Monday, July 11, 2016

Pakistan sees sharp spike in Facebook-related complaints


"We have only one law -- Electronic Crime Ordinance which hardly covers any crime in the cyberworld -- thus we are having problems in getting suspects convicted."

Times of Ahmad | News Watch | UK Desk
Source/Credit: The Times of India
By PTI | July 11, 2016

LAHORE: Pakistan has seen a 50% spike in Facebook related complaints with most of the victims being women, authorities said today.

The Federal investigation Agency (FIA) said there has been a phenomenal increase in cybercrime complaints and without a "relevant law" it is facing problems to deal with them.

"In Punjab alone we received 2,100 Facebook-related complaints such as fake ID, uploading of obscene pictures, hacking of the account and threatening messages last year. We have received more than 1,600 complaints by mid of this year. Same is the situation in other stations as well," FIA Lahore Cyber Crime Wing head Shahid Hasan said.

He said most of the complaints are from women whose ID's were either hacked or obscene pictures were loaded from their fake IDs.


"We have only one law -- Electronic Crime Ordinance which hardly covers any crime in the cyberworld -- thus we are having problems in getting suspects convicted," he said.

Hasan further said Pakistan desperately needs cybercrime law to deal with crimes in the cyber world.
The FIA said it was awaiting the passage of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill 2015, commonly known as cybercrime bill, from the Senate to deal with cybercrimes.

"The new law will help it check ever-rising cybercrime such as cyberstalking, fake and stolen identities on Facebook, Twitter and other social media links," he said.

The proposed cybercrime bill criminalises activities such as sending text messages without the receiver's consent or criticising government actions on social media with heavy fines and long-term imprisonment.

Online criticism of religion, the country, its courts, and the armed forces are among subjects which could invoke official intervention under the bill.

The civil society and some bloggers, however, were strongly opposing the cybercrime bill as an attempt to curb freedom of expression. They say the bill could be widely misused.
Hasan, however, rejected the criticism.

"Laws about blasphemy to theft are being misused in the country. But the new cybercrime law involves digital evidence to prove any offence. Therefore, the chances to use it against anyone to settle some score are minimal. There are at least seven digital footprints available for cross verification," he said.

The cyber crime bill is currently pending with the Senate.



Read original post here: Pakistan sees sharp spike in Facebook-related complaints


This content-post is archived for backup and to keep archived records of any news Islam Ahmadiyya. The views expressed by the author and source of this news archive do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of Times of Ahmad. Times of Ahmad is not an organ of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, nor in any way associated with any of the community's official websites.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for your comments. Any comments irrelevant to the post's subject matter, containing abuses, and/or vulgar language will not be approved.

Top read stories during last 7 days

Disclaimer!

THE TIMES OF AHMAD is NOT an organ of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, nor in any way associated with any of the community's official websites. Times of Ahmad is an independently run and privately managed news / contents archival website; and does not claim to speak for or represent the official views of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. The Times of Ahmad assumes full responsibility for the contents of its web pages. The views expressed by the authors and sources of the news archives do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Times of Ahmad. All rights associated with any contents archived / stored on this website remain the property of the original owners.