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December 1, 2015 - Comments Off on Joint statement on The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill 2015

Joint statement on The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill 2015

Joint Statement from ARTICLE 19, Association for Progressive Communications, Digital Rights Foundation, Human Rights Watch, Privacy International, and others on the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill 2015 Pakistan:

ARTICLE 19, Association for Progressive Communications, Digital Rights Foundation, Human Rights Watch, Privacy International, and other organisations remain seriously concerned by the proposed Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill in Pakistan. Regrettably, despite negotiations and revisions in the last six months through a hard won multi-stakeholder consultation process, the Bill still contains provisions that pose a grave risk to freedom of expression, the right to privacy, and of access to information in Pakistan. We urge members of the National Assembly of Pakistan to take a stand against the Bill by voting against it in its current form. The Bill in its current form should be scrapped and the process of drafting a new bill, ensuring full compliance with international human rights standards, should begin with the inclusion of civil society, industry and public consultation at the earliest possible stage.

The process by which the Prevention of Electronic Crime Bill has reached the National Assembly is deeply concerning. Forcing the bill through committee, without consensus having been reached, and with on-going vocal criticisms by members of the committee show that this bill is not ready to be considered to be passed into law. Furthermore, we remain very concerned that the Bill contains several provisions which pose a threat to the respect and protection of the rights of privacy and freedom of expression. The amendments that have been made in the September 2015 version of the bill are cosmetic at best and none of the concerns raised by committee members, civil society, industry, or technologists have been adequately addressed.

Section 34 of the Bill is still overly broad and fails to include adequate safeguards for the protection of the rights to privacy and freedom of expression, in breach of Pakistan's obligations under international human rights law. Even after calls from stakeholders to remove the section entirely, this power remains in the Bill before the National Assembly. It empowers the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to order service providers to remove or block access to any speech, sound, data, writing, image, or video, without any approval from a court. By omitting judicial oversight, the Bill, if passed, would write a blank cheque for abuse and overreach of blocking powers. Although the Bill provides for the possibility of a complaints procedure, it does not require such a procedure to be put in place, nor is there any requirement that this procedure involve a right of appeal to an independent tribunal. Even a right of appeal will be inadequate given the sheer breadth of the blocking powers contained in section 34. Such a broad power should not return in any capacity in a future draft of the Bill.

The amended Bill continues to raise significant concerns about unchecked intelligence sharing with foreign governments, along with related human rights abuses. If adopted, the Bill will still allow the Federal Government to unilaterally share intelligence gathered from investigations with foreign intelligence agencies like the US National Security Agency, without any independent oversight. Given the role of intelligence in US drone strikes in Pakistan, without significantly stronger safeguards, this puts the security and privacy of ordinary Pakistanis at risk. Cooperation between intelligence agencies needs to be governed by specific laws, which should be clear and accessible, and overseen by an independent oversight body capable of conducting due diligence to ensure intelligence is not shared when it puts human rights at risk, or results in violations. As the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated last year in her report on the right to privacy in the digital age, intelligence sharing arrangements that lack clear limitations risk violating human rights law. The Bill’s provisions do not come close to achieving this.

The amended version of the Bill continues to mandate that service providers retain data about Pakistanis’ telephone and email communications for a minimum of one year. This requirement drastically expands the surveillance powers of the Pakistan government. The European Union Court of Justice and UN human rights experts found laws mandating the blanket collection and retention of data to be an unlawful and disproportionate interference with the right to privacy, and as a result many other countries are rolling back their data retention legislation. Pakistan’s reluctance to drop this proposal to expand data retention is a regressive move that undermines the privacy rights of all Pakistani people

The new Bill continues to use overly broad terms that lack sufficiently clear definitions. The law empowers the government to “seize” programs or data, defining seizing as to “make and retain a copy of the data”, but does not specify the procedures through the seized data is retained, stored, deleted or further copied. By leaving the creation of a procedure for the seizure of data to the discretion of the Federal Government, the law is critically lacking in setting out clear and accessible rules in line with international human rights law. This, along with many sections of the Bill, endangers the ability for journalists in Pakistan to work freely without the risk of having their work seized, undermining press freedom and freedom of expression.

