Facebook management has been suggested to connect opening of an account on the social media website with mobile phone number to tackle not only fake accounts and security issues but it will also help to stop blasphemous contents.
"Mobile phone numbers are biometrically verified in Pakistan. Currently Facebook account is being opened through an e-mail and an easy way," said Secretary IT Rizwan Bashir, adding that in such a way Facebook will have to send a message on mobile and after verification account would be opened. This he stated while briefing the National Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication which met with Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar in the chair here on Tuesday.
Briefing the committee Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Syed Ismail Shah said that 12,977 blasphemous URLs have been blocked so far. Further the PTA received more than 6,000 complaints online which were reviewed, adding that 350 of them had been blocked for containing blasphemous contents.
The PTA has established a web analysis cell where 25 personnel are working solely on identifying unlawful contents on internet including the blasphemous material. Facebook has also designated focal person to coordinate with the PTA for prompt action against the reported material. Facebook reiterated their commitment towards removal/blocking of the blasphemous and objectionable contents and assured that it will improve the cooperation and response time. Furthermore, 137 blasphemous links have been blocked by Facebook management for viewer ship in Pakistan since February 2017.
Facebook Inc was also asked to help law enforcement agencies (LEAs) in Pakistan by providing them with the requisite data that they had asked for. Facebook reiterated its commitment towards removal/blocking of the blasphemous and objectionable content and assured that they will continue to respect the local laws. Regarding the help extended to LEAs, they mentioned that they received around 1,000 requests in 2016 from Pakistan and about 70 percent of them have been complied with and that they will continue to support such requests.
The committee expressed displeasure over the absence of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials in the meeting and decided to write to secretary interior in this regard. The representative from Universal Services Fund (USF) gave a detailed briefing about ongoing and future projects of Universal Service Fund (USF) as well as their completion date and fund utilisation up to June 30, 2018. The officials explained the year-wise receipt and expenditure position as of June 30, 2017 was approximately Rs 36.877 billion.
The USF official also briefed about the programmes to utilise the fund for its intended purpose. In this regards they have been designed the programmes to cater for the needs of un-served and underserved segment of population across Pakistan. The USF also intends to provide coverage to the un-served areas in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). Furthermore, the USF is also gathering data from telecom operators regarding their existing coverage in the country as well as design projects to upgrade existing infrastructure to provide 3G services.
The USF officials informed the committee that Rs 15 billion have been earmarked for the financial year 2017-18 out of which Rs 10 billion would be spent in FATA. The USF official said that they are working to promote e-commerce through the development of e-commerce portal to empower women in the un-served and underserved areas of the country. They would be able to put their items and get response from the customers, he added. However, when committee members raised question about payment, the USF official said that they are still facing issues in it.
When MNA Ali Raza Abidi asked about the entry of PayPal into Pakistan, the Ministry of IT officials said, "PayPal is not coming to Pakistan but the ministry is working on it."