Alleged cyber criminals: FIA fails to get data from US in the absence of MLAT

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is facing numerous hardships in obtaining data of alleged cyber criminals from the US government as the federal government has yet to sign a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) even after a lapse of over 10 years through which the agency could exchange data of such persons.
Talking to Business Recorder here on Thursday, Lahore FIA Deputy Director Cyber crime Circle, Syed Shahid Hassan said the agency is facing problems in getting "required" data of criminals involved in cyber crimes from the US government and lack of an official treaty is also hampering the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016.
"Despite repeated requests, the federal government had not taken any concrete measures to resolve this long-standing issue even after the PECA 2016," he said, adding it is a highly sensitive and important issue which should be resolved on priority basis. He also highlighted the background of the agency, saying the cyber crime wing of the FIA was established in 2008 to hunt down criminals across the country.
"Nevertheless, after a period of around 10 years, the federal government is yet to officially sign a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) between the two countries through which we would be able to obtain data of such criminals," he revealed. Responding to a query, he said as the main servers of many social media websites, including Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and others, are based in the United States, the agency is facing many obstacles while probing the email and social media accounts of the alleged criminals.
To another query, he said although they used to work under extradition with many countries, including the United States, but there is still a need to sing an official treaty with other states without compromising their national security. The Deputy Director said the Ministry of Law, Interior and Foreign Affairs should play their active role in addressing this serious issue as they are not empowered to take up this matter.
He said the federal government should initiate a dialogue over this issue with the US attaché and can be approached by the will of officials concerned. "Without compromising their national security, we just want from the US government to share data of cyber criminals committing unlawful acts in Pakistan by using social media services," the deputy director demanded. He further added that the group of eight countries, popularly known as G8 countries, is exchanging their "information" through the mutual legal assistance. He said Pakistan can be a member of G8 countries as many countries had joined this group later.