The Cybercrime Bill

The National Assembly passed the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill, or PECB on
April 13, 2016. This Bill was proposed in 2015. There have been previous such proposals
in 2007, 2009. Other versions are the banning of Facebook, YouTube, and the rest of
Websites as suits PTCL. But this is different, as it incriminates individuals, than solely
block websites.

Scope of Work
Here is what the Bill comprises of:

Salient features of bill

Up to five year imprisonment, PKR 10 million fine or both for hate speech, or
trying to create disputes and spread hatred on the basis of religion or sectarianism.
Up to five year imprisonment, PKR 5 million fine or both for transferring or
copying of sensitive basic information.
Up to PKR 50 thousand fine for sending messages irritating to others or for
marketing purposes. If the crime is repeated, the punishment would be three months
imprisonment and a fine of up to PKR 1 million rupees.
Up to three year imprisonment and a fine of up to PKR 0.5 million for creating a
website for negative purposes.
Up to one year imprisonment or a fine of up to PKR 1 million for forcing an
individual for immoral activity, or publishing an individuals picture without
consent, sending obscene messages or unnecessary cyber interference.
Up to seven year imprisonment, a fine of PKR 10 million or both for interfering in
sensitive data information systems.
Three month imprisonment or a PKR 50 thousand fine or both for accessing
unauthorized data.
Three year imprisonment and a fine of up to PKR 5 million for obtaining
information about an individuals identification, selling the information or retaining
it with self.
Up to three year imprisonment and a fine of up to PKR 0.5 million for issuing a sim
card in an unauthorized manner.
Up to three year imprisonment and fine of up to PKR 1 million rupees for making
changes in a wireless set or a cell phone.
Up to three year imprisonment and a fine of up to PKR 1 million for spreading
misinformation about an individual.

According to the Salient Features of the Bill, there will be various fines and imprisonments
should one be found guilty of violating the Cybercrime Bill. If you receive something that
doesnt fit your liking, you are punishable, Arrests and seizures can be made without evidence
and search warrants. Commentary, blogs, cartoons and the daily routine memes shared will also
be a crime. Our daily messages with jokes, memes, or status updates and tweets can be held
accountable. If anyone questions the government, they will not be spared. Any political
disagreements and voicing out opinions against a law or ruling will simple not be allowed. The
free media and free press enjoyed by a vast majority will be taken away. The bill is loosely
worded as to not make specific what is allowed or not allowed, what is in bad taste or negative.

Any Website or online source can be blocked or removed access to if found inappropriate. Any
Internet Service Providers, cafes, restaurants, etc. will have to keep data for at least 3 months. So,
the bill is termed as draconian, excessively high and senseless amount of punishment by social
media users and the IT industry, which was exempt from participating in the ruling.

Those found guilty can be fined ranging from 5 thousand to 10 million Rupees, and they can be
imprisoned for one to seven years, depending on the offense. Activists and groups have called
this baseless, cruel and unusual punishment, to be so severe merely for data and daily routine of
sending texts, writing blogs, articles, drawing cartoons and memes.

Methodology

The Cybercrime Bill has been hurriedly passed without a majority of the members present,

mainly IT members following the Panama leaks. As Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been

highly criticized for his name coming up in these Leaks, including various memes and emotional

tweeters directly tweeting to the Prime Minister, this law can now put one behind bars for merely

tweeting, or sending SMS or writing out a status.

Sagheer Wattoo, a spokesman for the Ministry of Information Technology, which drafted the law,

defended the law as it provided enough checks and balances to protect citizens rights as well as

the need for court approval and warrants for most investigations. An offense will have to be

determined by the court before anyone takes action, Mr. Wattoo said.

According to Government officials, New laws are needed to cumber various electronic crimes, to

stop terrorist activities through mobile and internet use. It is also needed as these platforms are
also used as advertisements to recruit members. According to their understanding, this law is

required to hinder online harassment, child abuse, blackmail and ID theft.

While PBIF President Mian Zahid Hussain says the Cybercrime bill will reduce crime rates, he

also said that it should be acceptable to all stakeholders and those left out should be consulted in

order to be a democratic, meaning protecting the civil liberties, fundamental rights and freedoms

of expression. Media and internet has helped businesses to flourish. Internet and 3G/4G use, and

higher technologies are being used and will only grow worldwide. This tech has helped Pakistan

gain over $2 billion.

As Pakistan is part of the United Nations, it should follow the international laws. The Universal

Declaration of Human Rights, includes freedom of expression, which includes freedom of press

and and how one chooses to express themselves. The youth are not wary enough to measure their

words as per what is allowed or not allowed, and they can get criminalized under this law.

Businessmen can get in trouble for their marketing techniques.

