Describing data as the fuel of the future, Professor Dr BM Mainul Hossain, Director of the Institute of Information Technology at Dhaka University (IITDU), said that if data remains in the hands of Amazon, Facebook or Google, its control will no longer be in our hands.
He said that without establishing a sovereign cloud infrastructure, data sovereignty cannot be achieved. Services must prioritise domestic companies, and the media must become more aware of this issue.
He made these remarks on Wednesday (August 27) during a workshop on OpenStack Sovereign Cloud held at Banani Club in the capital. The workshop was organised by the Bangladesh ICT Journalists Forum (BIJF), with support from Plexus Cloud Limited.
Speaking at the event, Mobarak Hossain, Managing Director of Plexus Cloud, said that Google is not a technology company, but rather a marketing company. He alleged that technology giants are profiting from the use of our data, while we ourselves are handing over our resources to them.
He added that if even a single dot is removed from Gmail, our smartphones become inoperative. This, he said, is nothing short of digital captivity. Therefore, we must build our own cloud and data centres to ensure digital independence.
In his welcome address at the workshop, BIJF Vice President Bhuiyan Enam Lenin said that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has already entered every household. He stressed the need to learn about tools like ChatGPT, DeepSeek, and Cloud, warning that without proper knowledge, confusion will spread throughout society.
In his presidential speech, BIJF President Hitler A. Halim said that such workshops provide an opportunity to understand technology. They will help enhance our reports, features, and analysis. He announced that BIJF will organise more workshops and knowledge-sharing sessions on AI and other timely technologies in the future.
Former BIJF President Nazneen Nahar delivered a goodwill message at the workshop, which was attended by 40 ICT journalists.
The closing remarks at the event were delivered by the organisation’s General Secretary Sabbir Hasan.
MSK/
