It seems many Pakistanis have been enjoying forwarding text messages poking fun at President Asif Zardari because the backlash against the Cyber Crime Act (CCA) has focused largely on the FIA’s intention to crack down on indecent SMS.
But a more interesting problem — both for the authorities and the public — is emerging online thanks to the act. Once again, an official campaign threatens to undermine civil liberties while failing to achieve anything productive.
The CCA — under which people who send ‘ill-motivated’ texts and emails can face up to 14 years in prison — also claims to target organisations that have been using the Internet to disseminate propaganda and rally against Pakistan’s security forces. Many in the blogosphere interpreted this to mean that FIA would target extremist and terrorist websites, an effort that would be consistent with the broader fight against militant groups in the northwest.
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