The Cybercrime Bill 2015 has been the subject of much controversy with most unsure of whether it is a much needed legislation or a catastrophe in the making.
Yasser Latif Hamdani, a lawyer who has been a core part of the YouTube case, and specialises in cyber laws, internet freedom and public interest litigation, feels that the bill itself is the need of the hour, but fractured in its current form.
“The basic problem with the bill is that it has language which is likely to be misused because it empowers the authority to sit in judgment over whether or not something is Islamic or anti-national,” he said while pointing out Section 34 as the main problem.
“Furthermore the section on sectarian religious and ethnic hatred is so broadly worded that it will be abused by the state authorities to quell dissent and alternative views. It must be linked to direct incitement of violence in my opinion,” he added.
Malik Omaid, Co-Editor Pak Tea House Blog, is no stranger to social commentary online. In fact, much of his work revolves around using social media to touch upon subjects the mainstream media often ignores. Omaid sees a grand transformation coming, if the bill is enacted, and it is not a good one.
“The Bill is going to transform the Pakistani cyber space into what the Pakistani society is like i.e. a place where there are checks on what you speak, what you do and even what is in your mind,” he noted.
“We all have to go through our huge friend lists and see who can be a potential threat. Just like our normal day life we have to take a good look at the size of moustaches and beards around us, and be wary of how high a complete stranger wears their trousers when we are speaking in public,” he added sarcastically.
Omaid sees the online world turning into a tiny hole. “You can rest assured that only religious zealots will be allowed to spread bigotry and the counter argument or debate will die as it has died in our society. There can be no criticism on religion; atheists will hide in the shadows. Ahmedis cannot claim to Ahmedis even online and will go back to being anonymous – as they are in real life. Christians will not be able to ask for justice for Joseph Colony or Kot Radha Kishan. No one will speak about Balochistan or question any policy adopted by the military establishment. The Shia genocide hash tag will disappear, and yes, the political leaders will also get some benefit out of this since political expression can also be controlled,” he said while painting a picture of what the future holds.
“Of course those who will speak will speak. The Zia era couldn’t stop people like that, and this era will do no better. In a sense Cyber activism will then become real activism”, he said.
Hamdani’s opinion on the matter only confirms Omaid’s fears. In terms of infringing on privacy rights and how the Bill affects the masses, Hamdani clearly outlines the legal precedence it would create for law enforcement agencies to do their dirty work. “As such it creates a legal basis for snooping by law enforcement agencies. The process through intervention of court is still too easy as it leaves it to the apprehension of the official of an agency. So while the official needs a warrant it is easy to obtain it under the proposed law. The room for misuse of the law is rather large,” he explained.
“The law provides what is known as intermediary liability protection a long standing demand of intermediaries like YouTube and Google. This means that a localised version of YouTube will now be possible but it would be heavily censored for content,” Hamdani explained.
“Besides with Section 34 the law has basically legalised censorship and has given the authority to censor in the name of the glory of Islam security and integrity of Pakistan friendly relations with foreign states morality and decency and so forth. In doing so it takes away from the legislative power that NA has in determining these issues under the constitution and gives it to the PTA without impunity,” he told Pakistan Today.
Manizhe Zahra, a blogger from Karachi, shares these concerns. She does not think that the people can or will stand for a bill that has no issues with trampling human rights. “It’s vaguely worded which means anytime we’re critical of the authorities there could be trouble. What kind of a democracy is this if I can’t be critical of the parliament I elected, or of the provincial assembly I elected? I can’t have an opinion about how the money I pay in taxes is being used/ abused?” she exclaimed.
Zahra feels like the very existence of the Bill will ensure that people avoid trouble, and hence all forms of actual debate will die. “They want to shut us all up is what I’m most fearful about happening. We are all going to self-censor. I’m afraid to even blog, in fears that my advocating a grain free lifestyle might seem offensive and against the norms of Pakistani culture!” she said. “Or that if I write or share about my experience during pregnancy, labour, breast feeding… what if they find that vulgar?” she added.
The entire Bill reminds her of a dictator. “That’s all Pakistan ever gets! Dictators – be they civilians or show up in uniforms. When a government needs to hide something, or take unilateral decisions, this is how it achieves those goals!” she lamented.
Muzammal Afzal has worked closely with the NA because of his work with a Karachi-based think tank. He feels that the current government hasn’t taken standing committees seriously. Instead of forming them within 30 days as per law, it took them three months to set them up. “After more than one and half year of the formation of parliamentary committees, most of the committees are not working properly. The standing committee for information technology and telecommunication consists of 12 members from PMLN, 3 from PPPP, 2 from MQM and one independent member, held 8 meeting since its formation. One can analyse the performance of the standing committee from that,” he said.
“The standing committee for IT referred not more than five bills to be discussed on the floor of assembly. Section 14, 19 and 34 are clear violations of human rights. The bill has also failed to provide definitions of many terms, which were used in the draft. Moreover, Online Content Management is a problem. In many countries online content management is done by the government, whereas under PEC Bill this job is being assigned to PTA who is an independent regulator,” he explained.
Minister for IT Anusha Rehman was unavailable for comment despite repeated attempts. However, in a recent discussion on a private news channel she did outline the government’s stance on the matter.
On why the latest 13 pager Bill is not online for public scrutiny she said, “The Standing Committee has sent to the parliament, it is the property of the Standing Committee not of the IT Ministry, it is not our job to put it online.”
Afzal’s concerns regarding the language and the missing definitions is also a problem she addressed by saying that the existing Bill has been drafted after careful deliberation. The definitions that aren’t there in this law can be found the CRPC and the PPC, which are substantive laws. “We’ve only used what was established before we’re not introducing anything new. A lot of the language is already defined in other laws and their case laws are settled. We’ve picked our words very carefully,” she informed.
She further explained that terms have actually been taken from International laws. Where terms are too vague, as is the case of ‘unsolicited emails’ that are termed as spam, Rehman believes that it should be left to the courts to decide the intent of the sender to see whether they are guilty or not.
“Freedom of expression has reasonable restrictions, you should thank us that PTA’s content management without a formal framework will now be working within a framework,” she asserted. “It is important for us to become responsible citizens, when we say half truths on forums, there are forums that can inflate such things. I request that people discuss actual issues instead of following hearsay,” she added.
It remains to be seen whether clauses that target human rights will be weeded out before the final Bill becomes a part of Pakistani law.