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PAKISTAN-TELECOMS: AT THE BUTT OF A JOKE
Inter Press Service-Wednesday, November 23, 2011
KARACHI, Nov 23, 2011, 2011 (IPS/GIN via COMTEX)
The Butt$ of Punjab have become the butt of jokes after Pakistan's telecom authorities moved to ban "obscene" content on short messaging service (SMS) texts over mobile phones.
On Nov. 14, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) ordered cellular telephone operators to filter out SMS content of some 1,600 words in the English and Urdu languages that it has listed as objectionable.
Farhan Butt, 29, a builder, says good humouredly: "I fear we (Butt$) will no longer get dinner invites (over SMS) now.
"This is a conspiracy hatched by the government to exclude Butt$ (a clan with roots in Kashmir) from such events," he told IPS over phone from Taxila, Punjab.
The PTA list, leaked to the media, has 16 phrases that are prefixed with the word 'butt'. The list includes other words such as "robber" and "idiot".
Pakistan, with a population of 180 million, ranks fifth in Asia for mobile phone density, with more than 100 million mobile phone users subscribing to services provided by five major telecom operators.
The main reason behind the increasing use of cell phones, says PTA, is low calling charges and free incoming calls. But, the technology is bringing about a slow change in the nation's culture and redefining moral values, as the PTA ban suggests.
The ban has drawn derision from all strata of society, with the social networking site 'twitter' bombarded with messages.
"With PTA's legendary efficiency I am sure Pakistanis won't be able to access FCUK e-catalogue (clothing brand)," tweeted Abbas Nasir, a former editor of 'Dawn' newspaper.
"The best thing that PTA could have done is to make sure that every buccha buccha (kid) knows the (offensive) words," tweeted Sheema Hasnat.
Nosheen Abbas, a young journalist who writes for BBC and finds the ban "hilarious", told IPS: "I don't think it will stop people from sending obscene messages. If the ban is actually implemented, people will find a way around it."
Speaking against this "ruthless wave of moral policing in the digital communication sphere," Shahzad Ahmad, country coordinator for the group Bytes for All (BFA), tells IPS: "The PTA has not only made a mockery of itself but also of the entire country and its government."
BFA, a South Asian citizens' network, identifies, discusses and builds opinion on emerging issues related to ICT and is a major campaigner for Internet freedom and open policies for channels of communication in the region.
Defending its policies, PTA said they were designed to "pre-empt the offence" and save victims of obscene messages from trauma.
PTA spokesman Mohammad Younis told IPS that after receiving "numerous complaints from people it has decided to take matters in its hand" and come up with a formula requiring operators to "block transmission" at its source.
"Every country has its own moral values that must be adhered to," Younis said.
He explained that PTA was only following legal provisions that demand filtration in the interest of "the glory of Islam or the integrity, security or defence of Pakistan or any part thereof, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality."
But this argument has failed to impress special prosecutor Nighat Dad who believes that the law has been selectively applied and that this has been "widely misconstrued".
BFA said in a press statement: "The problem with such morality induced bans is that morality is subjective and open for interpretation by individuals. For instance, a ban on **** may start with blocking of pictures and videos of people having sex, and end up with making sure that no medical documentation of the human body exists, as evident from the past."
"It's illegal and we will challenge it in the court of law," Ahmad said, adding that BFA has been in touch with the telecom operators, who are quite befuddled by the government's directive. According to Dad, also a member of the human rights committee of the Lahore high court, all that the PTA needed to do was to address individual complaints rather impose a blanket ban.
"If there is something between two individuals, how is it a concern of the PTA? If these kinds of curbs are put on people in a democratic dispensation, God help us in an autocratic rule."
Ahmad knows of no country that has placed a similar ban, not even in an Islamic country. "There have been content bans, for example, the ban on Youtube in Turkey or the ban on **** in Thailand - more for content involving the monarchy - but never a ban on text messaging," he said.
Over the last three years, President Asif Ali Zardari has been a butt of SMS jokes, a situation that went to extent of the presidential office receiving the jokes on its official email.
In 2009, interior minister Rehman Malik had announced a ban on jokes ridiculing the President, warning that the Federal Investigation Agency had been asked to trace electronically transmitted jokes under the Cyber Crimes Act.
In May 2010, after a decision by the Lahore High Court, Facebook was blocked as a reaction to the 'Everybody Draw Muhammad' page that was seen as offensive to the Prophet.
The block was lifted, said Ahmad, after Facebook agreed to restrict certain Internet links.
"We have engaged with the Facebook public policy team on that. Our stance is that in the first place there should be no such ban; if it is imperative, the PTA should make the information public," Malik said.
Outrage by users, typically young people, has resulted in PTA agreeing to revise the list of objectionable words and phrases and deferring actual implementation.
"It's not the final list," Younis told IPS. "We may need to revise it from time to time."
BFA is far from satisfied. "We want this ban completely withdrawn with a public apology ... PTA must refrain from any such censorship acts in future," said its spokesman.
