VPNs Banned in Pakistan
ISPs in Pakistan will have to tell the authorities if customers use virtual private networks, says the Guardian.
“A legal notice sent to all internet providers (ISPs) by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority, seen by the Guardian, orders the ISPs to inform authorities if any of their customers are using virtual private networks (VPNs) to browse the web, it says, going on: “Virtual private networks allow internet users to connect to the web undetected, meaning that they can access banned websites and send emails without fear of government interception,” it says.
Pakistan’s 20 million internet users have previously been banned from popular social networks, such as Facebook, because of blasphemous material about the prophet Muhammad. All internet traffic in the country travels through the Pakistan Internet Exchange, which can be intercepted by the military and civil intelligence agencies. The move “echoes a crackdown against encrypted communications across the border in India and in China”, the story says.
August 31st, 2011 at 6:39 pm
So.. ummm… I guess RIM did give them the keys to read encrypted Email in order to be able to stay in the market place (as with all the others).
September 1st, 2011 at 4:27 pm
RIM have bent over backwards and taken it in the arse repeatedly now from government after government. Anyone who asks them nicely these days it seems can have the keys to their kingdom.
This ban on encryption is a ban on free enterprise, free speech, common sense, privacy, and international human rights.
If Pakistan is a signatory of the international declaration of human rights it is in fact null, void, and illegal.
Please folks, remember that acts and statutes are NOT law.
December 11th, 2011 at 11:22 pm
Funny. Allow Internet service and make it illegal for anyone to use it. I’m guessing that will work out perfectly.