Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has announced that they will be establishing a cyber vigilance division in order to monitor complaints against unlawful online content under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA).
The decision has come as a result of the growing cyber crime in Pakistan such as phishing attacks on WhatsApp to online harassment on Facebook. Therefore, PTA is establishing the cyber wing to handle complaints against unlawful content online and have also implemented the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for submitting online complaints.
Currently PTA the content posted on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are not under the monitoring of the authority as they have secured websites which are hosted outside the physical boundaries of Pakistan and are subsequently not under PTA’s control. Therefore when it comes to any unlawful content which violates the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), PTA has to request the removal of such content from these websites.
However, according to recent reports PTA has successfully managed to form an agreement with these websites for respecting the constitution of Pakistan and if any content is posted which violates the country’s constitutional laws for cyber-content then these websites will cooperate and subsequently remove such type of content.
Furthermore, in 2016 PTA was given the responsibility of blocking or removing any content that is against the laws of Pakistan under the PEC Act. The act says that the content which is: “…against the glory of Islam, against the integrity, security and defense of Pakistan, public order, contempt of court, against decency & morality and incitement of any offices will be blocked or removed.”
This new division is set to curb the menace of cyber-harassment and unlawful content which promotes propaganda. However, there is always concern whenever such divisions are formed regarding freedom of speech and too much government oversight over basic freedoms like the expression of views.
