Digital Rights Foundation translated the Freedom on the Net 2017 (FOTN 2017) report in Urdu for wider readership. The translated report can be found here [PDF]

This translation of FOTN2017 was possible with the support of vpnMentor.
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Freedom House released the Freedom on the Net (FoTN) report for the year 2017 which assesses internet freedom in 65 countries, accounting for 87 percent of internet users worldwide. The report primarily focuses on developments that occurred between June 2016 and May 2017.

Meticulously researched by Digital Rights Foundation and research analysts at Freedom House, the FoTN 2017 report for Pakistan is an attempt to collate and evaluate the state-level violations of user rights, internet freedom, and implementation of censorship in Pakistan. The report ranks Pakistan “Not Free” for the sixth consecutive year. Here are some of the key findings from the Freedom on the Net Report 2017 with regards to Pakistan:

- Mobile internet service was shut down for more than a year in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, starting in June 2016

- The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act enacted in August 2016 introduced stronger censorship and surveillance powers with inadequate oversight

- A teenager was arrested for allegedly “liking” a blasphemous post on Facebook in September 2016; a court awarded the death penalty in a separate Facebook blasphemy case in June 2017

- Five bloggers known for criticizing authorities and religious militancy were abducted in January 2017; one later said a government institution had detained and tortured him. The fifth was still missing in late 2017

- Social media personality Qandeel Baloch was murdered by her brother in July 2016 for videos she shared on Facebook; separately in April 2017, journalism student Mashal Khan was killed by a mob who accused him of online blasphemy

- Hackers stepped up attempts to target government critics, attacking a major media website

The report further notes that the Internet Freedom Status for the year 2017 has in fact worsened for Pakistan from that in 2016. With the ranking of 18 out of 25 for Obstacles to Access for 2016, the bar sits at 19 for the year 2017; and Violations of User Rights which sat at 31 out of 40 for the year 2016, it’s now at 32. The overall ranking for Pakistan closes at 71 out of 100 (100 being the worst) for this year, two points down from last year’s ranking - declaring Pakistan “Not Free” for yet another year.

The general elections of 2018 are fast approaching. What has changed since the last time voters cast their ballots five years ago in 2013? The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has upgraded the electoral process via some vital technological improvements with the aim of fostering greater civic engagement, educational reforms and transparency in the reporting process.

The first among these developments has been the “Click ECP mobile app”, launched on December 7, 2017 and available through the Google Play Store, which handily compiles information related to several facets of the electoral process, from casting the ballot box to checking CNIC registration. All the information available on its website has been conveniently packed into this application which Android users can now access easily. However questions of accessibility persist as the application does not have an Urdu version and is only available in English.

The application offers information about the ECP’s new technological innovations such as the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and Biometric Verification Machine (BVM). According to the app, ECP has recently purchased 100 EVM devices for pilot testing to check the feasibility and reliability of the devices in the electoral process of Pakistan. The new Election Act 2017 has legally sanctioned for pilot testing of the devices in the by-elections. The app also shows a video tutorial of how the device works. Similarly for the BVM, ECP has recently purchased 150 BVM devices for pilot testing. The machines were tested at 39 polling stations in the NA-120 by-elections. In light of this pilot project, ECP will lay down the future plan of usage of BVMs. The app also features a step by step video guide to how the BVM works. The feasibility of EVM machines has been challenged on several grounds including transparency, digital security risks and the heavy price-tag.

The ECP will also use an innovative approach to relay the results of the General Elections 2018, utilizing the Results Transmission System (RTS) in which an Android-based application will be used to transmit results in real time. ECP will be providing the Presiding Officers at each polling station with smartphones containing the required application which will have the GPS system installed in order to trace down the location of the presiding officer. They will be responsible for counting the votes and after counting them, they will take the picture of the total number of votes and upload them on that application. The ECP has already conducted tests of the new system at the by-elections in NA-4 Peshawar and PS-114 Karachi constituencies. It has been planned that the Presiding Officers (PO) will enter the polling results in the app which then transmits the data to the ECP servers in real time. The application uses GPS to record the location of the result and generates a timestamp of the upload. According to the ECP, this should enhance the transparency and discourage unofficial and premature announcements by the electronic and social media. In case of internet unavailability in a particular area, the picture taken through that application which will be uploaded once the device is connected to the internet. After they have uploaded the pictures, Returning Officers and ECP will be able to check them for the verification of data. Presiding officers will be asked questions if they change their location at the time of uploading picture or they do not upload the correct data on the same location. This time ECP is trying to take all the precautionary measures that are possible in order to prevent any form of lag or mishap. However, given the unavailability of internet infrastructure in certain parts of the country, this method of data collection will not be feasible everywhere.

According to newspaper reports, the ECP has collaborated with NADRA,PTA, and several telecom operators to make the operations seamless. It is important to highlight, however, that issues of digital security have been neglected by the ECP, and that the potential for electronic tampering and hacking exists given the relaying of results will be solely technology-based at select polling booths.

