Parlimentarians fail to understand the Cyber Crime Phenomena

The securitization of cyberspace is a transformation of the domain into a matter of national security and perhaps one of the most important forces shaping today’s global communications. Using war on terrorism and national action plan as a pretext the ruling party in Pakistan has passed the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill 2015 in the National Assembly during presence of handful of parliamentarians. The bill if also passed in Senate will be detrimental for the growth and development of the internet in the country. Given the important role internet is set to play for economic development in Pakistan it is horrific to see the mannerism in which the despotic bill was passed. The Nazis destroyed the independence of the press by passing series of draconian laws and it seems Parliamentarians are exactly imitating the same with the freedom of the internet by passing of this bill.

As cyberspace infiltrates all aspects of our society, economics and politics it was hoped that the government will be more responsible with the drafting of the bill as it not only affects millions of internet users in the country but also put in risks the digital rights of next generation tech users with inadequate protections for privacy and basic human rights. The bill has been engineered with the pretext of protecting national security but it seems to be conscripted to benefit the aristocracy much more than the general populace. 

The bill on which I have spoken and written a lot before as well is still extremely vague in its definitions despite claims of the Minister and fails to understand the cybercrime phenomena that requires a multistakeholder approach to tackle complex technical and legal issues transcending our national territorial jurisdictions. Furthermore, most sections of the bill aims to criminalize innovation and development a critical part responsible for the success of the very internet we know today. Pakistan requires talent that can engineer a next Google, Facebook or create applications for encryption and security to protect our national assets and become less dependent on foreign technologies but this bill aims to criminalize all these efforts.

The globalization of internet is shifting economic developments in two important directions. First, given the aging population and near-saturated market penetration in the advanced economies, most of the expansion of the internet related market will take place in developing countries like Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. Secondly, the spread of internet is expected to increase the share of developing countries in the internet economy presenting a historic opportunity for the young and poor in Pakistan to improve their economic condition but with the bill instead of aiming to promote the use of technologies is more inclined towards discouraging it’s use.

Overregulation of internet with the Cybercrime bill might deprive users of major benefits the information economy brings. To fully reap the benefits of a modern, rapidly changing economy, Pakistan need to better prepare their citizens for the demands of a changing information economy, and they need to adjust laws and social protection systems to ease the transition from labor market to information one.

It appears that parliamentarians have failed to understand the nature of cybercrime phenomena and seems to be determined to address it using the narrow hole of national security without considering its impact on innovation and long term economic development.