Cyber crimes law in effect
Awab Alvi
Awab
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\11\07\story_7-11-2008_pg1_8 <http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\11\07\story_7-11-2008_pg1_8>
Cyber-terrorism will be punishable by death
* President promulgates Cyber Crimes Ord
* Death penalty limited to crime that causes death
* Criminal access to data, e-fraud, cyber-stalking, spamming made punishable offences
By Tahir Niaz
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari promulgated the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance on Thursday, making cyber-terrorism punishable with death or imprisonment for life.
The penalty is limited to an offence that 'causes death of any person', according to the ordinance that will be considered effective from September 29.
"Whoever commits the offence of cyber terrorism and causes death of any person shall be punishable with death or imprisonment for life, and with fine," the new law states. In other cases, "he shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years, or with fine not less than Rs 10 million, or with both".
"Any person, group or organisation who, with terroristic intent, utilises, accesses or causes to be accessed a computer or computer network or electronic system or electronic device or by any available means, and thereby knowingly engages in or attempts to engage in a terroristic act commits the offence of cyber terrorism."
'Terroristic intent' has been defined as: "To act with the purpose to alarm, frighten, disrupt, harm, damage, or carry out an act of violence against any segment of the population, the government or entity associated therewith".
"Aiding the commission of or attempting to aid the commission of an act of violence against the sovereignty of Pakistan, whether or not the commission of such act of violence is actually completed; or stealing or copying, or attempting to steal or copy, or secure classified information or data necessary to manufacture any form of chemical, biological or nuclear weapon, or any other weapon of mass destruction also includes cyber terrorism," states the ordinance.
Fraud, stalking, spamming: Criminal access to an electronic system will be punishable with up to two years in prison and a Rs 300,000 fine, according to the ordinance. Criminal data or system damage is punishable with up to three years.
Electronic fraud will be punishable with up to seven years of imprisonment and/or fine, 'misuse' of electronic systems with up to three years, unauthorised access to code with up to three years, and producing malicious code with up to five years.
Cyber stalking is punishable with up to seven years in prison and a Rs 100,000 fine, and up to 10 years if the victim is a minor.
Spamming will be punishable with up to a Rs 50,000 fine for the first offence, and three months in prison for subsequent offences.
Claude Almansi
re:
On Fri, Nov 7, 2008 at 12:32 AM, Awab Alvi <dra...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Just a worriesome thought - I wonder if this is still the old draft that was created before the 2007 Martial law - any updates on the exact text of the Cyber crime law that has been enforced ?
And what's the connection with the Cyber crime ordinance that
Musharraf had published in January 2008, according to your own
http://www.teeth.com.pk/blog/2008/01/08/cyber-crime-bill-promulgated-by-the-president/
?
Other question: a dictator can promulgate an ordinance, but in a
democracy, you usually first have a law voted by parliament, and
afterwards the ordinance stipulating the concrete applications of the
law - or not?
Best
Claude
Fouad Bajwa
Just an immediate note, we have 3 months from 29th September 2008 from
when the ordinance will be passed as a legislation in the Parliament I
suppose. Keeping this in view and immediate Media based awareness
campaign is required and that we have to tap all our sources to
immediately and effectively launch awareness on the issue and seek
comments from the public.
All the associations and members including P@SHA, PSEB, ISPAK, ISOC,
CSP, Standing Committee on IT of the FCCIP and all have to come
together on a single table and discuss and propose their changes to
the government. We need to have the Parliamentary Secretary who was
present at the IT Policy meet in Lahore and mobilize Talib Baloch and
the Secretary IT to present these recommendations upwards though my
optimism has originally turned into disappointment now.
Let me think on this issue and propose what else can be done!
--
Regards.
