Rowena Bethel made this statement to officials of the Royal Bahamas Police Force on Tuesday. Ms Bethel, who is the legal advisor in the E-Business Unit of the Ministry of Finance, updated police officers on the new developments occurring in the area of e-commerce and e-government strategy.
"I think the greatest challenge that law enforcement has to deal with primarily is the speed with which information in particular moves. They need to be in a position to act promptly," she said.
Law enforcement officials need to be aware of the challenges and the issues they will have to deal with respect to illicit activities that might occur using Internet systems and computers, she said.
Ms. Bethel also announced that the e-business office of the Ministry of Finance has plans to develop a long-range strategy to transform The Bahamas into a digital economy, including providing access to Government services online. "We have that as an ultimate objective, but there are certain critical elements that need to be in place to be able to guarantee as best possible the security and privacy of the citizens across those systems," she said.
Ms. Bethel added that closer attention will be given to developing the Bahamian workforce to prepare for impending changes. "It's all well and good to have this in place, but you have to have the level of skills to be able to service that kind of economy."
According to Ms. Bethel, a particular drawback faced by The Bahamas is its inability to facilitate the payment for goods online with the funds being submitted to an account here in The Bahamas.
This was critical, as many close competitors of The Bahamas such as The Cayman Islands and Bermuda are already utilizing this technology, she said. The Central Bank is currently working with a team of professionals to develop the necessary platform to facilitate these types of transactions, she noted.
The implementation of this capability has implications for the police force because of the security issues that will have to be addressed to ensure this system is not "subject to adverse attacks," she said.
In January, the Government tabled three e-commerce Bills, including The Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2003, which gives legal recognition to electronic communication, giving computer-generated documents the same credibility as any other written document.
Signatures generated electronically will now be acceptable in the eyes of the law.
The Data Protection Act 2003 prohibits the release of lawfully collected information without the consent of the individual. Provisions to this will be afforded to the police to allow them to enforce the law where necessary.
The Computer Misuse Act 2003 restricts unauthorised access to computer material and misuse of computer-derived information.
Cyber-crime currently comes under the responsibility of the Police Force's Commercial Crime Department.
According to Police Commissioner Paul Farquharson, the commercial crime department "will be provided with more training and more personnel in order to keep abreast of the kinds of problems associated with cyber crimes."
To date The Bahamas has made no arrest for cyber-crime offences.
By Martella Matthews, The Nassau Guardian
