There are 11% web users
The Freedom
on the Internet 2014 report
by Freedom House, which has been conducting annual surveys since 1980, found that
Pakistan had slipped yet another spot on the index – falling from the 11-worst
in 2013 to 10th this year.
The
index calculates the internet freedom scores for 65 countries globally based on
three criteria: obstacles to internet access, limits placed on internet
content, and violations of internet user rights.
With
an average internet freedom score of 69, the country fell one rank from its
previous 11th position and a score of 67 (100=least free, 0=most free).
“Pervasive
and increased government control on the internet whether in form of censorship
or with new surveillance tactics, is limiting freedom of expression and
amplifying self-censorship among the internet users in Pakistan,” said Nighat
Daad of the Digital Rights Foundation (DRF).
“The dangerous trend of introducing draconian
and repressive laws to limit the civil liberties in the online space is only an
effort to block political dissent and diverse opinions. The Pakistani
government should understand that increased internet censorship and data
surveillance can only turn this democratic state into a repressive regime,” she
added.
Pakistan
continued its gradual fall during the past four years from its score of 55 and
13th rank from the bottom in 2011.
The
study shows that violations of Pakistani internet users’ rights have been
rapidly increasing over the past four years.
This
steep decline in user rights experience stemmed mostly from religious
intolerance, says the report, which was prepared in collaboration with DRF in
Pakistan.
Major violations of user rights in 2014:
·
Four women were killed by male family members
in rural areas of Pakistan, one for possessing a mobile phone, and three for
featuring in a video circulating on community mobile networks.
·
Three men were murdered for being gay by a
man who used social media to identify their sexual orientation.
·
Blasphemy charges for digital content spiked
in Punjab
·
In April 2014, a judge in Punjab sentenced a
Christian couple to death for blasphemy in relation to a text message they deny
sending.
·
Lawyer Rashid Rehman was shot dead on May 7
after receiving threats for representing a professor jailed on charge of
committing blasphemy on Facebook.
·
The Pakistan Protection Ordinance 2013
categorized unspecified “internet offenses” as terrorism, with suspects subject
to arbitrary detention.
Limits on content
According
to the report, limitations on content remained relatively unchanged since last
year, with no signs of improvement.
·
Popular video-sharing website YouTube
remained blocked on government orders since September 2012. The status of a
plan to launch a local version of the site censoring objectionable content also
remained in doubt.
·
Authorities newly blocked film details
referencing Baloch independence and a gay community website.
·
Citizen Lab researchers found Netsweeper
technology automatically blocking political and social content on Pakistan’s
largest ISP.
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