ISLAMABAD: As mobile phones and internet access become ubiquitous, governments, the digital technology sector and telecom industries must make expanding access to the internet and protect children online a priority. This was stated in the latest iteration of the annual ‘The State of the World’s Children (SOWC) 2017: Children in a digital world” report launched […]
ISLAMABAD: Threats to the internet landscape, including arbitrary administrative shutdowns, misplaced judicial activism against internet freedoms, the rise of cyber-armies, enforced disappearances of activists and the abuse of cybercrime legislation have been on the rise across the country, according to a report titled Internet Landscape of Pakistan 2017, reported a private media outlet. The report […]
What is data? WITH the fast paced advancements in technology and the increasing pervasiveness of information and community technologies (ICTs) in everyday life, our personal information is accessible to multiple parties including corporations, governments, hackers, stalkers and other third parties. We have now entered what Klaus Schwab calls the fourth industrial revolution, which, he argues, […]
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has given the federal government a week to implement its order in a case related to the uploading of sacrilegious content on social media. IHC Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui warned on Friday that in case of non-compliance, the prime minister and other cabinet ministers could be summoned at the […]
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday issued notices to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) and Maryam Nawaz, daughter of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, on a petition seeking contempt proceedings against the latter for uttering ‘outrageous’ remarks against judges of the Supreme Court. Amina Malik of the Civil Society Network had filed […]
On November 25, 2017, Pakistani government suspended all national private news channels, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Daily Motion across the country for over 24 hours, to prevent coverage of police crackdown against protestors in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. A number of journalists were also injured while covering the protests. Around 8,000 security officials took […]
ISLAMABAD – On the directives of the federal government, the Pakistan Electronic Regulatory Media Authority (Pemra) on Sunday evening restored transmission of private television channels across the country. Private TV channels went off-air in most parts of the country for almost 28 hours before their transmission was restored. On Saturday morning, the Pemra stopped private […]
LAHORE – Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Sunday announced unblocking of social media sites after 37 hours of their nationwide suspension. Till late on Sunday night, despite PTA announcement to unblock Twitter, Youtube and Facebook, websites remained out of access. In the wake of police and Frontier Constabulary-led operation against Faizabad sit-in participants, the government put a […]
THE recent FIA crackdown on two individuals in Rawalpindi who tweeted against the army and judiciary highlights both the power of social media and the government’s intolerant attitude towards freedom of expression when it comes to public officials. Earlier this year, five bloggers went missing due to posts on social media that were allegedly blasphemous […]
Freedom in Pakistan, especially if considering the internet and its multiplying roles in daily life, is something of an illusion. Governments worldwide fear the ‘net’ and the anarchic freedoms it represents, freedoms of speech and expression that governments find inconvenient and seek to constrain, often with considerable success as the citizens of China would find […]
PESHAWAR: Accusing Pushto radio stations associated with the Voice of America (VOA) for spreading negative propaganda, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) directed its affiliated organisations throughout Federally Administrative Tribal Areas (FATA) to stage protest rallies and demonstration. In this respect, the first demonstration will be arranged by Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba Khyber Agency, affiliated with JUI-F, at Bab-i-Khyber on […]
Facebook, Google and Twitter were supposed to save politics as good information drove out prejudice and falsehood IN 1962 a British political scientist, Bernard Crick, published “In Defence of Politics”. He argued that the art of political horse-trading, far from being shabby, lets people of different beliefs live together in a peaceful, thriving society. In […]
RAHIM YAR KHAN: A sessions judge has sentenced a man to life imprisonment on a charge of posting blasphemous content on social media. Spokesperson for the district police officer Umar Saleem quoted Station House Officer of Saddar police station, Sadiqabad, Abdul Hadi, as saying that a complaint had been lodged in July last year against […]
Civil society groups on Friday expressed concern over the spate of attacks on journalists and ever-increasing restrictions on social media and urged the government to ensure freedom of expression – a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan. The Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) held a meeting on Friday at the […]
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