Almost every country — from USA to Singapore and from Sweden to South Africa and beyond – filter internet based on their needs and laws.
Some countries block child pornography while others block explicit content or the websites hurting the national agendas of respective countries.
Pakistan does the filtering too. And this filtration (process) is heavily flawed.
Here is the process of blocking a website:
Here are the flaws:
In other words, IMC or Inter-Ministerial Committee is a ghost department (for majority of Pakistanis) that can decide the fate of a website without hearing the viewpoint of website-owner.
Due to such flaws anyone (with powers of course) can go ahead and get a website blocked. Here is an example of how Farooq Awan, then PTA Chairman, had managed to block two websites that had bashed him.
Similarly, some videos against former MD of PTV were blocked in the country without due-evaluation by IMC. YouTube was blocked in the country on orders of Prime Minister, instead of IMC.
Even today a website, i.e. ptclworkers.com is blocked without any apparent reason and there’s no way for the website owner to get it unblocked.
Blocking child pornography won’t bring you criticism, or blocking a website that circulates unconsented pictures or videos of (local) girls will not bring you any bad press. Its the process, method and flawed approach that raises question.
All Government needs to do is to simply devise the rules for internet content as per laws of Pakistan. Publish a list of websites that are blocked and the reasons that are associated with the blockade. Plus a tribunal/committee that should accept reconsideration appeals against blocked website. This committee should review the website again and see if the its still violating the rules or not.
Do it once and for good.
P.S. Following rules and good intent make things easy, or it will take you years just to devise the rules.