The former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has stressed “a clear and pressing need for vigilance in ensuring compliance of any surveillance policy or practice with international human rights law”. The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill in Pakistan does not provide that opportunity for vigilance from independent stakeholders. As a result its provisions are dangerously threatening to the rights of freedom of expression and privacy of everyone across Pakistan.

The Bill currently before the National Assembly has failed to address the serious concerns expressed by civil society. As such, the Bill, if adopted as currently drafted, could result in serious violations of human rights, such as the right to privacy and freedom of expression. The debate on the floor of the National Assembly should be an opportunity to point out the flaws of this bill and to reiterate the bill is not fit for purpose. The slate needs to be wiped clean and a new bill worked on bringing it into line with fundamental rights found in Pakistan's constitution and international human rights treaties. As it stands, these rights are being casually brushed aside.

Signatories:

ARTICLE 19
Association For Progressive Communications
Blue Veins
Bolo Bhi
Bytes for All
Digital Rights Foundation
Freedom Network
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
Individual Land
Media Matters
Privacy International
Reporters Without Borders

Joint statement On the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill, Dec 2015

November 26, 2015 - Comments Off on The Sorry Tale of the PECB, Pakistan’s Terrible Electronic Crime Bill

The Sorry Tale of the PECB, Pakistan’s Terrible Electronic Crime Bill

This blog post was originally published on Electronic Frontier Foundation's website.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a government, in the wake of a national security crisis—or hostage to the perceived threat of one—will pursue and in many cases enact legislation that is claimed to protect its citizens from danger, actual or otherwise. These security laws often include wide-ranging provisions that do anything but protect their citizens' rights or their safety. We have seen this happen time and time again, with the US and its PATRIOT Act, to Canada's recently implemented and draconian C-51. The latest wave of statements by politicians after the Paris bombing implies that we will see more of the same, very soon.

Not keen to be left out, Pakistan has now joined the ranks of countries using “cybercrime” and terrorism to rewrite the protections for their nationals' privacy and right to free expression. In January 2015 the Government of Pakistan drafted the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill (PECB). Ostensibly, the PECB was written to address pressing new digital issues, such as cyberstalking, forgery, and online harassment. The reality is the PECB contains such broad legal provisions that that it would criminalize everyday acts of expression while undermining the right to privacy of Pakistani citizens.

The PECB was introduced very shortly after the government of Pakistan established its National Action Plan, a comprehensive state-level project to combat terrorism after armed men linked to the Taliban attacked an Army-run school in the city of Peshawar, killing 141 people, 132 of whom were children, in December 2014. The PECB, thus, became part of the NAP: a political product intended to make control of political expression an official role of the government.

Much like its international counterparts, the PECB skews in favour of national security—loosely defined—while ignoring civil liberties. Section 34 of the PECB, for example, gives the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) powers to block objectionable content and websites, with very vague, unclear ideas as to what constitutes ‘objectionable'. If the PTA determines that it is “necessary in the interest of the glory of Islam or the integrity, security or defence of Pakistan or any part thereof, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality,” then the authorities can censor it.

Do you pass messages via Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms? Under the PECB, if those messages are “obscene” or “immoral”, you may be committing a criminal offence—again, there is no clear definition of what constitutes either “obscene” or “immoral.” . Even if one does manage to think clean thoughts, sending an email or a message without the recipients permission is a criminal offence, under Section 21. A lack of clearly defined clarifications and explanations gives sweeping power to investigating agencies, with the ability to implicate, fine and imprison anyone for sending a single email without prior consent.

These provisions and others in the drafted bill have led to condemnation from Pakistani rights organizations, international groups including Article 19, Human Rights Watch and Privacy International, and from Pakistan's legal and media communities.

My own organization and many others have been pushing Pakistan's government to retract the drafted PECB, and to include amendments that incorporate civil liberties concerns. The political atmosphere has the government generally reluctant to open up the drafting process to civil society. Organizations, activists and members of Pakistan's nascent tech industry spent most of 2015 calling upon the Pakistan National Assembly's Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication to withdraw the drafted PECB for further study and amendments.

On September 17th, however, the Standing Committee decided to approve the draft and send it on its way to the National Assembly. Actually, to be more precise: copies of the draft were not given by the drafters to other committee members. When they objected, and stressed that the drafted bill could not be approved without review, they were overruled by the committee chair, who said that as he had seen the draft, that would be sufficient to pass it onto the National Assembly.

