[APCPress] BREAKING NEWS: Pakistani internet ban is excuse to “curb voices against corruption”

[Karen Higgs]

NO EMBARGO

Pakistani internet ban is excuse to “curb voices against corruption”

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Bytes For All for APC -- After lifting the 
nationwide Facebook ban on May 31, the Lahore High Court directed 
authorities to devise methods to permanently block “blasphemous content” 
on the internet in Pakistan. “We believe that this order will be misused 
by the government to block citizens access to online activism and curb 
voices against corruption and corrupt practices by the government 
functionaries and that an open internet is essential in the fight for 
transparency,” says internet rights defender Bytes For All.

"Our research over the past three year suggests that Pakistan government 
always hide filtering and censorship of internet behind religion and 
blasphemous material, however, the ulterior motive would always be 
political or veiling the corruption. There is ample evidence on how in 
the past, these bans and filters have been used to hide the corrupt 
practices of the government and its functionaries being shown on the 
internet on Youtube, Flickr and Facebook", says Bytes For All, a South 
Asian network of internet rights activists with representatives in 
Pakistan.

After hearing of the case on May 31, the Lahore High Court directed the 
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Ministry of IT and 
Telecommunication and all concerned authorities to devise a permanent 
mechanism to monitor and control access over content on the internet. 
The order noted that "There are many and numerous countries with 
majority Muslim populations, who have many sustainable and effective 
mechanisms in place which block or deny to the general public access to 
such blasphemous contents.  The examples  of such countries could 
include the countries of majority of Muslim population in Middle East 
and Asia."  The guidelines for implementation of the monitoring and 
control mechanisms the order suggests can be adopted from these countries.

The Ministry of IT and Telecommunication (MoITT) and PTA have been 
ordered to submit "a summary of effective monitoring, control and 
implementation guidelines regarding access to such blasphemous and 
objectionable contents available over the internet".

The Court has also ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to direct 
Pakistan's Permanent Ambassador to the UN in New York to present a 
resolution in the UN General Assembly with regards to the blasphemous 
material on Facebook.  In case of non-compliance of this direction, the 
Minister for Foreign Affairs will be required to appear in person to 
explain why he has not complied with the directions of the Court.

“We condemn the blasphemous content and hate speech,” says Bytes For All 
“but we urge the government to stop blocking and filtering of the 
internet as it will curb people's economic and social well-being. Islam 
is a religion of peace and harmony, so immediate steps should be taken 
to stop increasing religion-based violence in the country – the internet 
and internet-based technologies can help a great deal in this regard.”

Bytes for All and defenders of internet rights in Pakistan were greatly 
concerned about the judgment by the Lahore High Court on the recent 
internet ban in Pakistan that was imposed during 19-31 May 2010 and left 
numerous social networking sites like Facebook and YouTube inaccessible 
by Pakistani internet users. The court had demanded a ban of Facebook 
due to few pages of sacrilegious nature but the Pakistan 
Telecommunication Authority (PTA) proactively banned most major social 
networking sites and other essential internet resources including 
Wikipedia and Flickr.

The filtering measures brought internet speeds almost to a halt and 
Pakistanis experienced extremely slow connections. The blanket ban meant 
that online academic activities also stopped as students of the Virtual 
University in Pakistan were deprived of their course material uploaded 
on YouTube.

Research on internet filtering in Pakistan: 
http://www.access-controlled.net/profiles/ (Click “Pakistan”)

Facebook ban in Pakistan is shocking, says Bytes For All APCNews, May 25 
2010 
http://www.apc.org/en/news/pakistani-government-bans-facebook-account-hate-sp


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