--------------------------
Fouad Bajwa
Imia Familiya
Best wishes,
Eric
Paris
Awab Alvi
- But I wonder if the Cyber Crime Law can get hold of Aamir Liaquat Hussain !! for inciting the murder of Ahmedi's [ http://www.teeth.com.pk/blog/2008/09/11/aalim-online-inciting-murder-against-ahmedis ] - Could this be the reason of invoking this law retrospectively from 29th Sept - but looking at the facts it might miss Jahil Online - as he shared his sermon sometime earlier [Sept 8th and 9th]
- Or for the matter the God/Gaad controversy of 11th Sept as well - http://www.teeth.com.pk/blog/2008/10/01/misspelling-controversy-god-or-gaad
Awab
Claude Almansi
I'm not Pakistani either. I joined AGABBIP after the Nov. 3 2007
proclamation of the state of emergency (actually martial law) by
Musharraf. So re:
On Fri, Nov 7, 2008 at 8:11 AM, Imia Familiya <imiafa...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I've visited Pakistan a number of times but somewhat superficially. That said, I've never been able to detect any internet censorship going on. . Do they also work if you want to write a blog post on a blocked blogging platform?
> Do y'all ever encounter it? Is there "enough" that it's an issue, or should Pakistan be struck from my list of "censoring countries"?
I'll let others give you more detailed information. One thing though:
censorship is not only about preventing people from receiving
information, but also preventing the diffusion of independant
information: see http://dbtb.org/dont-block-the-blog/ . By blocking
access to blogging platforms, the Pakistani and other undemocratic
governments attempt to prevent people from giving information about
their undemocratic actions. That the Musharraf govt largely failed in
that is due to the tech savviness and cleverness of Pakistani civil
rights advocates, which was crucial in several cases under the martial
law, when human rights activists got arrested and beaten during demos.
See the posts by PK-SMS Reporter and Ange on
<http://www.teeth.com.pk/blog/2007/11/page/3>
The tools you list in your Circumvention Basics.docx attachment are
tools "to see blocked internet content", according to your title. But
do they enable people to publish content on an internet platform that
has been blocked?
Now Musharraf has been replaced by Zardari in a democratic election.
But it doesn't follow that Zardari's government is democratic. The
issues at stake in "Cyber crimes law in effect", the title of this
thread, have remained the same, because the law is the same that was
prepared under Musharraf, apparently. See the discussions from Nov. 6
(yesterday) on http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/pakistanictpolicy/messages/1616
(you might wish to join pakistanictpolicy too, or subscribe to its
RSS feed at least, btw).
Paradoxically, though Musharraf proclaimed practically the same
ordinance in Jan. 2008, after his self-golpe, in the preceding period,
his government had accepted to discuss the -then- bill with parties at
stake (IT professionals, lawyers). Zardari's ordinance was apparently
proclaimed without taking these discussions into account.
On the human rights issues - but also legal sloppiness and commercial
absurdities - of this Cybercrime bill / Musharraf ordinance / Zardari
ordinance, see the interview of Jehan Ara and Zahid Jamil by Dawn,
and the presentation held by Zahid Jamil in September 2007: relevant
links to slides and videos were gathered by Awab Alvi at
<http://www.teeth.com.pk/blog/2007/09/08/draconian-cyber-crime-law-in-pakista>
and <http://www.teeth.com.pk/blog/2007/09/18/understanding-the-e-crime-bill>.
On the whole, it seems premature to strike "Pakistan from [your] list
of "censoring countries""
Best
Claude Almansi
Switzerland
>
> Best wishes,
> Eric
> Paris
>
Imia Familiya
Nice to hear from you!
> Do they also work if you want to write a blog post on a blocked
> blogging platform?
> do they enable people to publish content on an internet platform that
> has been blocked?
> censorship is not only about preventing people from receiving
> information, but also preventing the diffusion of independant
> information
Agreed entirely. But any circumvention tool which can show content can, equally well, allow you to contribute content. Not all circumvention tools can handle all content (e.g. streaming video), but the better ones can handle everything.
> On the whole, it seems premature to strike "Pakistan from [your] list
> of "censoring countries""
But: is there currently any blocking of Pakistanis' ability to see or create internet content?
And: my question remains: what can we do to educate Pakistani users about the availability of circumvention tools? Spam? Direct mail? Articles in tech-related publications? Banners on popular sites? (Although, if circumvention technology's not needed because everything's already accessible, then the question's moot.)
