ISLAMABAD: The country’s state minister for IT and Telecom, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, confirmed on Thursday government plans to amend cybercrime laws to “address concerns regarding misinformation”.

In a briefing to the Senate Standing Committee on IT and Telecommunication on Thursday, the minister said amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 (Peca) were under review.

Earlier this week, Dawn reported that the government is planning ‘wholesale’ changes to the cybercrime law, which would see the formation of a new authority with powers to block online content and access to social media, as well as prosecute those propagating ‘fake news’.

During the Senate committee’s meeting, Ms Khawaja was questioned about the legal powers of the government or Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to shut down VPNs.

PTA chief denies internet being slowed down under ‘official policy’

The committee had earlier asked the law division to give its opinion on the matter, but no such opinion was presented in the meeting.

Senator Afnanullah, a lawmaker of the ruling PML-N, stressed that no provision in any law allows the government to shut down or restrict any tool related to social media or any internet platform.

Responding to a query, the minister said Peca was being amended to “address concerns related to fake news and online misinformation campaigns”.

As per Dawn’s report, one of the amendments was a modification in the definition of “social media platform”, which would be ex­­panded to add “website”, “application”, or “communication channel” that allow people to access social media and post content in its ambit.

This expanded definition could allow the government to block or restrict the use of VPNs as they are used to access social media services, like X, which are blocked in Pakistan.

The government had earlier planned to register VPNs and block unregistered proxies, but the move was shelved after legal advisors pointed out that these were tools to access content, and not the content itself. Hence, the authorities had no legal grounds to block them.

However, Ms Fatima claimed the amendments “were not intended to restrict” the internet or freedom of expression.

Internet outages

The minister responded in detail to lawmakers’ queries related to persistent internet shutdowns.

“The subject of internet shutdowns has been blown too much, but the government does not intend to take such extreme measures,” she said.

Ms Khawaja claimed the internet in Pakistan was “functioning normally” and there were no plans to disrupt it “unless it became absolutely necessary for national security”.

The committee’s chairperson, Senator Palwsha Khan, expressed concerns over the persistent disruptions.

In his briefing, PTA Chairman retired Maj Gen Hafeezur Rehman said that there was no official policy to intentionally slow down the internet.

His remarks were received with smiles and frowns not only by the committee members but also by the IT experts attending the meeting.

He claimed internet services may experience disruptions due to issues related to the proposed licensing of VPNs.

Mr Rehman added that the overall concerns of the IT industry will be addressed from next month as the PTA plans to introduce a VPN licensing process from January 1.

While the PTA chief stated that the new process would streamline VPN management, committee members remained sceptical and said people would continue facing internet and social media shutdowns even after the registration process.

The meeting was attended by key stakeholders from IT and telecom sectors, including the chairman of Paki­stan Software Houses Asso­ciation (P@SHA), Sajjad Mustafa Syed. He expressed concerns over the rising impact of internet slowdowns on the IT industry, which relies heavily on stable and fast internet connections.

“The internet is the lifeblood of the IT sector and any disruption is a serious matter,” the P@SHA chief said.

He told the committee that apart from a liberal business environment, there was a need for strict data security and protection from cyber attacks.

Earlier this week, Mr Syed said one hour of internet outage or disruption resulted in a loss of more than one million dollars for the IT sector.

He said P@SHA had informed the IT ministry and PTA that regular internet slowdowns and unannounced disruptions were hurting IT service exports.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2024