Anusha Rehman, the Minister of State for IT & Telecommunications, has defended the PECB, asserting that “safeguards have been ensured against any expected misuse.” But as it is currently written, the PECB contains little in the way of safeguards. Suggestions by civil society and lawyers have been consistently ignored.

There is hope, however: a growing number of government officials have not only come to realise how draconian the drafted legislation could be, but have publicly come out against it. Senator Shahi Syed, the new chairman of the Standing Committee, declared on January 9th 2016 that he would not pass the bill when it come to the Senate, as he stated that it was badly flawed, had been passed in haste without consultation, and against freedom of speech. It is tentative, as we have only just begun the new year, but it is a glimmer of hope nonetheless.

What Pakistan needs is a cybercrime bill that progressively and effectively balances security and civil liberties. The current PECB text, badly drafted and politically compromised, is so far away from that goal that it needs a complete overhaul.

Pakistan's lawmakers need to know how broken the PECB is. EFF and Digital Rights Foundation have created a tool that lets you send a message to key Senators and Members of the National Assembly via Twitter.

Take action now, and stop the PECB from undermining Pakistan's online future.

This guest post was written by Nighat Dad, the founder and executive director of Pakistan's Digital Rights Foundation, and research associate Adnan Chaudhri.

November 15, 2015 - Comments Off on Facebook’s 2015 Global Government Requests Report Highlights Growing No. of Demands by Pak Govt

Facebook’s 2015 Global Government Requests Report Highlights Growing No. of Demands by Pak Govt

No. of User/Account requests made by the Pakistani Govt between January - June2015

The no. of user/account requests made by the Pakistani government between January - June 2015. For earlier Pakistan government requests, please click on the image.

In the wake of Snowden, it has become important for large tech corporations to be transparent about their interactions with governments ie requests to either access or remove data from particular social media or websites. Facebook and Google have in recent years released transparency reports that announce the number of data removal/access requests by governments.

On Wednesday 11th 2015 Facebook released their newest Global Government Requests Report, “as part of a broader effort to reform government surveillance in countries around the world by providing more transparency" on a country by country basis. The report can be found here.

Relating to Pakistan in particular, it was revealed that for the period January 2015 – June 2015 there were 192 government requests, with 275 users/accounts requested, with 58.33% of these requests resulting with some “data...produced.” This is an increase from the July 2014 – December 2014 reporting period, where 100 requests were made, 152 users/accounts data requested, and 42% of requests resulting in some data. Going by the increase in current and past government request data, it is more than likely that the number of requests by governments will increase over time.

Facebook and other tech corporations may be taking steps to prove their commitment to respect and protect their users, but it is not enough to take them at their word. While one can approve of this action being taken by Facebook and other corporations, we must be cautious and restrained in our praise. Facebook and other large tech corporations are usually reliant on these same governments to allow them to operate in non-US territories. The 2013 Snowden leaks also revealed that Facebook was an active participant in the NSA's PRISM surveillance programme, wherein information was shared by tech companies with US intelligence agencies, ostensibly to detect foreign threats to the United States of America. And in 2010, let us not forget, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said that privacy was no longer a “social norm”.

The 2015 Corporate Accountability Index released by Ranking Digital Rights – designed to evaluate “world’s most powerful Internet and telecommunications companies on their public commitments and disclosed policies affecting users’ freedom of expression and privacy “ - ranks the commitment of Facebook and others in regards to the quality of those steps being taken. In regards to Facebook, it found that its transparency efforts were not factoring in Instagram and Whatsapp data – two platforms that it purchased in 2012 and 2014, respectively, with a combined global user-base of 13 million users. Ranking Digital Rights gave Facebook an overall score of 41%, which breaks down into 62% for commitment, 35% for freedom of expression, and 36% for privacy. Its score places Facebook 6th out of the 16 corporations evaluated. The 2015 Corporate Accountability Index can be found here.

As Ranking Digital Rights and other watchdog organisations observe, tech corporations “exert growing influence over the political and civil lives of people all over the world”, and a result these “companies share a responsibility to respect human rights.” Facebook and its fellow tech companies must do more to shoulder that responsibility, and must do more to prove that the safety, welfare and rights of their users matter to them, or else they could face a growing backlash from the users, their customer base.

