09.14
June 11, 2014: Representatives of Bolo Bhi and MOITT attend hearing at Federal Ombudsman’s office Re: Internet Surveillance
On February 12, 2014, Bolo Bhi filed Freedom of Information requests, directed at the Ministry of Information Technology, Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) and Pakistan Telecommunications Corporation Limited (PTCL). The requests were filed under the Freedom of Information Ordinance (FOI) 2002.
MOIT was sent three requests:
1) Directives for blocked websites
2) Web filtering equipment
3) Internet surveillance
Under the Ordinance, the Ministry had 21 days to respond, which it didn’t, following which we proceeded to lodge a complaint regarding the non-provision of information with the Federal Ombudsman. Letters were issued by the Ombudsman’s office to the MOITT to respond to the FOI requests. On May 2, MOITT responded citing Section 8 (e),(f) and (i) of the FOI Ordinance as the reason for nondisclosure & non-provision of information for two of our requests i.e. directives for blocked websites and web-filtering equipment. To the third request, on Internet surveillance, MOITT responded as follows:
“The requisite information does not pertain to the Ministry of Information Technology and as such it has no information on the subject matter, therefore ‘Nil’ is submitted.”
On May 18, we wrote to the Ombudsman again, stating we were not satisfied with the responses received to all three of our requests and asked for a hearing with the MOITT. The Ombudsman’s office, in a letter to us dated June 3, called a hearing with MOITT for June 11. This hearing pertained to our request for Internet surveillance specifically, we are still waiting for a hearing to be called for the other two requests filed.
During the hearing, members of Bolo Bhi cited the Citizen Lab report indicating FinFisher command and control servers had been found on PTCL’s servers. We mentioned that the company selling this equipment stated it sold only to “government and law-enforcement agencies.” The purpose of the request is to verify whether the FinFisher is in place or not by a Pakistani authority, or is it another country’s government using it to spy on us?
MOIT officials maintained that this matter was not related to MOIT and they had no knowledge of it.
The Ombudsman’s representative conducting the hearing felt, since this was a technical matter, more details were required for better understanding so all parties could bring themselves up to date with the matter. We have been asked to submit a request to the government to provide information after supplying the departments with the following:
1) Citizen Lab report
2) Gamma Group International’s policy stating it only sells to governments and law-enforcement agencies
While this case was closed, we will be filing a letter with the Ombudsman’s office for hearing of the matter again after the material has been placed on record. During the hearing, we also supplied both the Ombudsman’s representative and officials from MOITT with a detailed legal brief on why we find MOITT’s non-disclosure citing Section 8 of the FOI Ordinance to our other two requests unsatisfactory and inconsistent with the provisions of the 2002 FOI Ordinance and the Constitution of Pakistan.
[ Read a legal interpretation of Section 8 of the FOI 2002 Ordinance here]
09.46
June 3, 2014: Federal Ombudsman Calls Hearing With MOITT
On May 18, 2014, Bolo Bhi sent a letter to the Federal Ombudsman stating we found MOITT’s non- provision of information citing Section 8 part e, f and i in response to our FOI requests non-satisfactory. In a letter dated June 3, 2014, the Federal Ombudsman’s office called a hearing between representatives of MOITT and Bolo Bhi on June 11, 2014.
Our letter here
Meeting Notification here
13.42
May 28, 2014: Members of Bolo Bhi and officials of PTA attended a hearing called by the Federal Ombudsman’s office regarding Bolo Bhi’s FOI requests
Bolo Bhi representatives attended a hearing with officials of the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) at the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat in Islamabad on May 28, 2014.
The hearing was in connection with Freedom of Information requests filed by Bolo Bhi representatives with the PTA, seeking information on the asking two questions. One, whether surveillance is carried out by PTA on the Internet. The second request was for a list of websites blocked by the PTA.
The requests were filed in February 19 of this year under the Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002, after which the authority had 21 days to respond to the request. However, despite an acknowledgment, the deadline was not met following which, as per the procedure defined under the FOI Ordinance, we filed a complaint with the Federal Ombudsman about non-provision of information by the PTA.
The Ombudsman issued letters to the PTA asking it to respond and called a hearing. Prior to the hearing, Bolo Bhi received a written response from the PTA through the Ombudsman.
[Read PTA’s response to Bolo Bhi here]
On the subject of blocked websites and process of blocking, the PTA maintained the decision is made by the Inter Ministerial Committee for the Evaluation of Websites (IMCEW). The PTA shared the official notification that formed the committee in 2006, as well as the composition of the IMCEW. This they acquired from the MOIT, by forwarding our request to them.
The PTA also informed that under Section 8 of the PTA Act, 1996, PTA as a regulatory authority is obliged to follow policy directives issued by the Ministry of Information Technology & Telecom. Bolo Bhi was also provided with the 2012 notification issued by the Ministry of IT & Telecom that calls for censorship of “obnoxious (blasphemous & pornographic) content over Internet in Pakistan.”
The PTA, however, did not share a list of blocked websites citing sensitivity of the list and as mentioned in their written response, referred the matter to the IMCEW to respond as per Section 8 of the FOI Ordinance.
In response to the question on surveillance, the PTA stated that under Section 54 of the PTA Reorganization Act 1996, it can carry out surveillance by intercepting calls and communication if instructed to do so by the federal government. However, the officials stated that PTA has not been carrying out surveillance in Pakistan and has received no directive to date, by the government, to do so either.
The hearing with PTA was concluded satisfactorily. Questions were addressed at length with relevant legal provisions read out during the course of the meeting. When asked why there was a delay in providing the information, the official maintained this was the first request of its kind made to the authority, and vetting a response internally to a request of this nature caused the delay.
