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Cyber crime bill passed by NA: 13 reasons Pakistanis should be worried
RAZA KHAN — PUBLISHED 3 MINUTES AGO
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ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly (NA) approved the controversial Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill (PECB) 2015 on Thursday after the Senate's unanimous adoption of the bill – with 50 amendments – earlier in July.
The bill will be signed into law by President Mamnoon Hussain.
The 'draconian' bill has been heavily criticised by the IT industry, civil society organisations and rights activists for curbing human rights and giving overreaching powers to law enforcement agencies.
Focus of criticism
BABAR SATTAR
In its present form PECB will criminalise conduct that shouldn’t be criminalised, equip investigation agencies and PTA with overbroad and unguided powers that will be susceptible to abuse, and chill free speech without any corresponding augmentation of the right to privacy or dignity.
Laws are drafted not on the assumption that they will be tools in the hands of angels, but by assuming abuse and guarding against it. So is PECB an unmitigated disaster or a mini-disaster? (read in full)
FARIEHA AZIZ
What will be unleashed upon us through Section 34 is a regime that will decide on whim, based on what affects personal reputations and fits personal barometers of morality, what we should or should not say, and what we should or should not have access to. Either entire websites will be shut down over one piece of content without ever knowing when access to them will be restored: Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Instagram have all been blocked at some point or the other in Pakistan. Or, in the zest to try and gain the ability to block, nefarious designs to break through encrypted protocols will be pursued. (read in full)
IA REHMAN
The whole affair has revealed fault lines that should cause a great deal of anxiety to the people.
Pakistan’s lack of expertise in preparing and assessing legislative proposals, which would maintain a balance between the state’s thirst for absolute powers and the citizens’ inviolable rights, is bound to undermine progress towards an equitable rule of law. (read in full)
Editorial
Both China and Saudi Arabia have taken technological and institutional steps to censor the internet that go beyond law and now extend to societal norms, business practices and other areas. Similarly in Pakistan, we may see censorship extend beyond the government’s desire to control information to negatively impact society — eg increased instances of online blasphemy accusations used — as seen in the real world — not only to censor information on the internet, but also to target minority groups and ordinary citizens.
This is not a hypothetical situation but one grounded in the fact that multiple cases of blasphemy charges based on internet content have already occurred in the last two years. The PECB has no answer to the impact of the internet censorship it will bring into law.
It is unfortunate that a lack of internet penetration and thereby an understanding of the internet among the general population and leaders leave the country vulnerable to new policies that once passed will be hard to reverse and damaging to the very people who approved them. (read in full)
Salient features of the earlier bill:
RAZA KHAN — PUBLISHED 3 MINUTES AGO
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PRINTISLAMABAD: The National Assembly (NA) approved the controversial Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill (PECB) 2015 on Thursday after the Senate's unanimous adoption of the bill – with 50 amendments – earlier in July.
The bill will be signed into law by President Mamnoon Hussain.
The 'draconian' bill has been heavily criticised by the IT industry, civil society organisations and rights activists for curbing human rights and giving overreaching powers to law enforcement agencies.
Focus of criticism
- The bill is too harsh, with punishments that do not fit crimes
- The bill's language leaves it open to abuse by LEAs, agencies, the government
- Recommendations of stakeholders were ignored in the formulation of the law
- It restricts freedom of expression and access to information
- The offences are too numerous, overlap with other existing laws
- The wording of the bill leaves many clauses open to interpretation
- The bill specifically can be misused to target journalists’ sources and whistleblowers
- Criteria for surveillance is even more open-ended than in the Fair Trial Act 2013
- Mechanisms for implementation are missing from this bill
- The bill has introduced clauses on cyberterrorism, which is not the subject of the bill
- The authority designated under the new law should have been independent of the executive
- The authority has been given sweeping powers to blocking and destroy online material, without a court order
- It does not adequately differentiate cyber crime from cyber terrorism and cyber warfare
BABAR SATTAR
In its present form PECB will criminalise conduct that shouldn’t be criminalised, equip investigation agencies and PTA with overbroad and unguided powers that will be susceptible to abuse, and chill free speech without any corresponding augmentation of the right to privacy or dignity.
Laws are drafted not on the assumption that they will be tools in the hands of angels, but by assuming abuse and guarding against it. So is PECB an unmitigated disaster or a mini-disaster? (read in full)
FARIEHA AZIZ
What will be unleashed upon us through Section 34 is a regime that will decide on whim, based on what affects personal reputations and fits personal barometers of morality, what we should or should not say, and what we should or should not have access to. Either entire websites will be shut down over one piece of content without ever knowing when access to them will be restored: Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Instagram have all been blocked at some point or the other in Pakistan. Or, in the zest to try and gain the ability to block, nefarious designs to break through encrypted protocols will be pursued. (read in full)
IA REHMAN
The whole affair has revealed fault lines that should cause a great deal of anxiety to the people.
Pakistan’s lack of expertise in preparing and assessing legislative proposals, which would maintain a balance between the state’s thirst for absolute powers and the citizens’ inviolable rights, is bound to undermine progress towards an equitable rule of law. (read in full)
Editorial
Both China and Saudi Arabia have taken technological and institutional steps to censor the internet that go beyond law and now extend to societal norms, business practices and other areas. Similarly in Pakistan, we may see censorship extend beyond the government’s desire to control information to negatively impact society — eg increased instances of online blasphemy accusations used — as seen in the real world — not only to censor information on the internet, but also to target minority groups and ordinary citizens.
This is not a hypothetical situation but one grounded in the fact that multiple cases of blasphemy charges based on internet content have already occurred in the last two years. The PECB has no answer to the impact of the internet censorship it will bring into law.
It is unfortunate that a lack of internet penetration and thereby an understanding of the internet among the general population and leaders leave the country vulnerable to new policies that once passed will be hard to reverse and damaging to the very people who approved them. (read in full)
Salient features of the earlier bill:
- Up to seven years imprisonment, Rs10 million fine or both for hate speech, or trying to create disputes and spread hatred on the basis of religion or sectarianism
- Up to three years imprisonment and Rs0.5 million fine or both for cheating others through internet
- Up to five year imprisonment, Rs5 million fine or both for transferring or copying of sensitive basic information
- Up to seven years imprisonment and Rs0.5 million fine or both for uploading obscene photos of children
- Up to Rs50 thousand fine for sending messages irritating to others or for marketing purposes. If the crime is repeated, the punishment would be three months imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs1 million
- Up to three year imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs0.5 million for creating a website for negative purposes
- Up to one year imprisonment or a fine of up to Rs1 million for forcing an individual for immoral activity, or publishing an individual’s picture without consent, sending obscene messages or unnecessary cyber interference
- Up to seven year imprisonment, a fine of Rs10 million or both for interfering in sensitive data information systems
- Three month imprisonment or a Rs50 thousand fine or both for accessing unauthorised data
- Three year imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs5 million for obtaining information about an individual’s identification, selling the information or retaining it with self
- Up to three year imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs0.5 million for issuing a SIM card in an unauthorised manner
- Up to three year imprisonment and fine of up to Rs1 million rupees for making changes in a wireless set or a cell phone
- Up to three year imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs1 million for spreading misinformation about an individual
- Up to three years imprisonment and fine of up to Rs1 million for misusing internet