October 29, 2015 - Comments Off on DRF & The Last Word Are Battling The Cybercrime Bill! (Event)

DRF & The Last Word Are Battling The Cybercrime Bill! (Event)

Battling The Cyber Crime Bill 2015

People of Lahore! The Digital Rights Foundation is partnering with The Last Word to shed light on the highly controversial upcoming cybercrime bill, and how its passage will result in a disturbing and universal clampdown on freedom of speech.

At present the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2015, as passed by the IT Standing Committee of the National Assembly, is due to be presented in an upcoming National Assembly session. In its current form the bill exposes all of us to prosecution solely for the expression of our political affiliations, our outrage against injustice, and in some cases, just for holding an opinion contrary to the ruling class.

This is an assault on our civil liberties and we don't want this to be the last time we're able to use social media to agitate and fight against an injustice.

Come join us and our speakers: Asma Jehangir, Saroop Ijaz from Human Rights Watch Nighat Dad from Digital Rights Foundation , Asad Jamal from Human Rights Commission of Pakistan & Angbeen Mirza. Join us in battling this vexing bill at 6.30 pm on Friday, October 30th at The Last Word.

October 28, 2015 - Comments Off on Freedom on the Net 2015: Pakistan, The State of Insecurity

Freedom on the Net 2015: Pakistan, The State of Insecurity

The State of Freedom on the Net 2015

Lahore, October 27, 2015: Freedom House's Freedom on the Net report, conducted in 60 countries, examines the civil liberty, freedom and censorship trends in Pakistan over the past year. Scoring “Not Free” for Internet Freedom, 2015 marks the fourth consecutive year that Pakistan joins the host of nations share the same worst score, with policies that curtail freedom and civil liberties.

Extensively and methodically researched by Digital Rights Foundation, Pakistan in collaboration with Freedom House, the report compiles and analyses actions undertaken by the state to limit internet freedom, to violate user rights as well as the implementation of censorship in Pakistan. The 2015 edition of Freedom on the Net contains some of the following worrying highlights:

- January 2015: The introduction of drafted cybercrime legislation, the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill, which includes overly broad definitions of criminal activity online, which could negatively impact freedom of expression and the right to privacy

- March 2015: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif disbands an inter-ministerial committee responsible for censorship of 'objectionable' material, and authorises the government regulator to take oversight

- The November 2014 arrest of a Christian (a religious minority in Pakistan) by police who had evaded blasphemy charges related to his blog for three years

- The deaths in August 2014 of two journalists and a network account by unidentified gunmen in their offices in Balochistan

- The leaking of data from the corporate surveillance firm, Hacking Team, revealing interactions with private sector representatives for Pakistani state security agencies, in regards to surveillance equipment that would work on older mobile phone models, amongst other details

- The crackdown on unverified mobile SIM cards, and mandatory biometric verification protocols that were set in place, after a December 2014 attack on school that resulted in more than 150 children being killed

The government of Pakistan continues to take ever greater steps to gain further control over the digital spaces that its citizens use, ostensibly to protect them from terrorism and criminals. While it is the duty of the state to protect its citizens, it is also the paramount duty to ensure the right to privacy, the right to freedom of expression, and the right to civil liberties are protected. As the Freedom on the Net report will show, the government is taking further steps to further curtail these rights, to police democratic discourse and stifle dissenting voices that are already threatened offline.

"The government of Pakistan often talks about bringing the nation into the 21st century, and is quick to point to its growing tech industry. But when it blocks websites and moves to clamp down on online discourse, not to mention criminalise ethical hacking, it is choking freedom of expression and the right to privacy back into an earlier, darker age in the nation's history, “ said Nighat Dad, Digital Rights Foundation’s Executive Director. “The use of surveillance tech to monitor and control our access to the internet and to digital services in general,” she continued, “would have a chilling effect on the way that we express ourselves online. Instead of being a safe space, it will be a panopticon, where we are always watched.”

“We are troubled to report that Pakistan's poor internet freedom score failed to improve in 2015. Communications shutdowns, violence, and blasphemy charges related to online content continue to restrict the environment for ordinary internet users. The government has also failed to lift the ongoing ban on YouTube,” said Madeline Earp, Asia Research analyst for Freedom on The Net.

Freedom on the Net and the research of Freedom House seek to address the failings of the state in protecting the rights of citizens, and by compiling and analysing evidence that activists and concerned citizens can use to push for greater democracy online as well as offline.

To view the country report on Pakistan in its entirety, please click here.

October 6, 2015 - Comments Off on A History of Digital Surveillance & Censorship in Pakistan

A History of Digital Surveillance & Censorship in Pakistan

In the years following September 11, 2001, the global geopolitical landscape has undergone drastic changes, coupled with economic uncertainty. It has become de rigueur for governments to crack down on forms of freedom of expression, and to give more powers to their intelligence agencies, to tackle 'extremism' and terrorism. The work of whistleblowers such as Edward Snowden, and activist organisations such as Wikileaks, have brought to the public's attention the extent to which citizens have had their privacy violated, in the name of security. Pakistan, which came of age during the Cold War, is no different, having long been familiar with surveillance and censorship without proper oversight. Since 2001, the government of Pakistan has sought to limit the freedom of expression enjoyed by its citizens, censoring and blocking websites when possible. It has pushed for broader powers for its intelligence and security agencies, as part of its National Action Plan.

British-based experience designer and privacy advocate Salman Chaudhri has been working with Digital Rights Foundation on the timeline below, covering Pakistan's recent history of digital surveillance and censorship up to 2015. We hope that it will provide Pakistanis with an understanding of how, rather than working for its people, the government of Pakistan has been working to undermine the rights of its citizens.

If you wish to use the timeline, please credit Salman Chaudhri and Digital Rights Foundation.

A History Of Digital Surveillance & Privacy in Pakistan

September 21, 2015 - Comments Off on Standing Comm. Passes Draft of PECB, Unseen by Comm. Members

Standing Comm. Passes Draft of PECB, Unseen by Comm. Members

On September 17th 2015, the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Information Technology passed the final draft form of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill, which will now be sent to the National Assembly for final approval.

Disturbingly, members of the committee were not shown the draft form of the bill before its passage. PPP MNAs Shazia Marri and Nauman Islam Sheikh, and PML-N MNA Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, rightly objected, stressing that the draft bill could not be approved until they and the other members of the committee had read the finalised draft.

Capt Mohammad Safdar (Ret'd), Standing Committee chairman, overruled these objections, saying that as he had seen the draft, that would be sufficient grounds to pass the draft.

Final Draft of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill, September 17th 2015.

See our previous and ongoing coverage of the cybercrimes bill, here: http://digitalrightsfoundation.pk/work/cyber-crime-bill/

September 6, 2015 - Comments Off on It’s time to end the culture of online misogyny!

It’s time to end the culture of online misogyny!

The Last Word bookshop and Digital Rights Foundation recently collaborated on a discussion session held at the Last Word in Lahore, Pakistan, to help develop an understanding – and increase awareness of – the dangers of unchecked online harassment. The session, “A Call To Action: Online Misogyny in Pakistan, and How to Combat it”, was announced in response to a disturbing rise in online misogyny and gender-based cyber-harassment. According to Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency, 3,027 cases of cybercrime were reported in the the period between August 2014 and August 2015, with 45% of the cases being related to cyber-harassment on social media against women.

Aysha Raja, owner of the Last Word, compering the event. On her right are Nabiha Meher Shaikh and Susan Benesch

Aysha Raja, owner of the Last Word, compering the event. On her right are (l-r) Nabiha Meher Shaikh and Susan Benesch

The recent misogyny and hyper-jingoism on display last week (http://www.dawn.com/news/1203410) highlighted how important it is to tackle misogyny, and to examine the behaviours that give rise to it. The alarming frequency with which online harassment (which often bleeds out into real world “offline” harassment, or worse) has led to much needed public discourse – not just on recognising that the danger is real, but also to come up with proactive solutions to counter such behaviour. There are signs of understanding – the DRF/Last Word session, for example, saw a good turnout, with many men not only in attendance, but also contributing to the discussion in a mostly positive manner.

Jahanzaib Haque of Dawn.com raises a point.

