[governance] National Assembly NA body for transparent cyber laws

Fri Jul 10 15:06:26 EDT 2009

Discussion:
This law has been under critic and a major crisis story in the region
since it originated in 2007. Yes, it depicted a new version of martial
law because it first came in the General President's regime back then.
Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance (PECO) - Under this law it
is a crime in Pakistan to take photographs of someone without their
consent, also sending messages (email, sms etc) that can be considered
lewd and uncivilized shall be considered a crime which is punishable
by law and the person found guilty of this act can be punished with
seven (7) years imprisonment or Rs. 300,000 penalty or both.

If you search Dispute over Electronic Crimes Ordinance in Pakistan in
Google, you will find a lot of videos, concerns etc.

Title: Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008 (Ordinance No.
IX of 2008)
Country: Pakistan
Entry into force: 2008
Language: English
Description:     	
Pakistan\'s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance came into force
on the 29 Septempber 2008. It makes provision for prevention of the
electronic crimes and extends to the whole of Pakistan. The Ordinance
shall apply to every person who commits an electronic offence
irrespective of his nationality or citizenship whatsoever or in any
place outside or inside Pakistan, having detrimental effect on the
security of Pakistan or its nationals or national harmony or any
property or any electronic system or data located in Pakistan or any
electronic system or data capable of being connected, sent to, used by
or with any electronic system in Pakistan.
links:
http://www.na.gov.pk/ordinances/prevention_electronic_crimes280108.pdf
http://www.fia.gov.pk/electronic_prevention_orde.pdf

This is the 2007 version:
http://www.pakistanlaw.com/electronic_prevention_ord.pdf
http://www.naseerahmad.com/2008/01/24/prevention-of-electronic-crimes-ordinance-pakistan-2007.html

In November last year, under the new regime, it was promulgated as the
Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008 (Ordinance No. IX of
2008):
http://pklawyers.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/cyber-crimes-ordinance-2008/
http://www.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=58277&Itemid=1
http://pklawyers.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/cyber-crimes-ordinance-2008/

Here are some interesting faces of this law:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26762898@N08/3358890495/

On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 4:56 PM, Eric
Dierker<cogitoergosum at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Please explain, perhaps why I am wrong.
>
> Enacted laws still have to operate within and under constitutional,
> procedural and court mandated protections of individual rights. I assume
> there is nothing in this law that says all of those safeguards are
> suspended. It sounds like you are saying there is a new martial law in place
> regarding computers. To my knowledge this is not the case.
>
> --- On Fri, 7/10/09, Fouad Bajwa <fouadbajwa at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> From: Fouad Bajwa <fouadbajwa at gmail.com>
> Subject: [governance] National Assembly NA body for transparent cyber laws -
> Pakistan
> To: governance at lists.cpsr.org
> Date: Friday, July 10, 2009, 11:43 AM
>
> http://www.dawnnews.tv/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/sci-tech/16-a-body-for-transparent-cyber-laws-hs-06
>
> ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Information
> Technology and Telecommu-nications has called for transparency,
> stricter laws and thorough investigation to protect users’ data in
> ‘Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance (PECO) 2008’.
>
> The committee which met here at the National Assembly Secretariat
> endorsed the dissent note by Anusha Rehman Khan and Marvi Memon on the
> ordinance.
>
> Ms Rehman told the NA body that the PECO in its current form violated
> the fundamental rights of the people.
>
> She said the cyber law had wide ranging, unchecked investigatory
> powers, search and seizure of personal and corporate data, adding that
> it could take years to prove the offence.
>
> She said under the current law search and seizure could take place
> anytime and anywhere on any number of IT systems.
>
> The legislator said an accused had no legal guarantees that the
> computers taken into custody would not be implanted with false
> evidence or the data in computers would not be lost or damaged.
>
> Regarding Article 10, the first provision to the Section 25 of PECO,
> she told the body that the government could devise the procedure for
> investigation and prosecution of offences under the Cyber Law 2008.
>
> Ms Rehman pointed out that the PECO created fictional category of
> additional ‘electronic offences’ that would lead effectively to double
> punishment for the same offences like forgery, cheating, causing
> damage to an IT system. Thus, a person could be charged both under
> relevant sections and under the PECO.
>
> The ordinance also did not provide any protection to the property
> rights, she said, adding that no principles for compensations for such
> property loss were stated in the law.
>
> Ms Rehman said the sophisticated IT equipment and technical training
> programmes were required for investigation agencies.  “A law is only
> required to cover two to three offences that are not covered elsewhere
> e.g. spamming, spoofing,” she added.
>
> --
>
> Regards.
> --------------------------
> Fouad Bajwa
> @skBajwa
> Answering all your technology questions
> http://www.askbajwa.com
> http://twitter.com/fouadbajwa
> ____________________________________________________________
> You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
>      governance at lists.cpsr.org
> To be removed from the list, send any message to:
>      governance-unsubscribe at lists.cpsr.org
>
> For all list information and functions, see:
>      http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance
>

-- 

Regards.
--------------------------
Fouad Bajwa
@skBajwa
Answering all your technology questions
http://www.askbajwa.com
http://twitter.com/fouadbajwa
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.cpsr.org
To be removed from the list, send any message to:
     governance-unsubscribe at lists.cpsr.org

For all list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance