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February 10, 2025 - Comments Off on Pakistan committed to digital transparency, accountability and Ethical AI: IT Minister

Pakistan committed to digital transparency, accountability and Ethical AI: IT Minister

Pakistan’s IT Minister discussed the importance of closing the “digital divide” by promoting and engaging in “inclusive policies and capacity-building initiatives”, as well as the importance of “data privacy, security, and fairness in artificial intelligence (AI) systems”, in a report by Dawn.

Speaking at the Leap 2025 technology conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan’s Minister for Information Technology and Telecom, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, discussed what she saw as the “transformative impact of AI”, and pushed for “strong regulatory frameworks to ensure AI benefits all segments of society”. The Minister also called for that a global framework that ensured that any wide-scale rolling out of AI was done so with ethical standards to be incorporated and enforced – something that she said was a goal behind Pakistan’s own ongoing development of an AI policy.

The need to ensure that any usage of AI had a low carbon footprint was also raised - a matter of controversy, as one criticism among many regarding AI has been the drastic consumption of water and other energy resources by companies such as OpenAI in regards to AI.

January 23, 2025 - Comments Off on Journalists, Opposition walk out of NA as controversial PECA amendments passed

Journalists, Opposition walk out of NA as controversial PECA amendments passed

Pakistan’s National Assembly has passed controversial amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), to which journalists and members of the opposition PTI party, who both walked out of the National Assembly, walked out in protest. These amendments to the PECA have been condemned since they were first leaked, not just as the overly broad language could be interpreted to further attack freedom of expression, but because drafts of the bill had not been shared or discussed with stakeholders, which has been heavily criticised by activists and journalists. The bill will now be sent to the Pakistani Senate for a final approval.

The government has for several months claimed that the new provisions are necessary to tackle “fake news” or disinformation, with people accused of such to be “punished with imprisonment which may extend upto three years or with fine which may extend to Rs2m or with both.”

In addition to proposing the creation of a Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority (SMPRA), the amendments have expanded the definition of “social media platforms” to include the “tools” or software used to access said platforms. This expansion of the definition of “social media platforms”, even before the bill’s passing, was widely regarded as a vehicle to provide legal cover to future attempts to ban “unregistered” local VPNs – a legal opinion by the Ministry of Law had thwarted previous VPN ban attempts.

Nighat Dad, Digital Rights Foundation’s Executive Director, said that the passing of the amendments came as a “shock”, and that civil society organisations and other stakeholders had not been shown any drafts, with the result that the final version “suddenly came out of nowhere”. In addition to remarking that the bill should not have been passed owing to the “broad and ambiguous” powers it gave to authorities – already a serious  and ongoing concern about the PECA – Ms. Dad also pointed out its definitions concerning “false and fake information” were suspect – notable given that global authorities have not been able to provide consistent and universally applicable definitions themselves.

December 17, 2024 - Comments Off on Govt admits internet disruption due to “security” concerns

Govt admits internet disruption due to “security” concerns

The government has conceded that it has been responsible for the continued throttling and shutdowns of the internet in Pakistan. Speaking on behalf of the government in the National Assembly, Parliamentary Secretary for Cabinet Secretariat Sajid Mehdi highlighted “great security threats” while responding to concerns raised on slow internet and underscored how the government “cannot leave it [social media] unbridled like other countries”. He also claimed that the issue of slow internet would be resolved after the auction of 5G spectrum by April 2025.Meanwhile, PTI Opposition leader Omar Ayub accused the government of blocking social media due to their party’s popularity. He also accused the intelligence agencies for interfering in affairs of the PTA while talking about slow internet speeds.