The audience at the event

The speakers at the event, included:

Susan Benesch of The Berkman Center for Internet and Society, at Harvard University, and founder of the Dangerous Speech Project, “to find ways of diminishing inflammatory speech – and its capacity to inspire violence - while protecting freedom of expression.”

http://www.voicesthatpoison.org/

https://twitter.com/dangerousspeech

Nabiha Meher Sheikh, Co-founder of Pakistan Feminist Watch, and an instructor in Critical Thinking

https://twitter.com/pakfemwatch

http://pakistanfeministwatch.blogspot.com/

Jahanzaib Haque, Chief Digital Strategist and Editor at Dawn.com

https://twitter.com/jhaque_

https://www.dawn.com

Nighat Dad, Executive Director of Digital Rights Foundation

https://twitter.com/nighatdad

http://digitalrightsfoundation.pk/

Links

We have collected the live-tweets of the session in Storify, for those unable to attend. The link can be found here.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1205235 Dawn's coverage of the session.

August 21, 2015 - Comments Off on Building The Capacity to End Online Harassment

Building The Capacity to End Online Harassment

The Internet has, in a short period of time, become a vital part of our lives. With it we are able to gain access to a dizzying amount of knowledge resources, which provide people with valuable skills and information that can enrich their lives. However, there is also a dark side to this technology. Access to information has also led to the growth of often pervasive forms of digital and offline harassment against women. Personal data will be leaked or hacked into, to try to force women offline, to stop their voices being heard, or even to instigate violence against them. According to the Federal Investigation Agency’s National Response Centre for Cyber Crime, 3027 cybercrime cases were reported in the period between August 2014 and 2015 - 45% of which were related to cyber-harassment against women and young girls via social media.

The cases that have reported are just the tip of the iceberg, as many victims keep silent out of fear of losing access to internet technology or out of fear of being attacked again. By not tackling this head-on, we risk a situation where members of a vulnerable population, one that makes up over half the population of Pakistan, are denied essentially life-enhancing knowledge and tools. The state can, via social and government institutions, provide support and assistance to women of all ages from cyber-harassment, and to give them the vital skills necessary to defend themselves.

Digital Rights Foundation, Hamara Internet and the Punjab Commission on the Status of Women have joined together to help build and strengthen the capacity of the staff of the Punjab Women’s Helpline, so that they are effectively able to deal with cyber-harassment complaints, provide the assistance and support needed.

August 18, 2015 - Comments Off on Digital Rights Foundation stance on privacy and data retention provisions in the 2015 Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill

Digital Rights Foundation stance on privacy and data retention provisions in the 2015 Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill

Digital Rights Foundation recognises that the government must protect its citizens, as is its duty, especially in turbulent times. Digital Rights Foundation also recognises, however, that the government must do so in a manner that also protects the right to privacy and the right to freedom of expression.

Legislation that effectively tackles cybercrime and terrorism is vital. What the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill does, however, is move beyond what is necessary, and instead violates the civil rights of citizens, in the name of security. The government has been very reluctant in allowing for public oversight in regards to the PEC Bill, and has made amendments without sufficient involvement with, or indeed alerting civil society stakeholders to, the amendment and process.

The Bill as it stands contains a number of provisions that run of the risk of being open to very broad interpretations that could lead to sweeping penalty measures that would in effect criminalise innocent online and offline behaviours. Civil society stakeholders have submitted a legal draft to the IT Standing Committee of the National Assembly, that seeks to address and amend said provisions in a manner that balances the need for security with the need to respect the civil liberties of Pakistani citizens.

What remains, however, is that while civil society stakeholders have provided invaluable legal input, there still remain areas of great concern for Digital Rights Foundation and our colleagues in civil society.

Of concern to Digital Rights Foundation in particular are continued mandatory retention of data, as well as the decision to continue with allowing the government to forward information to international partners, if so requested. There is a lack of a clear oversight regarding this international cooperation, and this is a matter that must be addressed, as it violated the right to privacy of Pakistani citizens.

It is our concern that the Bill as it stands does not protect citizens effectively, and does not protect their right to freedom of expression and their right to privacy. Thus, Digital Rights Foundation cannot support the Government of Pakistan's cybercrime legislation.

Privacy International & Digital Rights Foundation joint legal analysis of the PEC Bill

Article 19 & Digital Rights Foundation's Legal Analysis of the PEC Bill

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