Monday 17 June 2024
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ISLAMABAD (Urdu Point. DW Urdu. June 17, 2024) Pro-freedom circles have expressed serious concern over the news about the installation of a firewall on the Internet gateway by the government in Pakistan to control social networking websites. are doing According to experts, after the installation of the firewall, it has become easier for the government to delete 'objectionable' content and identify users who upload it.
A high-level source in Pakistan's Ministry of Information Technology told DW on condition of anonymity that the technology has been provided to Pakistan by a friendly country and has already been successfully used in an Arab country in the Middle East. is being used.
According to this source, firewalls serve two purposes: one is to identify uploaders of inappropriate content and the other is to limit access to such content by the general public.
Speaking to DW, Umar Cheema, a journalist who revealed details about the firewall in Pakistan, confirmed the installation of the firewall installed to filter content uploaded on social media platforms. It will be a surprise to them if someone tells them that no firewall is installed.
However, the government has remained completely silent in this regard.
Freedom of expression under restrictions
After the unannounced ban on mainstream media in Pakistan, social media has been an important source of news that the government tries to suppress. The new development regarding the firewall comes at a time when access to former Twitter and current X has been blocked in the country for the past four months and journalistic organizations are protesting the controversial defamation law in the country's largest province, Punjab. are also doing
Concerns of digital rights experts
Experts working for digital rights in Pakistan have expressed concern that the installation of a national firewall may affect basic human rights such as access to information, freedom of expression and individual privacy. Through this firewall, a common citizen's banking information, salary, health details, even from email etc. to passwords can be accessed by state agencies.
Aftab Alam, a lawyer who oversees the legal aspects of cyber affairs, told Deutsche Welle that the installation of a firewall would destroy the fundamental right of citizens to privacy. He said, "As a result of this government initiative, the state will have access to all the private information of the users and any citizen can be punished for uploading any content that The state will make objectionable.
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Meanwhile, the leaders of two major political parties, Pakistan People's Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, seem to be reluctant to make any concrete or effective statement against the recently imposed restrictions on civil liberties. The leaders of Muslim League-N are also having to support measures against freedom of expression with different interpretations.
A case in point is the new and controversial defamation law in Punjab.
VPN can also be affected?
Journalist Umar Cheema expressed fear that VPN (Virtual Private Network) may also come under restrictions in the coming days and the citizens who use it will be asked to contact the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for their services. You may need to register.
Keep in mind that using a VPN, users can access websites that are subject to government restrictions. In response to a question in this regard, Aftab Alam said that under Pakistani law, citizens who use VPN without registration can be punished. Banking sector and corporate institutions register themselves with PTA for using VPN.
Installing a firewall is not a good idea?
Observers believe that instead of putting a firewall behind the backlash of people oppressed by wrong government policies, there is a need to address the causes that create public anxiety and backlash. According to Aftab Alam Advocate, "If a vehicle has an accident on the motorway, the solution to prevent such accidents is not to close the motorway.
In such a case drivers should be trained, public awareness should be increased and traffic discipline should be improved as well as prevention of the causes leading to accidents.
According to him, firewalls are already being used in Pakistan to block websites with 'inappropriate' content. He said, "The government has so far closed around 12,500,000 websites, out of which 9,800,000 websites contain obscene and morally inappropriate content, while the remaining 300,000 websites contain political content." And news content sites are also included.
Only the guilty should be punished
Aftab Alam says that there is an educational and positive use of social media as well. Banning it will harm those who are making positive use of it. "During the era of General Pervez Musharraf, when a video of shoe waving came out, many websites, including YouTube, which mentioned the word shoe, were closed.
In this situation, the business of a young man from Kasur, who was doing online business of shoes, was also stopped. People should be made aware of the responsible use of social media but it is not appropriate to block their access to knowledge.
Journalist Umar Cheema says that to understand the issue of firewall, the perspective of all stakeholders must be put forward.
The freedom of the media must be supported, but the media must also see who are the people in their ranks, who are crossing the red line as journalists and causing firewalls to be installed. According to him, it should not be the case that even renowned journalists share fake stories on social media without investigating the facts. Umar Cheema further said, "On the other hand, the government believes that in order to get the country out of the economic crisis, it must end the destabilizing propaganda and fake news."
But the government also has to remember that it cannot beat everyone with the same stick. It should refrain from imposing restrictions on professional journalists.
Can the firewall experiment succeed?
Umar Cheema explains that those in power are hoping for the success of the firewall by citing the examples of Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Even if they don't get 100% success, they will still get some success. For example, after X (Twitter) was banned in Pakistan a few months ago, the number of X users in Pakistan is now almost half. But Aftab Alam believes that technology is constantly changing and evolving. Future firewall researchers may also come up with a solution to this problem.
"People in Pakistan are aware of the importance and necessity of freedom of expression, so it will not be easy to impose restrictions on freedom of expression here and to maintain them."
Critics are also raising questions about the extent to which the government will be able to curb public reaction with force and coercion. How many people can the troubled government send to jail in the presence of the judiciary? How will you deal with the public backlash for sending so many people to jail? Once the political landscape of the country changes, this firewall will not detect the places where campaigns against democracy and civilian supremacy have been conducted.
Senior journalist Khalid Farooqui says that restrictions on freedom of expression will damage Pakistan's image at the global level. But this does not mean that the social media camel will remain unharmed. Everyone will have to adopt responsible behavior to improve the situation. Therefore, all stakeholders should sit together and find a solution to this problem through dialogue.