Best,
Eric
Claude Almansi
Thank you for your answers about the authoring potential of the
circumventing tools you cite. About;
On Fri, Nov 7, 2008 at 4:42 PM, Imia Familiya <imiafa...@gmail.com> wrote:
>(...)
>
> But: is there currently any blocking of Pakistanis' ability to see or create internet content?
Yes. See Jehan Ara's "IPs being blocked again!", Oct, 18, 2008
<http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/pakistanictpolicy/message/1597>
(though that's about VoIP so hearing rather than seeing, it is also
relevant to sharing content online). And there have been cases where
the whole of YouTube was blocked because of a "blasphemous" video,
even under Zardari (though I can't find the ref. right now for these
later case)
-
>
> And: my question remains: what can we do to educate Pakistani users about the availability of circumvention tools? Spam? Direct mail? Articles in tech-related publications? Banners on popular sites? (Although, if circumvention technology's not needed because everything's already accessible, then the question's moot.)
>
Again, see http://dbtb.org/dont-block-the-blog/ : Don't Block the
Blog, now international, was started by Pakistanis. And my impression
is that Pakistanis who have access to the web are proportionally far
more aware of, and clever at using, such circumvention tools than
their European equivalents. A Pakistani friend who is in other
respects a tech disaster of European class (paralysing his computer
with malware, messing up installing simple, safe programs etc.), has
known quite well how to use proxies to circumvent governmental blocks
for years.
And as soon as a block is suspected, people communicate about it
through mailing lists and/or other means.
Also, if you start informing about circumventing tools wholesale
through spam, banners or articles in tech-related publications aimed
at Pakistanis, then the government is bound to get wind of the
information.
Best
Claude
Imia Familiya
Greetings Claude & co. (are the rest of you bored with this thread? Please tell us to “take it private” if our discussion’s not germane),
>> But: is there currently any blocking of Pakistanis' ability to see or
>> create internet content?
> Yes. See Jehan Ara's "IPs being blocked again!", Oct, 18, 2008
> <http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/pakistanictpolicy/message/1597>
> (though that's about VoIP
I haven't thought much about VoIP in the context of our Sesawe project. But truth to tell, it's not the highest item on my agenda. I'm much more concerned about inability of users to access certain online resources (seeing or creating content). I come at this from the "freedom of expression" side of things. Philosophically speaking, I agree that "VoIP should be allowed" both because it's good for consumers (and I can think of no good reason why state telcos should be allowed to preserve a monopoly which is good for them but bad for consumers) and because it brings more people online (to use VoIP) and once they're online they'll use the internet for other things (like accessing information they wouldn't otherwise get).
> relevant to sharing content online). And there have been cases where
> the whole of YouTube was blocked because of a "blasphemous" video,
> even under Zardari (though I can't find the ref. right now for these
> later case)
Yes, I've read a lot about what was blocked in the past. The problem is, is anything blocked *now*?
> > And: my question remains: what can we do to educate Pakistani users
> about the availability of circumvention tools? Spam? Direct mail?
> Again, see http://dbtb.org/dont-block-the-blog/ : Don't Block the
I did see that. But that isn't what I have in mind. In terms of "putting up a signboard protesting someone doing something wrong [blocking something]"--there's lots of that out there, and I don’t think it’s very effective; it tries to combat censorship with advocacy, which is fine, but I have in mind (and have resources for) much-more-proactive activities (not just advocating less censorship, but actually helping citizens route around it so that censorship becomes irrelevant).
> Blog, now international, was started by Pakistanis. And my impression
> is that Pakistanis who have access to the web are proportionally far
> more aware of, and clever at using, such circumvention tools than
> their European equivalents.
One wouldn't expect European internauts to have any circumvention tool knowledge at all. For all intents and purposes, nothing's blocked in Europe. I’m starting to think PK is equally free LOL
>A Pakistani friend who is in other
> respects a tech disaster of European class (paralysing his computer
> with malware, messing up installing simple, safe programs etc.), has
> known quite well how to use proxies to circumvent governmental blocks
> for years.
Yes, I know there are individuals out there who know how to use circumvention tools—I’ve met a few of them myself (in Belarus, Uzbekistan, Burma, UAE …). There are at least a million of them, by my count, and quite possibly more like five million. The issue is how to reach/teach the other 495 million internauts in censored countries :-)
> And as soon as a block is suspected, people communicate about it
> through mailing lists and/or other means.
