Cyber stalking: Pakistan's digital peril

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 30 January 2014 |  Fakiha Hassan Rizvi

Cyber stalking is a significant issue in Pakistan, with many victims unaware of how to report it. The lack of awareness and commitment to enforce existing laws hampers protection efforts.

Summary

It is laudable that Pakistan is keeping pace with the cyber world. In the recent past (year 2013), Pakistan crossed 10 million Facebook users (half of them between the ages of 18-24). Of these users, 2.8 million log in to Facebook via mobile phone.

Moreover, Pakistan became the 7th most popular country on the world's largest social networking website. There is also a large amount of fake accounts contributing to the pool of Facebook users and cyber stalkers are among them as well.

What an irksome feeling it is when we get to know that a stranger in the cyber world is misusing or manipulating the content that we shared through the Internet? Equally embarrassing is the situation when people start knowing you for what you aren't.

Cyber stalking is the digital equivalent of verbal onslaught, mudslinging and the misuse of personal information to harass or defame real world individuals, deliberately. The recent and prominent examples in Pakistan are that of cricketer Saeed Ajmal and the Army Chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif. Both of them have fake fan pages and Facebook accounts, which are being followed by a good number of Internet users.

A 13-year-old boy was abducted through Facebook in May 2013. The teenager was the son of a senior Customs official. He was kidnapped and kept in a town outside Karachi, while his family received calls demanding $508,000 in ransom.

It is an abysmal fact that an upward trajectory of cyber crimes is flourishing in Pakistan. There is a diversified presence of cyber crimes in the country, these include; cyber pornography, sale of illegal articles, online gambling, intellectual property crimes, email spoofing, cyber stalking, forgery, unauthorized access to computer systems/networks, theft of information contained in electronic form, virus attacks, Trojan attacks, Internet time theft, password cracking and financial cyber crimes (hacking of ATM card numbers and bank accounts).

In 2010, more than 312 cases were reported in different categories of cyber crimes in Pakistan and according to the latest statistics “cyber stalking” tops the list.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) laments that most of the victims don't know where to report and another segment doesn't want to in order to avoid humiliation (especially in the case of girls). Therefore, there are a substantial number of cases that go unreported and unnoticed. The FIA also complains of “lack of awareness” on part of the Internet users and the absence of concrete laws relevant to “cyber stalking”.

The issue of legislation and promulgation of cyber laws in Pakistan is as new as the penetration of Internet in the country. Pakistan passed its first “IT crimes bill” in 2007 under the “Pakistan's Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance”, section 13 (1) of the act deals with “cyber stalking”. This part is applicable to anyone who acts “with the intent to coerce, intimidate, or harass any person using computer, computer network, Internet, network site, electronic mail or any other similar means of communication to: (a) communicate obscene, vulgar, profane, lewd, lascivious , or indecent language, picture or image; (b) make any suggestion or proposal of an obscene nature; (c)threaten any illegal or immoral act; (d) take or distribute pictures or photographs of any person without his consent or knowledge; (e) display or distribute information in a manner that substantially increases the risk of harm or violence to any other person."

Section 13(2) stipulates that anyone convicted of cyber stalking shall be punished “with imprisonment of up to seven years, or with a fine of up to three hundred thousand rupees, or both. Moreover, if the victim of the cyber stalking is a minor, the term of imprisonment can be extended to 10 years, or a fine added of not less than one hundred thousand rupees, or both”. This act was lapsed in 2009 and the old Electronics Transaction Ordinance (ETO) was enacted in 2002. This regulation was not written specifically to address cyber crimes. The government has established the National Response Centre for Cyber Crimes (NRCC) under the Federal Investigation Agency to address cyber crime victims’ complaints.

A three-pronged strategy is required to counter the menace of cyber stalking in Pakistan. On part of the civil society, academic institutions, parents and teachers should educate their children about the necessary precautions that should be taken while using the Internet. IT experts and those who are seasoned in the field of Internet governance can form a pressure group to start a mass campaign against cyber stalking and cyber crimes. The government, which is already known for its notorious measures, muzzling the Internet (like blocking YouTube), should regulate and implement strict laws. The fact that Internet censorship remains unhampered, while cyber stalkers are free to continue their sinister motives is itself worrisome for a nation that is witnessing an accelerated rate of Internet penetration and usage.

(The writer is a student of Communication Studies at University of the Punjab and blogs at www.fakihahassanrizvi.wordpress.com. She Tweets at @Fakiha_Rizvi )