Pakistan has acquired the services of a controversial Canada-based company to help build a nationwide web monitoring system, creating apprehensions that more stringent censorship and erosion of civil liberties may be on the horizon.
The company Sandvine is expected to provide the equipment for monitoring and analysing all incoming and outgoing internet traffic from Pakistan. The system will monitor all communications, measure and record traffic and call data on behalf of the national telecommunications regulator PTA.
The matter was first brought to light in July this year when questions were raised in the Senate that handing over the matter to a foreign company was a threat to national sovereignty – Sandvine was allegedly working as a partner with Israeli intelligence.
Apart from the parliamentary oversight and the lack of transparency in the process, what should be more concerning is that the internet traffic of citizens will also be under surveillance. The company will also have easy access to all digital information including WhatsApp.
However, the PTA dismissed all concerns stating that the grey traffic – a fraudulent process through which international calls to be charged as local ones – is a crime and the web monitoring system will help control it.
There is a slight problem here as the definition of grey traffic includes the use of illegal gateways exchange to bypass legal gateways through encrypted VoIP, GSM gateways and mobile SIMS or other equipment to avoid taxes or regulatory fees. This means that many popular services like Whatsapp, Messenger and Skype might be blocked similar to Gulf countries.
There are also questions raised on the civil liberties and digital rights, particularly in the absence of personal data protection laws in Pakistan. This is not the first time that Pakistan has developed plans for internet filtering, but the process to block objectionable content remains with the internet service providers (ISP) who eventually pass on the cost to customers.
The web monitoring system will create a similar mechanism increasing hardship for regulators, service providers and citizens. The move will create an Orwellian society where Big Brother will monitor all online activities. Many activities such as independent journalism, politics or human rights content will be threatened and basic constitutional rights risk being infringed.
Pakistan authorities probably desire to have a system such as the ‘Great Firewall of China, the largest and most sophisticated online censorship in the world. This will make us a more authoritarian state censoring content deemed unlawful without due process. The internet is supposed to be a vibrant space. Efforts to censor the internet will undermine democratic principles and not bode well for anyone.
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