By KUNA
Paris : Press freedom organization, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), on Wednesday expressed concern about a new law in Pakistan governing press activity, including the use of photos and video on blogs.
The new law “will pose serious obstacles” to “citizen journalism,” the French organization said, calling on Pakistani authorities to “clarify the definition of some of its provisions”.
“This law prevents any blogger from posting photos or video showing persons who have not given their consent,” the press freedom organization said. “Pakistan has understood its right to give itself a law for fighting cyber-crime, but it is vital that this law should not obstruct freedom of information”.
Reporters Without Borders added: “We urge the government to clarify the content of some of the provisions that we think are dangerous. With just one month to go to legislative elections, some of the articles of this law look like censorship”.
The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act will be submitted to the new parliament in April, after it has been elected.
Reporters Without Borders said it has written to Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunications Awais Laghari asking him to “provide guarantees as regards respect for freedom of information”.
The law provides for the death penalty for anyone causing the death of another person by means of email messages. A Federal Investigation Agency representative in Islamabad tried to justify the law by referring to Daniel Pearls murder and describing the exchange of emails between the kidnappers as a “cyber-crime,” RSF said.
Pearl was a Washington Post reporter kidnapped several years ago in Pakistan and later executed by radicals.
Aside from the creation of an information and communication technologies tribunal, the press body said two articles suggest that this law will add to the censorship measures already applied in Pakistan, particularly the crime of taking or distributing pictures without consent and the obligation on the provision of data to investigating authorities regarding ones internet traffic during a period of 90 days.
Reporters Without Borders pointed out that the 2001 Budapest Convention on Cyber-crime reaffirms “the right of everyone to hold opinions without interference, as well as the right to freedom of expression, including the freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, and the rights concerning the respect for privacy”.
One month before legislative elections, the Pakistani government is effecting a very significant reinforcement of its control over the dissemination of news and information, the French organization said.
A Reporters Without Borders study released on 9 January identified five major problems for the media in the run-up to the elections, including ordinances restricting press freedom which were adopted last November.