The Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc has portrayed Bangladesh as a terrorist country in its game title, which sparked off resentment in the government and people.

A source in the Ministry of Science and ICT said the government might file a lawsuit with the international court in this regard. Industry people have termed Sony’s move as ‘tech-terrorism’ to malign Bangladesh.

The strategy game, SOCOM III: US Navy SEALs, published by Sony and developed by Zipper Interactive, is scheduled to be released in the United States on August 1.

The mission of the third-person shooter game, third in the SOCOM series, is: ‘Protect America from enemy forces in urban and rural warfare throughout the world’. The main locales for the game are said to be Morocco, Poland and Bangladesh.

It says the terrorists of the world have targeted America and its allies.

The game involves playing an elite SEAL (SEa, Air, Land team of the US navy) commander to ‘protect freedom across the globe.’

The source in the ministry said the government, angered by the branding of Bangladesh as a terrorist country, might file a lawsuit against Sony.

But the government, before taking such a move, he said, will first send a letter to Sony through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking it to drop the name of Bangladesh from the game.

‘Sony has no doubt intended to malign Bangladesh,’ he said. ‘We expect that the company will drop the name of Bangladesh before the launch of the game.’

If Sony’s response is not satisfactory, then the government will file the lawsuit, he said.

The ministry, meanwhile, held a couple of meetings on the issue and planned to send the protest letter by fax and e-mail to Sony.

It also planned to inform the American Chamber of Commerce and the US embassy in

Dhaka of its concerns, another source said.

The ministry at a meeting on Sunday decided to finalise the letter immediately, a source present at the meeting told New Age Sunday night.

Sony’s move also annoyed local people in the ICT circle; they questioned the ethics of the US company.

The Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services president, Sarwar Alam, said, ‘We should voice a strong protest against the move.’

‘Any company can develop games for entertainment of any kind, but not by maligning any country,’ he said.

Terming Sony’s move as ‘tech-terrorism’, the Internet Service Providers’ Association of Bangladesh president, Akteruzzaman Manju, said, ‘Sony should seek apology as it will never be able to

prove that Bangladesh is, or was, a terrorist country.’ He said the government should ban this game.

The Bangladesh Computer Samity at a meeting in the past week also planned to form a cell to collect people’s opinion on the issue.

The association president, SM Iqbal, said the game would tarnish the image of Bangladesh and would hit the ICT sector.

Letters of protest are also pouring in from expatriate Bangladeshis who

demanded that the government should take immediate steps to stop such propaganda in the guise of entertainment games.

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