11.06.2013 Surveillance state
The idea of a state constantly watching over the shoulder and keeping an eye on what we say and do, had seemed Orwellian. But we learn from a report in the UK’s Guardian newspaper that such a time may be with us now.
According to the report, the US’s giant National Security Agency (NSA), established amidst the hysteria which followed the 9/11 attacks, collected the second highest volume of intelligence data from Pakistan in March this year, compared with countries around the world. In that month alone, 13.5 billion items of data were collected from Pakistan, with Iran topping the list with 14 billion. Jordan and Egypt followed closely behind. In reality, this means, of course, that through the use of technology, every email, Facebook, Skype or other interaction any of us has over the electronic media can be monitored in Washington. This, of course, is a blatant violation of privacy. The legal position is questionable — President Barack Obama has said the collection of data in this fashion is not unlawful but at least one US senator, Republican Rand Paul, has said that he may mount a legal challenge in the Supreme Court on it. Furthermore, Democrat Senator Shaun Udall has publicly said that the Obama Administration needed to be more transparent.
There are other broader questions here. The fact is that there is no clear unanimity on the US government spying on even its own citizens in such a manner, let alone the rest of the world. Furthermore, the fact remains that all the countries barring Iran, on whose computer networks the NSA engaged in this major snooping — Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt and India — happen to be allies of Washington. Of course, even the closest of allies at times spy on each other and that should come as no surprise but the scale of the NSA spying seems to be massive: in the case of Pakistan, the collection seems to be over 5,200 data items per second!
The matter is a serious one; it cannot be ignored and now that the facts are before us, at the very least, one would like an official response from the government.
YouTube ban
A renewed debate on the YouTube ban has been heating up as the Nawaz Sharif government settles in, with hopes raised that the new administration would work to restore the video-sharing website as a matter of priority. Nine months have passed since authorities in Pakistan slapped a ban on YouTube for hosting a blasphemous video. While the previous PPP-led government and the caretakers attempted to remove the ban, they quickly backtracked in the face of a backlash from the right-wing lobby. The ban was even lifted very briefly last December, but then the government back-pedalled. In removing the ban, the government had ignored a policy advice from an inter-ministerial committee calling for continuing with the ban on the website until it agreed to remove the video voluntarily or until the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority found a way to block it — a job it has failed to do till date.
Google, the parent company of YouTube, had rejected requests from the previous government to remove the objectionable material. Still, this should not discourage the new government from pursuing the matter with perseverance and talking to the internet giant for a reversal of its decision. At the same time, the government should consider that a blanket ban on the website is in no one’s interest. It only goes to hurt the users — whether they accessed the website for entertainment, scholastic purposes or research. The example of Bangladesh can be thrown in for good measure, which recently announced lifting of a similar ban.
The new administration must find ways to undo the ban. At any rate, censorship-dodgers would always find ways to skirt regulatory controls. That, indeed, is the case with smart, internet-savvy young people, who are known to be accessing the website anyway. This alone shows that the people consider the ban to be unjustified and, therefore, the government, being the representative of the people, must lift the ban.