Facebook is a popular website in Pakistan and millions use it every day. The latest report from Google tells us that the Pakistan government has increased its efforts to censor what it considers to be blasphemous content or content that is critical of the state on Facebook. Data supplied by Facebook also reveals the government making inquiries about specific users and their accounts, with a 240.3 per cent increase in such requests in the first six months of 2014 compared with the same period last year. A proportion of the requests relate to criminal cases or investigations, including robberies and kidnappings. Seeking information regarding the latter may be justified; seeking information in order to curtail civil liberties and freedoms is not. YouTube is already blocked in Pakistan although this ban is widely flouted via proxies and has become almost irrelevant to those determined to circumvent it, but that is beside the point. The Google report is a clear indicator of global trends, with governments worldwide increasingly and aggressively seeking information from an entity over which they have little or no control in some instances. Hard-won freedoms can be easily lost.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 6th, 2014.
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informative and helpful good job.