By now, social media and mobile applications have come a long way. Activism, marketing,

networking and communication has developed a lot. Fraudulent cases, abuse of power,

corruption and wrongdoings on every level are exposed without much control of the government.

This has left no room to stop negative image marketing.

Suggestions
The major criticism that has risen is that the government is more concerned to punish
media users than to check and arrest those who are committing crimes at large, be they
mobsters, robbers, landlords, and human-rights offences. According to the subject matter,
it was very important that the IT members be present in the assembly but that was not so,
and changes have been made to wholly erase clauses that were important. The law was
already poorly thought out, and now it is even more so. This law can make anyone a
criminal, and is thought of as a draconian law that can be exercised in the same manner
as is the blasphemy law, where any fake case can be made against anyone and no
evidence is needed. While it is understood reasons to keep check, the rights of
individuals should not be hindered.
Concerns have come up that before passing the Bill, it has been amended to include
National Action Plan, or NAP, offenses such as ethnic and racial hatred, hate speech and
cyber terrorism. The punishments are thought to be too vast and vague as it can include
cyber stalking, spamming or spoofing. This can include marketing emails, messages and
posts.
Groups like Bytes for All, Pakistan, Media Matters for Democracy and the Association
for Progressive Communications express are deeply worried over the recent
developments in relation to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill 2016 in the national
assembly and they reject the bill in its current shape.
"The government has parroted the security narrative throughout the year as the
bill was contested and resisted by rights groups. But, the security on offer through
this bill is at the direct cost of the constitutional and fundamental rights of the
citizens. Such security is no security at all. The bill goes in direct violation of the
constitution; section 34 being a case in point where a designated officer is being
delegated the authority to interpret a constitutional Article, Article 19, which is
akin to assuming the powers of higher courts. Despite constant demands from
civil society, the bill has not addressed the issue of possible abuse of power
either", says Asad Baig, Executive Director, Media Matters for Democracy.

The Cybercrime Bill violates the rights of over 30 Million internet users. Many are
wondering if memes were renamed or if they can watch children cartoons or not.
Speculation has arrived that it will be akin to Saudi style dictatorship, where criticism is
taken harshly and even online commentators are at risk of severe punishment.
We believe that the bill passed by the national assembly can easily be used to
justify curbs on fundamental rights, including rights to freedom of expression,
assembly, association and the right to privacy. "Pakistan will soon face two
important reviews of its human rights record, before the UN Human Rights
Council and before the Human RIghts Committee," said Anriette Esterhuysen,
Executive Director of the Association for Progressive Communications. "The
international community will be scrutinising how Pakistan respects human rights
online as well as offline, and this bill is very likely to be raised as a point of
concern," Esterhuysen added.
Questions of free speech are being raised after Pakistan's lower house of parliament
passed a cybercrime bill despite widespread opposition from civil rights activists and
some members of parliament. I dont know who is advising the government, but some
of these changes are ridiculous, said Nighat Dad, of the Digital Rights Foundation.
Clauses that ask information to be saved for one year makes it unsafe for users on what
data will be used against them. It is thought that the government did not understand the
nature of digital space when passing the bill, as said by Saroop Ijaz. While spamming is
very annoying, or sending someone unsolicited messages, criminalizing these acts is
mind boggling, he said. I fear that this bill will most likely not be used against the
people it claims to target - militants and people who advocate violence - and instead will
be used to silence dissent and minority voices.
UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, David Kaye,
expressed concern over the PECB, noting that "the draft legislation could result in
censorship of, and self-censorship by, the media".

The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill 2015 (PECB) was hurriedly passed in the lower house
of National Assembly with only 30 of the 342 members present, making only 9% of the
members. It is absurd how this can be counted as a meaningful attendance to pass such a huge
bill. Laws are already being misinterpreted and abused, and there is no need to add one such
further.
"Sections dealing with the retention and protection of digital data are very weak,
especially in the presence of the Fair Trial Act and Pakistan Protection Act, because the
PECB will compromise the privacy of citizens and human rights based business
environment with unfettered access to the cyberspace", said Shahzad Ahmad
The move comes timely during the week in which parliamentary debates were primarily focused
on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's family being named in the Panama Papers.
Anusha Rahman, junior minister for information technology and communication had said last
year that "some aspects of online networking needed attention after the implementation of the
National Action Plan." NAP was launched in 2015 after the attack on a school in Peshawar.
While bills reason is given for security, activists argue that the scope of the bill goes beyond the
reason given and is unclear in its definition of the crimes.
The average internet user in Pakistan is not aware of online sensitivities and
perils of the digital age," Shahzad Ahmad, country director of IT-focused human rights
organisation Bytes for All. "Youth form a major percentage of internet users and they can
fall into a lot of trouble for exercising what they believe is their right to free speech
should the the bill be passed into law."
While agreeing that there is need for cyber laws in Pakistan, Ahmad called the bill "not pro-
people" and "a recipe for disaster for millions of netizens in the country".
He voiced concern over it being misused against the general public, be they regular users,
students, activists and businesses. "Vague terminologies, especially in the presence of draconian
laws such as the Pakistan Protection Act and the blasphemy law, can play havoc with the lives
and livelihoods of people. Criminalisation of freedom of expression and free speech is the worst
aspect of it."
According to Bolo Bhi, an internet freedom and privacy rights non-governmental organisation
(NGO), the offence would "stifle debate on what the law should or should not criminalise as well
as the application of the criminal law in individual cases".
The bill also criminalises acts such as spamming via text messages or email and cyber-stalking,
as well as production and distribution of encryption tools, whether they are used by individuals
for protecting their privacy or by organisations for safeguarding sensitive information.

