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			<title>Monitoring the internet</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/255701/monitoring-the-internet</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/255701/monitoring-the-internet#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 19 Sep 11 16:36:32 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[The government should keep in mind that it is virtually impossible to stop tech-savvy militants.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s plan to block both Google and YouTube in the country for their alleged refusal to cooperate with authorities in tracking down terrorists is alarming. Even if Malik has legitimate concerns, which is far from clear, blocking these two websites would be an overreaction of epic proportions. Hurting all internet users because Google (which also owns YouTube) is not providing information that the government wants is tantamount to censorship.

It is extremely unlikely that Google will cave in to the government’s threats. The company pulled out of China rather than acquiesce to the demands of its government. Google is not like local and multinational companies in Pakistan that happily hand out private information like cell phone records to the agencies. For it to give out information about email accounts would require the Pakistan government to conclusively prove that such information is vital to fighting terrorists and not simply a case of a government power grab. The government should also keep in mind that it is virtually impossible to stop tech-savvy militants. They can simply open different email accounts if their original accounts are shut down and the level of encryption they use in their communications can be difficult to decode, even by Google.

What makes Malik’s threats even more frightening is our previous history of clamping down on the internet. At various times, Facebook, YouTube and Wikipedia have all been blocked, usually because religious sentiments are supposedly at risk of being hurt. The problem here is that we cannot rely on the courts to curb the government’s desire for censorship, since the courts have shown themselves to be the most capricious censors of all. The only hope now, is that the interior minister realises that blocking Google and Gmail will hurt business and be an unconscionable infringement of our rights.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th,  2011.]]>
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			<title>Big Brother wants access to your Gmail account</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/255705/big-brother-wants-access-to-your-gmail-account</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/255705/big-brother-wants-access-to-your-gmail-account#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 19 Sep 11 15:33:27 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Jahanzaib Haque]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Nothing should terrify us more than an intelligence flunky scrolling through that email we took hours composing.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Nothing should terrify us more than picturing an intelligence flunky, scrolling through that email we took four hours composing to our loved one or business partner.

In an ongoing series of impingement of basic right and freedom online, the Pakistani government is now considering the possibility of banning Google and YouTube in Pakistan, because as our interior minister puts it, these sites are being used by terrorists for communication. Additionally, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) has directed all internet service providers (ISPs) and telcos to ban internet encryption in the name of national security. Add to this, Section 54 of the Pakistan Telecommunication Act that allows the government to authorise any individual or agency to intercept/trace calls and messages in “the interest of national security or in the apprehension of any offence” and you have the makings of a police state. (Note the ambiguous keyword “any offence”.) Last but not the least, ISPs have also been asked to assist in the monitoring of all internet traffic.

The government believes that this is the right way to go about tackling terrorists, by keeping track and monitoring their online communications and activities. And while the average Pakistani may be helpless in the face of this atrocious ‘Big brother’ state-condoned monitoring, rest assured, those terrorists that are actually under threat by such activity have already found their way around it. To help visualise this, it is somewhat analogous to how citizens are harassed at security checkpoints daily, yet suicide bombers are able to get around them. To quote our own government representatives when they fail to stop yet another terrorist act — it is next to impossible to prevent this activity; better nations have tried and failed. Internet monitoring is a complex task that requires vast amounts of resources, know-how and targeted action, along with systems for accountability, and I shudder to think of the mess that is being created right now. All the government is actually doing — by condoning this across-the-board banning of sites and monitoring in cyberspace — is stepping on the rights of its citizens, and impinging on their freedom of information and expression, and privacy.

To sum it up, this means that one’s ‘secure’ bank account transactions are now vulnerable and accessible. This means very personal information; the emails, pictures and words exchanged in private for business, or with a loved one, are soon or perhaps already opened for browsing by a government official/intelligence agency, or, heaven forbid, someone who has a grudge against you and has good contacts.

Is all of this justified in the name of national security? No it is not, especially as it does not work. Is banning Google and YouTube a solution? Is this how the internet is monitored in other countries? No it is not. To cite a relevant section of a recent report by Article 19 (international group monitoring censorship) and Bytes for All (local internet freedom advocacy group):

“Article 19 and Bytes for All remind the PTA that under international legal standards, restriction of the right to freedom of expression for reasons of national security must meet certain conditions known as the ‘three-part test’ developed by the UN Human Rights Committee. National security cannot be used as a pretext for imposing vague or arbitrary limitations…. [E]xpression may be regarded as a threat to national security only if a government can demonstrate that the expression is intended to incite imminent violence; it is likely to incite such violence; and there is a direct and immediate connection between the expression and the likelihood or occurrence of such violence. These and other requirements are therefore not met.”

