic status and still developing ICT infrastructure, not least of which being an overly bureaucratic government. Despite the presence of online Internet service in Bangladesh, its scope s largely underutilized.

Most of the people of Bangladesh have no computer and Internet facility and other technical knowledge they are backdated and they cannot yet the happiness of a digital life.  It is the main problem of Internet use in Bangladesh. The economic condition of our country is not well. Most of the people of Bangladesh are living under living standard. So, they cannot bear the extra charge for living or for a standard and updated person. They cannot buy the computer and Internet modern or connection for Internet use. So, they cannot use internet. We hope that our government should take sufficient steps to provide the easier way of internet which can help the country to be a developed country in modern world.

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