Senate body recommendations: ‘Treat online child abuse separately’

Subcommittee also calls for explicitly defining hate speech in the bill

ISLAMABAD: A Senate subcommittee on information technology on Thursday continued its deliberations on contentious clauses of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill-2016.

The subcommittee, which met with Senator Osman Saifullah Khan in the chair, underscored the need for separate legislation to protect children from online abuse and exploitation, citing the Kasur child pornography scandal.



Osman Saifullah, while speaking about the relevance of the provisions dealing with offences against minors, said it is important enough to be treated separately. “We want to send a signal that it should not be clubbed with anything else,” he said. “I would feel uncomfortable if this committee is seen as lowering the bar, as far as minors are concerned.”

The subcommittee also called for explicitly defining hate speech in the bill after being told by representatives of FIA and the IT ministry that it has already been covered in the bill.

Members of the committee and public stakeholders also expressed their concerns about transfer of data of a person to another country, and asked: how will the data be dealt with in that country and what safeguards does the person have in this regard?

To this, the IT representatives said the data could be shared with another country under some agreement. The committee members demanded that the agreement should be made part of the bill.

The subcommittee observed that the data being scrutinised/analysed by an investigative officer can be manipulated or corrupted and questioned: in case this happens, what punitive action will the FIA (cybercrime wing) take against such rogue elements?



The FIA representatives informed the subcommittee that no punitive action can be taken against an investigative officer, because PTA and FIA laws grant him/her impunity.

“Then how can the data of an individual be protected,” asked the subcommittee. Representatives of the IT ministry asked the subcommittee to make recommendations in this respect.

Neither Minister of State for Information Technology Anusha Rahman Ahmad Khan nor the PTA chairperson showed up during the second day of the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2016.