Data colonialism and the human soul: The ethical and legal battle for AI privacy in Bangladesh
Data colonialism and the human soul: The ethical and legal battle for AI privacy in Bangladesh
Publish Date: 2026-07-11 08:44:00
Source Domain: www.thedailystar.net
The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into daily life has sparked intense debates globally, most recently captured in a candid dialogue between US Senator Bernie Sanders and an advanced AI entity. While their conversation reflects the political and corporate anxieties of the Western world, the implications of their warning hit dangerously close to home for developing nations.
Bangladesh, currently undergoing a massive digital transformation, stands at a critical crossroads. As millions of citizens connect to the internet via smartphones, their personal information is being aggressively harvested to feed predictive algorithms. This subtle, data-driven undercurrent presents a complex web of legal, moral, ethical, and religious challenges that the nation must urgently confront.
From a legal perspective, the country is scrambling to build statutory seawalls against a rising tide of digital exploitation. The recent enactment of the Personal Data Protection Act 2026, which evolved from the 2025 ordinance, marks a historic shift by finally recognising citizens’ personal data as their own property. However, a significant gap remains between the text of the law and its implementation on the ground.
Millions of smartphone users in both urban centres and rural villages routinely click “accept” on long, unintelligible terms-of-service agreements written in complex English. They inadvertently hand over their browsing history, real-time geographic location, financial transaction records, and communication logs to global tech conglomerates and domestic applications alike.
Even though the legal framework now imposes financial penalties on non-compliant corporations rather than issuing toothless regulatory warnings, the mechanisms to monitor predictive profiling remain vastly underdeveloped. There is no fully functional, independent data protection authority equipped to audit how corporate algorithms use this data to manipulate market prices or control consumer…
