PTA Blocked 941000 Websites:
Pakistan Telecom Authority is trying hard to curb the menace of the malpractices associated with the internet. They are active enough to take strict actions against those who are ruining the social network. In the recent official statement, the authority stated that in a recent action the authority has blocked 941,000 websites. The reason behind this step is the objectionable content added to the websites.
The details of the websites that have been blocked include sites of different types. According to the authority, the blocked sites include:
- 830,000 pornographic websites
- 50,000 websites for hosting anti-judiciary content
- 50,000 web-pages for blasphemous content
- 11000 websites for anti-state content
The authority was given the authority under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) Section 37. Under this section, the PTA has the right to block any site that is not able to meet the Social and Religious Standards and can cause a disturbance in the social set up.
It is not for the first time that the PTA has taken this step. Several websites that were popular among the masses in the past were blocked after they were found among the controversial ones. The PTA took serious action against these and blocked them at once. The things happened back in May this year. The initial orders were given by the Supreme Court a few years back in which they ordered the authority to stop the services of the porn websites. Back in the year 2018, the authority took serious steps and prevented the audience from accessing the immoral content on 0.4 million porn websites.
The process of blocking websites is not an easy one. It takes days to monitor the working of the monitors. There is a specialized web portal that takes care of the web portal that is suspicious. 30 government departments will look into the websites and will send in their recommendations. The regulatory authority will consider all these complaints and then take the best possible action. It is essential that they do all this in the powers assigned to them.
The people of Pakistan are an equal participant in this process. If people feel uncomfortable with some website they can launch a complaint individually or collectively. They can submit their complaint via the email of the authority that is [email protected]. There are operators always ready to address these complaints immediately. The team also includes the Telecom Operators who are assigned the task of keeping a close check on the wrong doings of the reported websites. They immediately report the offensive content published on the website.
