Business and Human Rights

Open Letter to Facebook

7 October 2019 Dear Mr. Zuckerberg, OPEN LETTER: FACEBOOK’S END-TO-END SECURITY PLANS The organizations below write today to encourage you, in no uncertain terms, to continue increasing the end-to-end security across Facebook’s messaging services. We have seen requests from the United States, United Kingdom, and Australian governments asking you to suspend these plans “until [Facebook] can guarantee the added privacy […]

Apple versus FBI: The People versus The State

In December 2015, an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino terrorism suspects, Syed Rizwan Farooq was seized by the FBI. However, encryption technology has allegedly prevented the authorities from gaining access to its contents. On January 16, 2016, a federal magistrate in California requested Apple to create a program that would disable key security […]

YouTube launches .pk domain in Pakistan

As of January 12, 2016, a .pk version of YouTube has been launched in Pakistan. This launch was announced on the Google Asia Pacific blog, and is part of a three-country launch: Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan. What is the specific nature of the agreement reached between the government of Pakistan and Google/YouTube to enable […]

Archive: YouTube Ban

Archive: YouTube Ban April, 2013: Submissions to court made by Farieha Aziz (amicus) from April to July, 2013 (policy and technology perspectives) June 9, 2013: Submission by Khurram Zafar (amicus) on home-based blocking vs state blocking July 4, 2013: Google’s letter to court July 25, 2013: PTA’s submission to court Part 1 | Part 2 […]

Joint Statement from Civil Society to Technology Companies for Expanded Transparency Reports

Joint Statement from Civil Society to Technology Companies for Expanded Transparency Reports The undersigned organizations and individuals commend the recent efforts adopted by more than 43 companies to produce transparency reports that document the numbers of content removal and data requests by government and encourage all companies that collect user data to do the same. […]

The Pakistan Penal Code and Online Content

In April 2014, Facebook released its second transparency report. This showed that they had complied with a Pakistan government request for restriction of content on the basis of ‘criticism of the state’ in compliance with ‘local law’ (see report here). [See also Facebook Transparency Report: Since When is Criticism of the State Illegal in Pakistan] […]

Bolo Bhi’s YouTube Resource Timeline

Bolo Bhi’s YouTube Ban 2012 – 2015 Timeline Bolo Bhi’s Lahore High Court YouTube Case Updates Timeline Bolo Bhi’s Peshawar High Court YouTube Case Timeline Bolo Bhi’s Sindh High Court Website Censorship Timeline

YouTube Ban: Where Do We Stand?

This week, September 17, 2014, marked the two-year anniversary of YouTube in Pakistan. Banned in 2012, despite extensive court hearings and parliamentary resolutions in favour of lifting the ban, there still are no signs on the horizon of the ban being lifted any time soon. [Read more on NA resolution & Senate Human Rights Functional Committee […]

Peshawar High Court YouTube Case Timeline

16th May 2013 YouTube Ban Challenged in the Peshawar High Court A Senior Attorney of the Supreme Court of Pakistan has challenged in Peshawar High Court the ban placed on social media website YouTube, pleading that the site should be unblocked. 10th January 2014 PTA Ordered to Provide Documentation A two-member bench of the Peshawar Higher […]

Whither Privacy: Unkept Promises of Social Media Apps

Privacy is a core concern in a world where social media and mobile phone apps are the main focus for people. Sadly, most people do not realize the fact that the only privacy social media or apps leave them with is either non-existent or a miniscule amount. This is especially true for apps that target […]