For the sake of our Gmail accounts, we need to wake up and demand that this ludicrous form of internet monitoring and site banning be stopped. It is time for the government to reach out to concerned groups and develop a system for monitoring and targeting of terror suspects that is agreed upon by its citizens, and one that follows international standards. Demanding anything less is a slippery slope to foregoing other rights that you take for granted.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th,  2011.]]>
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			<title>Search engines: Malik threatens to block Google, YouTube</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/255458/search-engines-malik-threatens-to-block-google-youtube</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/255458/search-engines-malik-threatens-to-block-google-youtube#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 19 Sep 11 07:37:29 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=255458</guid>
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				<![CDATA[Says they could be shut down if they did not corporate with authorities investigating crimes and terrorism.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Popular internet search engine Google and websites like YouTube could be shut down in Pakistan if they did not cooperate with authorities investigating crimes and incidents of terrorism, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has warned. 

Malik made the remarks at the headquarters of the Federal Investigation Agency here while interacting with reporters, Press Trust of India reported.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19th,  2011.]]>
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			<title>CIO Pakistan: Being tech illiterate - banning Google to combat terror</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/254986/being-tech-illiterate-banning-google-to-combat-terror</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/254986/being-tech-illiterate-banning-google-to-combat-terror#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 18 Sep 11 14:33:14 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[rabia.garib]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=254986</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Instead of threatening to ban Gmail services, they could get Google to share info via a court order.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Rehman Malik announced that the Pakistan Government reserves the right to ban Google and YouTube in Pakistan if the “Google Administrator” did not assist ‘them’ in ‘their’ criminal investigation.

Pakistan’s track record on banning sites without cause or notice, is certainly not a very pretty one, but here’s where statements published in the media by technology-illiterate government representatives, make the technology-business community a little worried.

Google is a search engine. Just like hundreds of other search engines, it helps people to search for things that they may be looking for based on keywords and phrases. If you were looking for, let’s say, ‘how to build a bomb in a toilet bowl’, the search engine itself would not have the answer – it would simply find the website where the answer could be found. This is achieved through billions of lines of code and combinations of algorithms which make finding things easier.

But what the Government Rep may not know is this: the user searching for this specific query uses a computer or laptop branded by DELL or HP, which uses motherboards manufactured by Intel, which connects to a wireless router built by Cisco or TP-Link, or an Ethernet cable that’s been made by some unnamed company in China. The bandwidth that the search query travelled across belonged to an ISP or DNO that is connected to a caching servers and firewalls managed by Cisco or Juniper, through more fiber, across hundreds of thousands of kilometers of cable. Transworld manages some portion of the network and almost 30 other large corporations help make it possible for that user to submit his/her query and get a response.

At this rate, the Government Representative should consider naming all these organisations accessories to the crimes being committed in Pakistan. Going on the record and passing an irresponsible statement along the lines of “We reserve the right to ban your services” without any just cause or understanding, makes each of these organisations wonder why they would want to set foot in a country where its leaders and speakers live in the dark ages.

Foggy E-Legislation Continues to Hinder Way Forward

Since the PECO and other Cyber Legislation are still so vague and non-existent, at least in their implementation, discrepancies and a customised interpretation of the law will always be a problem.

Since organisations such as Google (and I think it’s Gmail that the Rep was trying to point a finger at, rather than Google) maintain privacy of the sender (ie: keeping IP private), perhaps instead of running out and threatening to ban one of the world’s largest companies services in Pakistan, this could be the way out:

Government Rep (GR) receives a valid threat. GR justifies the threat in court. Google retrieves information on that specific threat and shares the intel with GR.

End of story. Lack of policy is what makes this entire process so scary and haphazard! Sure there is a lot of chaos in technology, but the systems and processes are supposed to help sort all that out. How is this helping anything ongoing in the country with the technology-business community?

This post was originally published on the CIO Pakistan website here.]]>
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			<title>Pakistan may block Google, Youtube to deny terrorists communication source</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/254562/pakistan-may-block-google-youtube-to-deny-terrorists-communication</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/254562/pakistan-may-block-google-youtube-to-deny-terrorists-communication#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 17 Sep 11 18:14:48 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Malik urges ISPs to extend their help to the government for exterminating the menace of terrorism from the country.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that if Google and Youtube do not help the Pakistan government, then Pakistan reserves the right to block these services to prevent terrorists from using it.

The Interior Minister who was talking to media men at the FIA headquarters on Saturday urged the internet service providers to extend their help to the government for exterminating the menace of terrorism from the country.

Talking to mediamen here at FIA headquarters, he said the government would be compelled to block certain internet service provider’s sites, if they did not extend cooperation to the government.

Malik said that Taliban and other terrorist organisations were sharing intelligence through internet and curbing these activities was imperative.

Elimination of grey networks

Further steps would be taken to improve the performance of FIA and competent lawyers would be selected for the legal branch, he said.

He said he has directed the FIA to eliminate gray traffic. In future the circle head of FIA and relevant PTA officials would be held responsible for gray traffic in their areas.

Speaking on the occasion Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Dr Mohammad Yaseen said that during the last two years 44 raids have been conducted against gray traffic and 102 persons have been arrested.

PTA had recently blocked private browsing in an attempt to disrupt terrorist communications.

Malik said that evidence showed that terrorists involved in the recent bomb blast in the Mumbai had used internet servers based in the US to communicate.]]>
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