Inter Press Service-Wednesday, November 23, 2011
KARACHI, Nov 23, 2011, 2011 (IPS/GIN via COMTEX)
The Butt$ of Punjab have become the butt of jokes after Pakistan's telecom authorities moved to ban "obscene" content on short messaging service (SMS) texts over mobile phones.
On Nov. 14, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) ordered cellular telephone operators to filter out SMS content of some 1,600 words in the English and Urdu languages that it has listed as objectionable.
Farhan Butt, 29, a builder, says good humouredly: "I fear we (Butt$) will no longer get dinner invites (over SMS) now.
"This is a conspiracy hatched by the government to exclude Butt$ (a clan with roots in Kashmir) from such events," he told IPS over phone from Taxila, Punjab.
The PTA list, leaked to the media, has 16 phrases that are prefixed with the word 'butt'. The list includes other words such as "robber" and "idiot".
Pakistan, with a population of 180 million, ranks fifth in Asia for mobile phone density, with more than 100 million mobile phone users subscribing to services provided by five major telecom operators.
The main reason behind the increasing use of cell phones, says PTA, is low calling charges and free incoming calls. But, the technology is bringing about a slow change in the nation's culture and redefining moral values, as the PTA ban suggests.
The ban has drawn derision from all strata of society, with the social networking site 'twitter' bombarded with messages.
"With PTA's legendary efficiency I am sure Pakistanis won't be able to access FCUK e-catalogue (clothing brand)," tweeted Abbas Nasir, a former editor of 'Dawn' newspaper.
"The best thing that PTA could have done is to make sure that every buccha buccha (kid) knows the (offensive) words," tweeted Sheema Hasnat.
Nosheen Abbas, a young journalist who writes for BBC and finds the ban "hilarious", told IPS: "I don't think it will stop people from sending obscene messages. If the ban is actually implemented, people will find a way around it."
Speaking against this "ruthless wave of moral policing in the digital communication sphere," Shahzad Ahmad, country coordinator for the group Bytes for All (BFA), tells IPS: "The PTA has not only made a mockery of itself but also of the entire country and its government."
BFA, a South Asian citizens' network, identifies, discusses and builds opinion on emerging issues related to ICT and is a major campaigner for Internet freedom and open policies for channels of communication in the region.
Defending its policies, PTA said they were designed to "pre-empt the offence" and save victims of obscene messages from trauma.
PTA spokesman Mohammad Younis told IPS that after receiving "numerous complaints from people it has decided to take matters in its hand" and come up with a formula requiring operators to "block transmission" at its source.
"Every country has its own moral values that must be adhered to," Younis said.
He explained that PTA was only following legal provisions that demand filtration in the interest of "the glory of Islam or the integrity, security or defence of Pakistan or any part thereof, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality."
But this argument has failed to impress special prosecutor Nighat Dad who believes that the law has been selectively applied and that this has been "widely misconstrued".
BFA said in a press statement: "The problem with such morality induced bans is that morality is subjective and open for interpretation by individuals. For instance, a ban on **** may start with blocking of pictures and videos of people having sex, and end up with making sure that no medical documentation of the human body exists, as evident from the past."
"It's illegal and we will challenge it in the court of law," Ahmad said, adding that BFA has been in touch with the telecom operators, who are quite befuddled by the government's directive. According to Dad, also a member of the human rights committee of the Lahore high court, all that the PTA needed to do was to address individual complaints rather impose a blanket ban.
"If there is something between two individuals, how is it a concern of the PTA? If these kinds of curbs are put on people in a democratic dispensation, God help us in an autocratic rule."
Ahmad knows of no country that has placed a similar ban, not even in an Islamic country. "There have been content bans, for example, the ban on Youtube in Turkey or the ban on **** in Thailand - more for content involving the monarchy - but never a ban on text messaging," he said.
Over the last three years, President Asif Ali Zardari has been a butt of SMS jokes, a situation that went to extent of the presidential office receiving the jokes on its official email.
In 2009, interior minister Rehman Malik had announced a ban on jokes ridiculing the President, warning that the Federal Investigation Agency had been asked to trace electronically transmitted jokes under the Cyber Crimes Act.
In May 2010, after a decision by the Lahore High Court, Facebook was blocked as a reaction to the 'Everybody Draw Muhammad' page that was seen as offensive to the Prophet.
The block was lifted, said Ahmad, after Facebook agreed to restrict certain Internet links.
"We have engaged with the Facebook public policy team on that. Our stance is that in the first place there should be no such ban; if it is imperative, the PTA should make the information public," Malik said.
Outrage by users, typically young people, has resulted in PTA agreeing to revise the list of objectionable words and phrases and deferring actual implementation.
"It's not the final list," Younis told IPS. "We may need to revise it from time to time."
BFA is far from satisfied. "We want this ban completely withdrawn with a public apology ... PTA must refrain from any such censorship acts in future," said its spokesman.