That's why I'm here--hoping to find out about blocking :-)
> Also, if you start informing about circumventing tools wholesale
> through spam, banners or articles in tech-related publications aimed
> at Pakistanis, then the government is bound to get wind of the
> information.
That's fine with me! The point of the circumvention tools is their ability to evade government attempts to block things. The tools wouldn't be much good if the government's knowledge of the tools' existence were sufficient to block them :-)
Best,
Eric
PS Incidentally, ensuring VoIP was legal was one of the primary planks in a project I created and ran nearly ten years ago, the Global Internet Policy Initiative (GIPI), and we were successful on that point in a number of places. It was active in nearly 20 countries, not including Pakistan (for two reasons: first, I wasn’t able to get financing to expand to PK—although I did try, in cooperation with ISPAK; and second, despite all its imperfections, PK’s ICT policy is actually in much better shape than a lot of other countries’).
Awab Alvi
I apologize im a bit caught up in last minute arrangements before I & KO [Khalid Omar] head off to Hingol (Baluchistan) to conquer an uncharted mountain (Goran Gatti) - last time we were on that trip navigating through the wilderness we were left 12 Km short - we hope to make the assault this time around some pictures of our last trip [ http://picasaweb.google.com/drawab/GoranGattiOffRoadTrip ]
And my prized picture of the trip - http://picasaweb.google.com/drawab/GoranGattiOffRoadTrip#5158446772435761314
Now back to business - I feel the issue of censroship is important, we are not bugged by it as its probably not affecting us in any direct way, as it was like when Blogspot went down - but I am told PTA is busy blocking specfic URL's but I am told its mostly propoganda sites like Baluchistan extermists or Indian sites - but whatever the issue might it be - I believe there should be no govt sponsored censorship. That said i believe we must take up Eric's suggestions and work on ensuring that we as a community is ready for the day the censorship issue do come back knocking on out doors
Awab
Imia Familiya
Greetings Dr Awab,
Now back to business - I feel the issue of censroship is
important, we are not bugged by it as its probably not affecting us in any
direct way, as it was like when Blogspot went down - but I am told PTA is busy
blocking specfic URL's but I am told its mostly propoganda sites like
Baluchistan extermists or Indian sites - but whatever the issue might it be - I
believe there should be no govt sponsored censorship. That said i believe
we must take up Eric's suggestions and work on ensuring that we as a community
is ready for the day the censorship issue do come back knocking on out doors
So my question is, what can we do?
· try to get circumvention software included on every DVD or CD of pirated software created/sold in the country?
· use social networks—a Facebook or Orkut or Hi5 “application”?
· print posters about circumvention technology and give them out to internet cafes and computer rooms at institutions of higher education?
· spam Pakistanis with circumvention information?
I realize these are pretty off-the-wall concepts, and possibly even useless or stupid or dangerous. I’m just looking for creative, outside-of-the-envelope ideas. I have the resources to test some of them out … particularly if any of you are interested in helping implement them …
Best,
Eric
Awab Alvi
Imia Familiya
Dear Awab,
elusive beast call Goran Gatti (1095m) in the heart of Baluchistan !!! YEAH!
Do you conquer beasts often?
Eric, Your ideas really look interesting - and the out-of-the-box idea of including a software package on all pirated CD's is definitely something worth looking into
So how would we do that? Is there anyone we can think of who’s interested in doing a little research/footwork in terms of identifying how that market works? Is it completely decentralized or are there any networks of pirate CD vendors (or even distributors of the software they sell) into which we might be able to plug?
Other ideas also have an appeal
Which ones?
- BUT the problem is no one is really bothered about censorship unless if finally hits them.
I agree completely. So in some sense our strategy needs to be pre-emptive and “prepared.” It would help a lot if we could identify what’s blocked. Do we have any idea at all what’s currently blocked? Indian news sites, for instance? I can imagine “advertising”: “Did you know the PK internet’s censored? Here’s how to make sure you see the whole internet …”
Best, Eric