Ideally, wed like to scrap this version [of the bill] and go back to square one, said

Farieha Aziz, director of Bolo Bhi, a nonprofit organization that campaigns for privacy

and digital rights.

Chairman of Pakistans People Party, PPP, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari tweeted on April 14, 2016,

Claiming that the Cyber Crime Bill hopefully will not pass the Senate, meaning the upper house

of the Pakistani Parliament. Given PPP has the largest number of seats in upper house of

Pakistans Parliament, it could be possible that the bill is not passed as a law in its current form.

If Cyber Law came in effect the way it is, it will be the same way as the general public is

criminalized and given harsh punishments by law, be the person of any age, gender or faith . Ex:

criticizing rulers, their family and their tactics of Arab countries is an offense and one can be

disbarred from the job and even made so that he is not hired anywhere. Take this as a light

punishment otherwise the said journalist can be arrested, tortured, and even killed. They are not

going to get a time in court and even if they do, their prospects of winning is thin. Since the Arab

Spring there have been arrests made due to said violators. Arrest and travel bans have been

made against those prosecuted. They are also wanted in other Gulf countries, if convicted in one.

One such example is Raif Badawi, who was arrested in 2012 for the offense of "insulting Islam

through electronic channels." Badawis wife and kids have fled to Canada and seeked asylum

there. While Badawis punishment was already high at the time of arrest, being 7 years and 600

lashes, it has increased to 10 years imprisonment and 1000 lashes. Badawi has received his first

installment of 50 lashes in January 2015, after which his lashings are being postponed 12 times
for unknown reasons, one being that his health has weakened a lot since being imprisoned as his

wife has mentioned, and that it is causing his slow death.

According to critics, the proposed bill criminalizes activities such as sending text messages

without the receivers consent or criticizing government actions on social media with fines and

long-term imprisonment. Industry representatives have argued that the bill would harm business

as well.

Conclusion

With the Cyber Crime Bill in the talks, we can only hope that it doesnt come in effect in the

National Assembly, and that majority votes are not in favor of the bill. Pakistans politics and

people are made to dissent and discuss politics and politicians, and tactics of the government;

and the rest of the expressions as we have strong willed and powerful youth, who like to voice

out their opinions. Pakistans media and communication should be free and civilians should have

the right to express themselves. With inflation, power shortage and the rest of the problems that

make day to day life difficult, we do not need an additional hindrance.

References

Bilawals Tweet

https://twitter.com/BBhuttoZardari/status/720529205415567360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

5 Main Point of Cyber Crime Bill

http://pk.shafaqna.com/EN/PK/92957

Pakistan Cyber Crime Bill Raises free- speech questions

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/pakistan-cybercrime-bill-raises-free-speech-

questions-160416063749547.html
 Proposed Cyber-crime bill will reduce crimes

http://www.brecorder.com/general-news/172/33464/

Controversial Cyber Bill Approved by NA

http://www.dawn.com/news/1251853

The Cyber Crime set to terrorize the masses

http://www.khabarfeed.com/voices/the-cyber-crime-set-to-terrorize-the-masses/

Groups call for Pakistans Upper house to reject prevention of cybercrime law

http://www.khabarfeed.com/voices/the-cyber-crime-set-to-terrorize-the-masses/

Cybercrime bill violates rights of over 30 million internet users

http://potdrum.com/human-rights/cybercrime-bill-violates-rights-of-over-30-million-

internet-users

Raif Badawi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raif_Badawi

Not too late to defeat draconian cybercrime bill

http://binashah.blogspot.com/2016/04/not-too-late-to-defeat-draconian.html

IT expertise missing from Pakistans cybercrime bill

http://www.asianews.network/content/%E2%80%98it-expertise%E2%80%99-missing-

new-draft-pakistans-cybercrime-bill-14498

Cybercrime bill controversy http://www.dawn.com/news/1176124/cybercrime-bill-

controversy