Two-thirds of the world’s population uses the Internet, but 2.7 billion people remain offline. This means that one in three people cannot benefit from the economic, educational, political, social and health potential of being connected. This article explores the concept of digital equity and its significance in today’s interconnected world. It delves into the definition of digital equity, its importance, the relationship between digital access and equity, the causes of digital inequities, the digital divide concept, the consequences of digital inequity, and strategies to bridge the gap and improve digital equity.
In a suspicious manner, on the evening of Monday, October 25, 2021, some social network activists appeared to us with two draft bills on cybercrimes and electronic transactions, dating back -as mentioned in the drafts- to the year 2018, and been put on the agenda of the Libyan House of Representatives in Al-Bayda for the session on Tuesday, October 26, 2021. The bill that passed by majority voting, is considered one of the few projects that have been discussed since the election of the parliament in 2014.
The inputs for the law dates to 2018 when the conflict was raging between the parties of the Libyan unrest, represented by The House of Representatives in the city of Al-Bayda, and The Libyan Arab Army (LNA) in the east. And The Government of National Accord (GNU) and the Libyan armed forces in the west. The conflict which has reflected on this reflected on social media content, which characterized by an increase in hate speech and mutual incitement, as well as the leakage of a number of indecent recordings and clips for members of the House of Representatives, in conjunction with leaks of bank statements and various phishing operations targeting Libyans during that period, all this coincided with the wave of cybercrime laws establishment in the region, especially in The Arab Republic of Egypt and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the strategic allies of east Libya camp, which contributed significantly on shaping the content of the bill and its current structure.
In the beginning, the legislator listed a set of loose definitions of various concepts such as piracy, encryption, which reminds me of the definitions of the antique computer-principles curriculum that is been taught at elementary schools. In the eyes of the legislator, cybercrime is all acts that violate the articles of this law and uses computer systems, the Internet, and other means of information technology As a means to it, followed by the legality of using all these techniques unless they result in a violation of public order and public morals or offend and harm others.
Where the legislator clarified the objectives of the law, limiting them to the protection of electronic – for which another bill was dedicated to this topic and was passed during the same session – and to limit the occurrence of the crimes and the adoption of their deterrent punishments in order to protect the public order and morals, also the national economy and achieve justice. and so that the purpose of the law extends to apply outside the Libyan territory, and let whoever contributes to violating these purposes be liable to accountability by the relevant Libyan authorities wherever they are. The law gives control and discretionary powers to the National Information Security & Safety Authority (NISSA) – the authority – that is affiliated with the General Authority for Communications and Informatics.
