More than 200 URLs blocked in Pakistan in random tests relating 22 internet service providers (ISPs) on the word of a research study by Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) and Bytes for All Pakistan.
The research report stated and confirmed detection of 210 URLs blocked via 22 ISPs data from 2014 to 2017.
HTTP Invalid Request Line and header field manipulation and Vanilla Tor were that confirmed finding of blocked URLs.
The research study was part of internet censorship in Pakistan and more than 200 other countries around the world. OONI and Bytes for All Pakistan collaborated to scrutinize internet censorship through collection and analysis of network measurements.
“Obvious block pages for many of these URLs were seen while others were blocked with DNS interfering,” said the report.
Further in report stated that many of blocked URLs considered profane in Pakistan Penal Code for hosting content linked to controversial ‘Draw [Prophet] Muhammad Day’ campaign. Geopolitical power dynamics give the impression to be armor-plated by blocking of sites run by cultural minority groups.
According to one of the report’s authors, in the country since 2014. “In Pakistan, situation has got worse since January 2017 after the vanishing of bloggers,” Haroon Baloch, highlighted political dissent in his report.
Mr. Baloch said that objectionable page or link blockage should directly report to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on their website so that PTA could approach ISPs to block a page directly or by interfering DNS.
Report appealed that local ISPs applying for “smart filters”, blocking access to specific web pages introduced on unencrypted HTTP version of sites, instead of blocking access to whole domains. It said about overall findings that ISPs blocking the HTTP version of sites, hypothetically permitting censorship circumvention over HTTPS for sites encrypted HTTPS connections.
“On a positive note, common communications apps, like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, were accessible in testing period. Tor network helps users to browse web anonymously, was typically accessible,” report added.
Nighat Dad of the Digital Rights Foundation state “The filtration innovation has been there for some time in Pakistan and I recall in 2011 or 2012 there was a report on account of Pakistan’s internet exchange gateway and they learned about the filtration strategy and how to block sites. It is not unexpected that 210 URLs were blocked.
“I’m certain on the off chance that test all accessible in country a few hundred URLs blocked.”
Discussing restriction and censorship, Ms. Dad asserted that counteractive action of electronic crimes act had made it less demanding to ban or censor pages and sites. “It was not substantial to censor or ban content under the steady gaze of the law. On off chance that you read the conditions of the law, they unmistakably express that anything that damages national security, military or religion can be edited,” she stated, including that the way toward blocking or censoring content was not straightforward.