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<span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"">In an alarming development in Pakistan Chairman of the regulatory authority i.e. PTA has requested to increase its technical capabilities for filtering and censorship or completely block social media websites
in order to stop circulation of blasphemous content. We at Internet Policy Observatory Pakistan are extremely concerned over this development and especially with the recent wave of clampdown on freedom of expression and opinion in the country making new rules
for regulating social media, VPN, and circumvention technologies will be detrimental for digital rights of users in the country.</span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"">Best,</span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"">Arzak Khan</span></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:24.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#333333;
mso-font-kerning:18.0pt"><a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1496331/block-social-media-websites-or-increase-our-technical-capacity-pta-chairman-asks-senate-panel"><span style="font-size:22.5pt; color:black; text-underline:none">Block
social media websites or increase our technical capacity</span></a></span></b></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#333333">Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman retired Maj Gen Amir Azeem Bajwa on Friday told a Senate panel that the government should either increase the body's "technical capabilities"
or block social media websites in the country in order to stop the circulation of "blasphemous content".</span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";
color:#333333">While briefing the Senate Special Committee to examine purported grievances, Bajwa said: "[Dealing with] blasphemous content on social media is a huge problem. Most of the websites are being
operated from other countries."</span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif">
<span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";
color:#333333">"The government should either formulate a policy and block social media websites in the country like China and the United Arab Emirates — [which would mean] developing social media platforms
locally like China — or it should increase the technical capabilities of the PTA</span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif">
<span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#333333">The PTA chief also suggested that the government should sign mutual legal assistance treaties with other countries so that access to blasphemous content on international social media platforms
can be blocked in Pakistan.</span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";
color:#333333">Barrister Saif Khan, who was chairing the meeting, asked if the body can "block the revenue" that social media websites — where blasphemous content is posted — earn from Pakistan. He further
said that social media platforms, which operate from other countries, should appoint their representatives in Pakistan.</span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";
color:#333333">Bajwa told the panel that PTA has blocked more than 39,000 URLs since 2010. The authority also issues awareness ads in order to inform people that sharing blasphemous content is a crime, he
added.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif">
<span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";
color:#333333">He told the panel that the PTA had received 8,500 complaints regarding blasphemous content on the internet but the authority had blocked 40,000 websites.</span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";
color:#333333">It also blocked about 850,000 websites that had pornographic content, Bajwa said. He admitted that websites were being hosted on the dark web in Pakistan, adding that it was "not easy to monitor
it".</span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif">
<span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";
color:#333333">The official further said that websites blocked by PTA can be easily accessed through a proxy. He said that the government had instructed the PTA to prepare new rules regarding the usage of
social media and the authority will submit them soon.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif">
<span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";
color:#333333">Barrister Saif said that the rules should apply to content that is blasphemous for any religion. He asked PTA to prepare new rules and assured Bajwa that they will be approved.</span></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif">
<span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";
color:#333333">Officials of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) also briefed the committee on the matter and said that currently, the agency's cybercrime division was probing 12 cases. They said that
Facebook and Twitter do not respond to most complaints lodged by FIA.</span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";
color:#333333">The officials also informed the panel that the FIA had received 32,000 complaints in the past three years and the agency had only 15 cyber experts on board.</span></p>
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