Pakistan wants to ban private individuals from using VPN services. From December, only those works will be done which are used by the companies. Pakistani newspaper Dawn has given this news quoting the responsible telecom authority PTA. It had previously announced that from November 30, only commercial VPN software used in business would be allowed. Non-commercial offers that are used by individuals to view blocked content will not be granted the required permissions. Providers have criticized the plansHowever, the highest body for interpretation of the Islamic religion has declared that accessing “immoral” content through a VPN service is “un-Islamic”.
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As Dawn points out, VPN services in Pakistan are popular for, among other things, accessing the short messaging service X, which has been blocked since February 2023. But supporters of jailed former President Imre Khan also use it to hide their internet usage. AP news agency addsThe sanctions plans that have been announced now can be specifically linked to this. The block was requested by the Interior Ministry, which claimed that VPN services were being used by rebels to spread their agenda. Fighting has recently escalated in the south of the country with a fierce independence movement.
For years, Pakistan has been one of the states that restricts internet freedom the most. The popular video app TikTok has been blocked there several times, and even Wikipedia was briefly inaccessible last year. VPN services are a popular way to bypass such blocks. The Interior Ministry has now requested that VPN services be blocked according to don Also due to the extreme popularity of pornographic material. In total, more than 840,000 pornographic websites are blocked in the country, and about 20 million access attempts are registered every day. This must be stopped now.
(mho)
OLG Schleswig-Holstein: No social media blocks without prior user consultation