It must be mentioned that PTA is the only authority that acknowledged and responded to our FOI requests.
Bolo Bhi is now waiting for a date of hearing with the Federal Ombudsman regarding three FOI requests filed with MOIT. The Ministry cited Section 8 part e, f and i, in response to our requests. These clauses deal with non-disclosure of information under the pretext of national security, classified information, and exclusion from disclosure in public interest. Bolo Bhi has responded expressing dissatisfaction with the response. A letter in this regard has already been dispatched to the Ombudsman.
19.59
May 18, 2014: Bolo Bhi Files Complaint with Ombudsman Re: Non- Satisfactory Reply by MOITT
Following MOITT’s response citing non-disclosure of information, we filed a complaint with the Federal Ombudsman stating we do not find MOITT’s response to be satisfactory.
Read our letter to the Ombudsman here
19.56
May 5, 2014: MOITT Cites Non-Disclosure Clause & Does Not Provide Information
In response to the letter issued by the Federal Ombudsman, the MOITT cited non- disclosure of information under Section 8(e), (f) and (i) of the FOI Act 2002.
In its response, MOITT stated: “Due to the relation of the requested record to all of the above mentioned sub clauses, the same cannot be shared with the applicant at present.”
07.08
April 15, 2014: PTA Writes Back
The PTA has responded to Bolo Bhi’s request for information regarding the surveillance, list of
blocked websites and Inter-Ministerial Committee for the Evaluation of Websites (read press release).
Responding to the requests, the PTA has distanced itself from surveillance, saying it does not carry out surveillance on the internet. In its response, PTA has spelled out its role of regulating telecommunication systems and provision of telecommunication services in Pakistan. PTA was specifically asked for presence of surveillance equipment in Pakistan. According to Canada-based Citizen Lab’s report published April 30, 2013, tests
conducted detected the presence of FinFisher Command and Control servers in Pakistan. FinFisher is a digital spying server used for mass surveillance of the internet.
About the IMCEW, PTA has also informed that the Ministry of Information and
Technology/Federal Government under Section 2(fa) of the Pakistan Telecommunication Act, 1996, is mandated to issue policy directives on matters relating to telecommunications, and the job of the PTA is to implement these. The mandate of blocking is with Inter-Ministerial Committee which was constituted by the Prime Minister of Pakistan in 2006. MoIT Notification No 5-1/2005-DFU dated 29th August 2006, a copy of which has been provided. Further, as per Section 8 of the Telecom Act, MoIT issued a policy directive on May 31, 2012 to PTA for effective monitoring & control of obnoxious content (Blasphemous & Pornographic) over internet in Pakistan. This Policy mandated PTA for blocking blasphemous and pornographic content. Earlier, regarding disclosure of the list of websites blocked by PTA, it authority stated it is still awaiting the decision of the competent authority.
Later, in a detailed response, regarding the request for the list of blocked websites, PTA said it “considers this data to be critical in nature and it has social/religious impact which can result
into a law and order situation since the data can be misused. therefore, the matter has been referred to inter-Ministerial Committee to proceed under Section 8, subsection (i) of Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002.
Find original scan here
19.42
April 14, 2014: Federal Ombudsman Does Not Admit Complaint & Refers It To PTCL
19.36
March 31, 2014: Federal Ombudsman Issues Letters to MOITT & PTA
Following our complaint to the Ombudsman regarding non-compliance by authorities, the Federal Ombudsman issued letters to the following authorities, directing them to respond:
MOITT: March 31
PTA: April 2
09.01
March 24, 2014: Authorities fail to respond to FOI requests, Bolo Bhi Files Complaint With Federal Ombudsman
The Bolo Bhi team filed Freedom of Information requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2002.
These requests were sent to the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications (MoIT), Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited (PTCL), and the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA). As per law, the respective authorities are to respond to the freedom of information requests within 21 days of the receipt. However, all three authorities have failed to do so. Therefore, following the next step outlined by the law, Bolo Bhi has filed complaints with the Federal Ombudsman about failure of the respective agencies to respond to the information requests. The Ombudsman now has 30 days to respond to our complaints.
Read Bolo Bhi’s press release here.
07.21
March 12, 2014: MoITT, PTA & PTCL Fail to Meet FOI Deadline
MoITT and PTA, since their receipt of our FOI requests on February 17, 2014, have failed to
meet the 21-day deadline to respond to Freedom of Information as per the 2002 Ordinance. Similarly, PTCL has failed to meet its deadline of March 16.
12.41
February 19, 2014: PTA Confirms Receiving FOI Requests
We received a call from a PTA official confirming Bolo Bhi’s FOI requests had been received. The official added they were being forwarded to the relevant departments.
12.40
February 17, 2014: FOI requests received by MOITT
Text message from TCS confirms Bolo Bhi’s FOI requests have been delivered to the Ministry of IT. We have not received any confirmation from the Ministry itself however. We publicly informed a ministry official of the FOI requests via Twitter.
12.31
February 12, 2014: Bolo Bhi files Freedom of Information (FOI) Requests
Bolo Bhi has filed Freedom of Information requests to inquire about surveillance and web filtering equipment reportedly acquired by the Government of Pakistan. The request seeks information regarding specific laws under which surveillance & filtering equipment has been acquired. We have asked for information such as purchase orders, cost of equipment, gazette notifications, and takedown procedures (more in our press release here).
[…] February 12, 2014, Bolo Bhi filed three Freedom of Information requests under the FOI 2002 Ordinance with the Ministry of Information Technology, Pakistan […]
The request seeks information regarding specific laws under which surveillance & filtering equipment has been acquired. We have asked for information such as purchase orders, cost of equipment,