After the Pakistani government officially admitted that it had installed a ‘web management system’, concerns are escalating that a surveillance society is becoming entrenched in the South Asian nation … writes Dr Sakariya Kareem
After months of speculation about the installation of a so-called ‘firewall’ that could be leading to internet disruptions, Pakistan’s Information Technology (IT) minister finally confirmed last week that the country’s federal government was indeed upgrading its ‘web management system’ to cope with cyber security threats, local media reports said.
According to Pakistan’s leading English daily Dawn, despite the rather ambiguous terminology used by Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja, this was the first time an official had acknowledged the government’s actions, which have been blamed for everything from slow browsing speeds, the arbitrary blocking of social media platforms to WhatsApp connectivity issues on mobile data.
So far, official stakeholders — Fatima Khawaja’s ministry and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) — had either been feigning ignorance in response to public outcry and media queries, or claiming that the problems were because of telecom and internet service providers, or even Meta — an American technology conglomerate that owns popular social networking platforms like Facebook and Instagram, and instant messaging service Whatsapp.
Downdetector, an online platform that provides real-time information about internet disruptions, received an unusually high number of complaints about disruptions in WhatsApp, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram last week, while the services of ISPs, including PTCL, Zong and Nayatel were also affected.
Last Thursday (August 15), while talking to reporters after a meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication, IT minister Fatima said the Pakistani government had sought a report from PTA and other institutions over the internet disruption.
“The internet should never be slow. We have even been talking about bringing 5G technology to Pakistan. There is no doubt about that, and conversations about higher internet speed are underway,” she told the media.
When Fatima was asked about the ‘firewall’ — a blanket term used by the public to describe the causes of internet disruption in the absence of any official explanation — she said the issue had been “blown out of proportion”, reports the Dawn.
Calling the process “a routine exercise” across the globe to enhance internet security, without giving any detail to substantiate her claims about which other countries have deployed this system, the minister said, “The government has been operating a web-management system. The system is now being upgraded.”
“It is the right of the government to take measures to protect its interests given the cyber security attacks that Pakistan is facing,” she added.
After the Pakistani government officially admitted that it had installed a ‘web management system’, concerns are escalating that a surveillance society is becoming entrenched in the South Asian nation.
According to an article by Huma Yusuf — a Pakistani columnist, and political and integrity risk analyst — published in Dawn on Sunday (August 19), anxieties about surveillance have been mounting globally and are largely linked to ‘surveillance capitalism’, which means the commodification of personal data, particularly by Big Tech.
There is a growing focus on the extent to which individuals are aware of what personal data they are surrendering, to whom, and why, as per the article.
The Pakistani columnist noted in the article that concerns about surveillance capitalism mounted when it became clear that customer data collection was enabling not only targeted advertising and improved user experience but also behavioural manipulation.
The regulation of Big Tech and its use of personal data will soon be a key human rights battle, she added.
In this context, old-fashioned state surveillance — in the sense of the state collecting information about its citizens — seems passé, but it continues to be a major concern globally, and certainly in Pakistan, according to the article.
The columnist noted that increasing attention is paid to the links between capitalist and state surveillance, in the sense of public understanding that private sector players, such as internet service providers or social media platforms, are required to surrender customer data when the state comes calling.
But what is less considered is the impact of surveillance becoming normalised — the de facto approach to political and social interaction, the columnist wrote in the article, adding that when power becomes synonymous with the ability to surveil the activities of others — shame them, report them, and so ultimately control them — then it will contaminate society.
Those who seek status and control will increasingly use surveillance as a tool to shape public behaviour to their own ends, the article read.
Meanwhile, self-censorship, the survival tactic of Pakistani media, will become the default mode of all citizens, according to the columnist.
Pakistan has already seen the toxic effect of this kind of social surveillance through the misuse of the blasphemy laws, the article added.
Huma Yusuf, in her column, highlighted that now on the precipice where social control and abuse previously linked to state monitoring of ‘anti-establishment’ activities is becoming more pervasive.
“We are moving from the realm of state and capitalist surveillance to one of social surveillance, one in which citizens, taking a cue from the state itself, are willing to police each other’s clothing, artistic output and sense of humour,” the article read.
“The powers that be may be pleased by this ripple effect. But they should tread with caution as no good comes of surveillance states,” it added. “The ultimate problem with surveillance is that its parameters are necessarily non-transparent and ever-shifting, meaning everyone is vulnerable.”
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