Potential victims of the E-Crime Ordinance?

I have received a few calls in the last couple of days asking whether Internet users in Pakistan and elsewhere can lodge an FIR against PTCL and PCCW for spamming, spoofing, system damage, malicious code and interruption of business – a la the new E-Crime Ordinance. Hmmmm … good question! What do you think guys and gals?

BTW I wonder how many of you watched Breakfast at Dawn on Dawn News this morning. Faisal and Ayeshah discussed the YouTube blockage and its implications with Dr. Umar Saif of LUMS. Some of the things that were discussed included the futility of any government blocking any website because there are always ways around getting to content if one really wants to.

Another point that came across was that the content isn’t being pushed onto people. You have to go looking for it so if it is something that you don’t like, or something that offends your religious, ethical or moral sensibilities, don’t go looking for it. After all there is a lot of stuff out there that is available in other forms that different sets of people may not approve of – books, movies, photos, art, audio tapes, conversation – don’t go view it, don’t buy it, don’t look for it. Then your sensibilities will not be offended.

What next? If a government doesn’t like someone’s face, should it be banned from public view too? We live in a world that is full of people with a variety of interests and beliefs. We don’t have to like everything that is out there but who are we to tell people what they can or cannot put up? Who are we to censor what is spoken or written about or shown? The more important question is “Who is the WE and what qualifies THEM to decide what our sensibilities are and what we should or should not watch or read?”