Cyber Crime Act Revised To Punish Indecent SMS & Emails

Being anti cybercrime myself, yesterday’s headlines ‘ Punishment for indecent, ill-motivated sms & emails introduced by Cyber Crime Act (CCA)’ gave me a hope that after a long time Pakistan are pushing forward in stopping this heinous act. But it was nothing more than a fool’s hope when i get to know the real motives behind introducing changes in the Cyber Crime Act.

Here is the news clipping from Dawn

The Government announced on Sunday that sending indecent, provacative and ill-motivated stories and text messages through email, sms, was an offence under the (Cyber Crime Act) and its violators could be sent behind bars for 14 years

For a moment i thought it was a bad joke ! but nah its reality – Yes 14 years for sending indecent sms ? i asked myself how about i bankrupt the whole country, play havoc with the judiciary, privatise everything with a golden boot?  and get jailed for 5-10 years max or better sent for pilgrimage to the holy land for an indefinte period ! I would be much happier if the decision was taken in a broader perspective rather than protecting their decline in public popularity.

Now the official announcement by the interior ministry said that the government was taking action to stop circulation of what it called ill-motivated and concocted stories through emails and text messages against civilian leadership and security forces. It is further believed that the ‘civilian leadership’ meant President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, Interior Minister Rehman Malik and other politicians. I seriously believe its more to do with email and sms circulation that cracks jokes about the political leadership. We have seen the Bilawal photographs etc  The inclusion of security forces is just a dummy to give the verdict some weight… no one writes about the forces of Pakistan in comical way – anyways (barring the rivals, even they hesistate).

I seriously doubt the intention of the government, playing the Taliban crackdown as excuse? no one is blaming the security forces or writing bad about them! it would have been a better stance if they have clamped down on anti Pakistan or anti state websites ? NO , they wont to cover sms and emails? a big cover-up again.

Here are a couple of stories that have prompted this act :

-> Operation Blue Tulsi – A Conspiracy theory against Pakistan linked with the present government by Pak Alert Press.

-> President’s Spelling Mistakes Controversy

-> Removal of Quaid-e-Azam Potraits – Also highlighted by Bloggers first – which embaraced the current government.

So my request to the Government is to quit employing dodgy revisions to safeguard your popularity, do good for the country and you wont have to introduce such stupid acts to save your skin.

Here is further on the Dawn Report:

A senior official of the ministry said: ‘Sending indecent message is a crime under the Cyber Crime Act and liable to punishment.’ He said that some elements had been trying to malign the political leadership and security forces engaged in a military operation in Malakand and some areas in Fata.

The government has tasked the Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crime Cell to block or trace such emails and mobile telephones’ SMS. Under the Cyber Crime Act, violators could be jailed for 14 years, besides confiscation of their property. Similarly, any Pakistani living abroad and violating provisions of the act may be charged and will be liable to deportation to Pakistan.

Under the campaign, all Internet Service Providers would be checked physically by the FIA on a daily basis. The directive said the campaign would also target proscribed organisations which had been using internet for malicious propaganda against security forces.

The Director General of FIA, Mr Tariq Khosa, has been instructed to monitor and check stories and messages and take necessary action under the CCA.  An FIA official said that strict action would be taken against all culprits in the next few days and the agency had already done a lot of work in this regard.

Interpol/Lyon has also been requested to identify those email addresses and websites registered abroad which are being used for such stories,’ the official said.

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Tagged as: Cyber Crime Act, email, FIA, Jail, Pakistan, SMS