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The great (fire)wall of Pakistan

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The great (fire)wall of Pakistan
By Jahanzaib Haque
Published: March 4, 2012
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The writer is Web Editor of The Express Tribune and tweets @Jhaque_ jahanzaib.haque@tribune.com.pk


First they came for the Baloch websites, silently, without any justification. Then they banned YouTube and Facebook for weeks in the name of blasphemy. Then came the crackdown on online ****, with over 13,000 sites blocked. Then came the end of Pakistan’s access to Rollingstone.com, due to a single article criticizing Pakistan’s level of military spending.

The modus operandi is almost always the same; instructions are passed from the government, establishment or courts to the Pakistan Telecommunication authority (PTA) who then sends a notice to all internet service providers (ISPs) to block the sites. To legitimize the steps taken, directives and legislation are introduced such as the Pakistan Telecommunications (Re-organisation) Act, 1996 that criminalises vague and broad offenses, banning the dissemination of “false” or fabricated” content, or the even vaguer, “mischief.”

The ISPs do not protest, or question whether their customers’ right to information or freedom of expression is being trampled on. They do not even inform their customers that a block has been put in place, or provide a publicly available list of sites blocked along with legal grounds (if any) for blockage. All the customer gets is a single line message upon trying to access a site: this page has been blocked, by orders of the PTA – and now, we may well be getting that message for up to 50 million more sites in Pakistan.

In a bid to establish what is being termed ‘the great (fire)wall of Pakistan’, the government has floated a request calling for proposals to ensure blocking and filtering of “undesirable content” at a national level. The National ICT Research and Development Fund has sought bids for a system that “should be able to handle a block list of up to 50 million URLs with a processing delay of not more than 1 millisecond.”

The implications of such capabilities in the hands of the above institutions, given their history of abuse and lack of cognizance of citizen rights (not to mention servitude to extremist pressure groups), is terrifying. Internet in Pakistan, even with its limited penetration has been the only independent, partially free space for the exchange of information and ideas. To see that come to a quick, strangulated end by having policies and systems set up to censor huge swathes of the online space can only come from individuals/institutions that are fundamentally ignorant of the damage they are inflicting.

To best judge how skewed the priorities of those carrying out this censorship of the internet is, one only has to Google for jihadi literature and websites of anti-state/banned groups such as Hizbut Tahrir Pakistan, to see how they operate online with impunity. Needless to say, the ongoing and upcoming blockage and filtering of web content is likely not a case of good intent, flawed execution.

It is now up to the Ministry of Information Technology to prove to its citizens how exactly their censorship efforts are for the public good, and how they can be held accountable in any instance of violating local or international laws, given that the UN has declared internet access a human right.

Keeping in mind that the PTA’s attempt to ban up to 1,500 words on SMS was thwarted by the combined efforts of civil society, telcos and mass media coverage, there is hope that further blockage of the internet in Pakistan could be nipped in the bud.

At this stage, the average Pakistani must understand that this is not a “good move” to save our youth from “evil” pornography and it is not a “blessing” that will “protect” us from blasphemous content – those orchestrating online censorship are doing it to service themselves or the pressure groups acting upon them, and the impact of this will only be felt once it interferes directly in your life. Imagine the slippery slope from censoring **** and anti-establishment content to censoring your political views, blocking your blog on art, blocking your online forum such as this newspaper’s website for hosting comments deemed ‘undesirable content’. This is all just one step away.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5th, 2012.
 
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I miss those blonde ad on websites saying "mien donga monga mien rehti ho, mujh say dosti karo gaye ??? :rofl:
 
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so you want every tom dick and harry to start an independancemovement and let it make websites? do u want ****? this filtering has never created any problem for me or my family,,
i being university student has not faced a single issue due to it,,
my other family members never complained to me of any site blockage,,

oh i forgot my neighbour ( whom i gave my wifi passkey as they ask it andi cant say no ,, ( they only use it on cell phone for skyp or some light browsing or so they tell me) ) is definitely most disturbed by this ban as he cant access varuious **** sites,, as i reported by my router logs,,,
i fear are u my neighbour?
 
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They cannot block anything really you need a simple proxy to get past their stupid firewall
it will just make surfing the internet a little slow
the government is always finding new ways to make peoples lives miserable
 
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how cud u expect this govt to sincerely work on blocking such sites when thier minister in sindh Pir Mazhar ul haq was enjoying stage dances at youtube on his ipad in assembly.:tdown:
 
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Great News. Finally, something is working in Pakistan. Love this Firewall. We dont want the West to destroy Pakistan through Internet. This must have been an advice form our Chinese Brothers. West is using three tools to destroy other countries.

1. Internet
2. NGO'S
3. Foreign Media ( CNN, FOX, BBC etc. )

Please strengthen the Internet Firewall and put up a Visa firewall against NGO's and Foreign Media. Better yet, Kick all the Foreign Media and NGO's out of Pakistan. These people are nothing but a nest of spies out to destroy Pakistan. Every country that has had problems, these three elements of Foreign Media, Internet and NGO's have been active. Whether it is Iran, Libya, Egypt Syria or China, these elements are actively involved in Anti-State activities. Egypt recently kicked out NGO's involved in illegal activities
of riling up masses against the Govt.
 
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I cannot open alot of websites including defence pk without proxy is it just me or every one is facing this issue
 
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Oh another article from express news..........


Well i think it is fantastic they have blocked these websites . I think they need to make sure that no one gets pass through to the blocked websites.

youtube sure.Block every damn website that is BS. I am with you.

Good work.:tup:
 
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Oh another article from express news..........


Well i think it is fantastic they have blocked these websites . I think they need to make sure that no one gets pass through to the blocked websites.

youtube sure.Block every damn website that is BS. I am with you.

Good work.:tup:

You are supporting a ban on those who are living in pakistan while you will enjoy free internet in sweden
 
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I actually don't disagree with this ban. Excuse me, but this country is supposed to be based on Islamic Principles. How can one ban prostitution and then allow ****? Any kid may accidentally access those sites. And do you know that UAE has blocked Twitter at times? Because of content which was disgusting. I think it's a great move as long as all blocked sites are blocked for the correct reasons and not because they hurt Mr.Zardari
 
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Great News. Finally, something is working in Pakistan. Love this Firewall. This must have been an advice form our Chinese Brothers.
Good God Almighty! :woot: You guys can't even take such decisions yourselves? Do you have to depend on Chinese advice always and every time, even for blocking ****? Next you'll ask the Chinese for advice on the type of medicines to give Zardari whenever he farts!

Looks like you guys have completely lost your independence and have become a Chinese protectorate/autonomous region like Tibet!! :cheesy:
 
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I found something very hilarious. When I went to post a comment on Express Tribune, I got a message that it would be 'moderated' then 'posted'. Does anyone else find this highly hypocritical, criticizing the government for 'censoring' sites and then 'censoring' comments themselves?
 
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Does anyone else find this highly hypocritical, criticizing the government for 'censoring' sites and then 'censoring' comments themselves?
Perhaps it shows that the Express Tribune has to live with the reality this author describes?
 
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