KARACHI: Pakistan has moved to create a nation-wide internet monitoring system by hiring the services of a company based in Canada, according to a report published by New York-based publication Coda Story.
But fears that the mechanism may allow state authorities to trample upon both citizens’ privacy and freedom of speech are not the only thing the move has triggered. The fact that the system is being developed by a US-based firm has also raised concerns as to whether it will expose the country to security risks from beyond its borders.
The report stated that the contract worth $18.5 million, was signed between Pakistan firm Inbox Business Technologies Ltd, which is acting as a local partner for Sandvine and Pakistan Telecommunication Company for “procurement of hardware, software and provision of related services for web monitoring system.”
It further said that the ‘web monitoring system’ will use Deep Packet Inspection (DPI), According to Wired, DPI is a type of data processing that looks in detail at the contents of the data being sent, and re-routes it accordingly. It can be used for making sure that a feed of data is supplying the content in the right format, or is free of viruses. Or it can be used for eavesdropping and censorship.
The tender invited bids for system “at national level, for identifying and blocking access to any on-line content classified as unlawful under Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016”.
