Closely watched

The disclosures relating to the activities of the American National Security Agency (NSA) being made by Edward Snowden once again focus on Pakistan. The NSA has been eavesdropping on the emails and phone conversations of thousands of ordinary Pakistanis but has a particular interest in listening to what journalists have to say. The numbers of items of phone, fax and email conversations that the NSA has harvested is about 13.5 billion, a number almost too large to comprehend. A study by Internews titled “Digital security and journalists” points out that journalists in Pakistan face an elevated level of threat to their cyber transactions but continue to take a relatively relaxed attitude to their online security. This opens doors for those seeking to harvest their cyber-traffic. Journalists lack the knowledge that would enable them to better protect themselves in cyberspace, and there is an obvious training and awareness deficit.

Pakistan is already a dangerous country for journalists, and a total of 53 have died since 1992, five this year alone. Taking note of the challenges newly presented, the Senate Standing Committee on Defence has held a sensitisation session for journalists titled “Cyber Security for Journalists”. We live in fast-changing times, with technologies of surveillance developing faster than governments can devise measures to counter them. The media are the first line of defence against unconventional threats to the state’s security. States globally are reviewing and redefining their security policies as threats shape-change before their eyes. The media are a primary civilian stakeholder, a partner of the state in the creation of effective cyber-security policies. Snowden may have made some governments profoundly uncomfortable and caused immense embarrassment; some might say damage, with his revelations. Pakistan is a ‘most watched’ state and it is incumbent upon the state to protect itself from intrusion. Our cyber-security has become of crucial importance.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2013.

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