Parliament today approved bills proposed by the government to allow authorities to intercept personal information and conduct surveillance in order to prevent cybercrime and other related offences.

The bills passed by the People's Majlis on Monday were the Amendment Bill to the Criminal Procedures Act, the Amendment Bill to the Penal Code and the Amendment Bill on Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act.

With these amendments, investigative agencies will be empowered to address cybercrime as a criminal offence and take many measures to prevent such crimes. It will mainly facilitate access to people's personal information. Some groups have expressed concerns about these amendments.

Two bills to amend the Criminal Procedure Act were passed with 58 votes in favour. The Judiciary Committee did not bring any major changes to the two bills.

The bill proposed by Manadhoo MP Husni Mubarak gives enforcement agencies more powers to prevent crimes in cyberspace.

Procedures added to the bill

• Current practices for intercepting personal information
• Procedure for retention of customer information and communication data by telecommunications service providers
• Procedure for requiring the preservation of stored computer data and disclosure of traffic data to a certain extent
• Procedure for obtaining and executing production orders for access to computer data and subscriber information
• Procedure for inspection and retention of stored computer data
• Procedures for obtaining and enforcing court orders for the immediate or real-time extraction of Internet traffic data

The second bill proposed by Galolhu North MP Mohamed Ibrahim adds procedures for issuing court orders to freeze the accounts of those involved in scam cases.

The Amendment Bill to the Penal Code was passed with 58 votes in favour. The bill mainly states that cybercrime-related acts are offences.