Finally, the ECP is bound to publish election-related data on its website as well which is stipulated in various sections of the Election Act 2017. The ECP’s website details its efforts to promote fair and free elections. The download section offers several different forms required during the electoral process, from the affidavit to be filed with the nomination form, to the Postal Ballot Form in both Urdu and English. The website also helps political candidates by offering the declaration of assets form. However, there is room for improvement in the ECP’s efforts as the candidate lists are incomplete and at times the names of nominees are ineligible.

However, despite these advancements, the monitoring of election campaigns as mandated by law, does not account for social media as the preferred method of electronic political advertisement. With regard to the harassment of female candidates, who are routinely subjected to derogatory statements on social media such as Facebook and Twitter, the ECP offers no protection. The ECP also does not contain any guidelines in its Code of Conduct for discouraging defamatory campaigns against rival opponents on social media, thus making it unclear whether the use of unwelcoming or abusive language online against political candidates is covered by the legislation. Twitter is especially susceptible to such campaigns where teams of social media activists and trolls routinely exploit trending hashtags in order to vilify political opponents or to promote their own political party and candidates. Such engineering of the electoral process via the influence of social media on voters, which cannot be understated in the era of Facebook’s dilemma with fake news, has the potential to disrupt the transparency and freedom of the electoral process this year.

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Co-authored by Asthar Haideri and Sualeha Khalid for the Digital Rights Foundation.

DRF Statement: Ministry of IT and Telecom introduces the Personal Data Protection Bill

We commend the efforts of the MoITT to put the preliminary bill of the Personal Data Protection Act for comments. The initial overview of the draft by the DRF team suggests that while the bill is comprehensive in its scope and underscores the importance of data protection and consent of the user before using and/or transmitting their data, we notice that it indeed has some loopholes that have the potential of taking away people’s agency from their information.

DRF submitted a policy brief to the ministry, PDF of which can be found here, and some of our recommendations were made part of this draft. However, we believe that certain sections in the bill should be amended, and DRF is in the process of analysing it in detail to file a submission to the ministry. We hope that the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications will take our recommendations into account in order to address these issues.

Read the full statement here.

Digital misogyny is personal and fixable

Article posted on the website of United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner

For women and girls, the internet can be empowering but it can also be a dangerous space. Threats, intimidation and extortion attempts are just some of the ways that abuse online takes place. The abuse comes because of what the victim has said, or the group they belong to, the cause they are advocating or in many cases, simply because they are female.

The nature of attacks on women human rights defenders and activists is different, said Nighat Dad, Executive director of the Digital Rights Foundation in Pakistan. During instances of online gender based violence, she had routinely noticed that the attacks against women activists have been personal. Women are criticised for the clothes they wear, how they smoke a cigarette, there are calls for them to be assaulted or raped, Nighat Dad said.

“While not abuse against anyone is less terrible than the other, but when the men are abused, they are abused based on their work. But when a woman is involved, the attacks become personal. Body shaming, character assassination, rape threats, you name it.”

The results of online harassment is stark: women have reported the subsequent psychological harm, including cases of depression, and threats to their safety. These online threats often materialize offline, i.e. online violence can result in offline violence, such as the case in India for Ms Gauri Lankesh a journalist who published criticism of Hindu extremism was killed last year following widespread calls online for violence against her.

Read the article here.

Man convicted under cybercrime law for child pornography

Following in the stead of his predecessor, Judicial Magistrate Aamir Raza Baitu has issued a judgement under section 22 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016 [PDF]. This development comes on the heels of another important judgement on online harassment and blackmailing which was reported here and which spoke to the potentially positive impact that the otherwise draconian Act can have if employed within reason.

The defendant in this case was accused by the Cyber Crime Circle of the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA), of possessing, transmitting and producing pornographic pictures and sexually explicit videos by casting children between the ages 10 and 12 in them and then transmitting those pictures and videos to his agent, A , in Norway. The complainants in this case were not the affected children, but the FIA itself, as child pornography is one of the few offences where the FIA can take cognizance. Read details here.

Digital Rights: A Global Action Plan | Global Media Forum

Nighat Dad was at the Global Media Forum happened from June 11-13, 2018 in Bonn, Germany. Nighat's talk titled "Digital Rights: A Global Action Plan" addressed the issues pertaining to digital rights and explored the possible actions required to be taken collectively for a safe and inclusive internet. Nighat said, "While as journalists, human rights defenders and advocates of open access, we can’t bring a revolution in a matter of days, but what we can do is provide support to people and advocate for stronger legislations." Watch Nighat's talk here.

Network of Women Journalists for Digital Rights

Digital Rights Foundation launched its Network of Women Journalists for Digital Rights in 2017 to equip women journalists to counter online violence targeted at them and overcome past experiences that may lead to self-censorship or in extreme conditions, pull themselves away from digital spaces altogether. Online violence is a barrier to women and girls’ access to ICTs and the internet, and their broader human rights, stifling freedoms of expression, association and assembly. To counter this, DRF has created a space for the Network members to regularly share articles and columns on digital rights issues which can be found on the Hamara Internet website here, and to record their voices, particularly relating to digital rights and security issues.

