Dear Editor,
As the Guyana government deliberates over regulations for social media platforms to curb cybercrime, it has generously gifted us a far more innovative solution: the National Defence Institute (NDI). Launched by the Guyana Defence Force, this new institution arrives with absolutely no legal checks, balances, or clearly defined rules on how it will operate—especially when it comes to little things like human rights or privacy.
Guyana’s experiment isn’t happening in isolation. Globally, we have seen how unchecked powers can lead to uncomfortable realities. In 2021, India passed sweeping cyber regulations ostensibly to curb disinformation, only to end up policing critical voices and clamping down on dissent. The number of government requests for user data increased by 55% between 2019 and 2021, according to a report from Access Now. And let’s not forget China’s infamous Social Credit System, where tracking citizens’ behaviours—everything from their online posts to their grocery purchases—isn’t just a reality but a celebrated national policy.
Closer to home, Guyana could take a page out of the United States’ book on how to perfect the invasion of privacy under the guise of national defense. The NSA’s mass surveillance program, revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden, saw the collection of metadata from millions of unsuspecting Americans. At its peak, the NSA was processing over 200 million text messages per day worldwide. And here we are, ready to join this illustrious club. Should we applaud the NDI’s limitless potential to defend us from… who knows what? I mean, who needs transparency or a clear legal framework? Just trust us—what could go wrong?
The fact that the government is still mulling over the regulations for cybercrime while launching an institution with the power to breach every aspect of our lives is a stroke of genius. Perhaps, just as India, China, and the U.S. have demonstrated, there’s a method to this madness: build the system first, figure out the pesky legal details later. So while the rest of the world pretends to care about things like privacy and accountability, Guyana is bravely stepping forward into a future where our defense institutions will have all the room they need to “protect” us. And as citizens, we can rest easy knowing that our personal lives may soon be under the watchful eyes of the NDI, with no legal barriers to hold it back.
Sincerely,
Keith Bernard
