Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that 200,000 Internet links containing obscene materials, 84,000 websites containing objectionable contents were blocked whereas a list of approximately 400,000 obscene websites have been circulated to all Internet Services Providers (ISP's) in the country.
The PTA has submitted report in the court, in pursuance of the Supreme Court' earlier directives about actions taken regarding obscene and objectionable materials in media and derogatory content in Youtube. Seeking more time in the matter, the PTA officials said that technically 100 blocking of websites containing offensive material was not possible on the pretext that numerous proxy sites were being built every single day.
The report disclosed that lots of new websites were also being made and uploaded on a daily basis adding that Virtual Private Networks (VPN) and proxies were also used to access these sites, despite blocking. It added that websites containing offensive material would be analysed that are reported through PTA's helpline, toll free number, Fax, Post/web form and dedicated e-mail as per law.
It further said in order to search the internet for objectionable material, a dedicated cell has been established in the PTA since 2012, adding that a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been devised to carry out the blocking of URLs in an effective manner.
As per the said SOP, complaints of individuals and stakeholders (government departments) requiring blocking /regulating Internet Web Sites and Web Content particularly relating to pornographic and blasphemous are received in PTA through e-portal, e-mail and other media.
That PTA is in a process of establishment of Internet Exchange Point (IXP) that will facilitate the local internet traffic to remain local as well as it will help in the development of local contents with good users experience. PTA in consultation with stakeholders will continue to encourage the development of meaningful local contents over the internet for Pakistani users, the report said.
It said that PTA is in the process of consultation with PTCL and Transworld Associates (TWA), which are the two major cable landing operators in Pakistan, and other ISPs for managing the deployment of suitable system and equipment for effective blocking of the obscene websites.
It also said PTA is also exploring different Parental control software in consultation with stakeholders which shall be made available on PTA's website so that it could be downloaded by users, the report said. That PTA is working on involving all stakeholders at various levels ie, International Bandwidth services providers, Internet Service Providers, educational institutions through Higher Education Commission and general public for enhancing awareness of internet users and taking joint steps to tackle the issue of blocking of obscene material available on the internet.