In January 2013, Cyber Steward partner Bytes for All (B4A) submitted a petition to the Lahore High Court to challenge Internet censorship in the country. This case, in collaboration with the Media Legal Defense Initiative, a non-governmental organisation which helps journalists and independent media outlets around the world defend their rights, highlighted the ongoing censorship of YouTube in Pakistan. The popular video-sharing site has been blocked since 2012 since YouTube refused to remove the controversial anti-Islamic “Innocence of Muslims” video.
After months of deliberations, the Lahore High Court has decided to move the case to a larger bench presided by three or five judges, a move B4A sees as indicating how serious the stakes of the petition are, as cases presided by a full bench of judges “carry greater weight in terms of judgment.” B4A pledges to pursue the case as a constitutional issue and hopes for the speedy end to the blocking of YouTube in Pakistan. Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervaiz Rashid stated recently that the government is not interested in prolonging the YouTube ban and that Pakistanis “will hear good news soon.” Rashid then clarified that the ban will be overturned only after the installation of filters to block blasphemous and other objectionable content online. Last year, the Pakistani Ministry of Information Technology called for bids on a national URL filtering system. Research by the Citizen Lab found that filtering products produced by Netsweeper, a Canadian company, have been installed on the networks of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), the country’s largest telecommunications corporation.
B4A is also initiating a contempt charge against the government for not appearing at court in regards to the ongoing FinFisher petition. The court ordered the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the country’s telecommunications regulatory agency, to investigate FinFisher’s presence in Pakistan. The petition also asks for accountability from other corporate and government entities, including the Federation of Pakistan, through the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Information Technology, and the Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited (PTCL).FinFisher, a product advertised as “governmental IT intrusion” software, is marketed and sold to law enforcement and intelligence agencies by the UK-based Gamma Group. Research conducted by the Citizen Lab on the presence of FinFisher found the software present in 36 countries across the globe, including Pakistan.