Freedom Network introduces Safety Advisory For Pakistani Journalists Covering #Elections2018

"Freedom Network, Islamabad-based Pakistani media watchdog organisation, releases Safety Advisory to sensitise journalists, photographers, cameramen, media assistants and their organisations on need to take measures to make staffers safe while reporting #Elections2018.

The tips – both in English and Urdu languages – may help minimise risks they may face while reporting these important elections." Details here.

Study reveals extent of Awami Workers political party website block in Pakistan

PAKISTAN – The NetBlocks internet shutdown observatory project in coordination with the Digital Rights Foundation has collected evidence of blocking of a political party website, operated by the Awami Workers Party, in the run up to general elections scheduled on the 25th of July 2018.

The extensive study conducted on Sunday 3 June 2018, spanning 73 autonomous networks and comprising some 10,000 measurements using network digital forensic techniques reveals that the political party’s website has been blocked by most, but not all, Pakistani internet service providers throughout the country. Read the statement by DRF here.

LHC issues notices to PTA chairman, ECP over Facebook’s influence on general election

The petitioner, Shahid Jamal, requested the court to direct the interim federal government, ECP and PTA to press Zuckerberg to take action against fake accounts created on the social media giant before the general election scheduled for July 25. Details here.

Supreme Court of Pakistan suspends tax deduction on mobile cards

LAHORE: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has suspended tax collection on mobile cards and mobile internet in Pakistan.

Chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar had taken notice of the high levy charged on mobile phone cards in the country as he asked under which law Rs40 were being deducted from Rs100 mobile cards. Details here.

Digital Rights Foundation would like to appreciate the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MOITT) for drafting a Personal Data Protection Bill and opening it up for consultation among the public. We hope that this is the start of a two-way consultation process where suggestions put forward by civil society groups and citizens are taken into account.

Accessing the internet in a country with little to no focus on digital literacy and no guarantee of data protection is a curious thing. You may expect that what you share online out of your own will is all that anyone knows about you, and that rest of your life remains personal. Right to data protection becomes essential when a person, despite having no understanding of how technological servers work, owns a mobile phone with working telecom network. From his phone number to transmitted data like SMS and call records are being saved somewhere possibly without any security protocols whatsoever - putting the data of that person at risk of being stolen and misused.

While this is not restricted to telecom data, instead, it’s true for all kinds of electronically transmitted information either stored by the person themself or via someone else like that in the case of NADRA database that holds the most sensitive information on over 200 million Pakistanis. A simple internet search lists all the data breaches that NADRA has experienced in the past couple years; a government agency that once held the title of being world’s largest biometric database overlooked the safety of the citizens of Pakistan and allowed for external and internal actors to misuse its data through security loopholes. Digital Rights Foundation recorded some of these breaches in 2017 in an infographic [PDF] in hopes to demand authorities for better security protocols.

This is just one example of citizens data being breached. Whereas it’s important to acknowledge the instances where customer data is being sold for as low as 100 PKR (~ $0.82) by customer care representatives of telecom companies, and through WhatsApp groups. Another rather recent incident was that of a ride-hailing app’s servers being breached and the data of millions of customers was cop. The service chose to remain quiet for months while people continued to use their hacked accounts transmitting more details on the compromised servers. The incident was soon forgotten and no legal measures were taken.

There have been a multitude of instances where customers’ safety was jeopardized and consequences were overlooked. We at the Digital Rights Foundation have recognised and been advocating for the need of a concrete data protection legislation in Pakistan that addresses the issues of security breaches and unwarranted use of their personal information by various organisations and institutions, and grant the protection and power of data to their rightful owners - the users.

It is for this reason, we commend the efforts of the MoITT to put the preliminary bill of the Personal Data Protection Act for comments. The initial overview of the draft by the DRF team suggests that while the bill is comprehensive in its scope and underscores the importance of data protection and consent of the user before using and/or transmitting their data, we notice that it indeed has some loopholes that have the potential of taking away people’s agency from their information. Some of the reservations include vague language being used in the bill, lack of clarity on certain terms including ‘consent’ and ‘public interest’, some sections overlapping and indeed clashing with the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 (PECA), and most importantly this bill seems to be giving broad powers to the authorities and data controllers over user data.

DRF submitted a policy brief to the ministry, PDF of which can be found here, and some of our recommendations were made part of this draft. However, we believe that certain sections in the bill should be amended, and DRF is in the process of analysing it in detail to file a submission to the ministry. We hope that the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications will take our recommendations into account in order to address these issues.

Meanwhile, we recommend everyone to review the bill here [PDF]. We would encourage all citizens to send their recommendations to us at [email protected] with subject line “Recommendations for Personal Data Protection Bill”, or send feedback directly to MoITT to [email protected].

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_{Statement drafted by Hija Kamran and Shmyla Khan for the Digital Rights Foundation}