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Pakistani Court Rules On Internet Censorship: Unconstitutional
Fluffeh writes "It looks like some Pakistanis are taking on 'the man.' With plans laid by the Pakistani Government that could sink up to fifty million websites that it isn't a fan of, Pakistanis took the matter to court — which ruled that such action by the government was unconstitutional. Reporters without Borders was however a little more skeptical 'The high court's ruling, if respected, would make it impossible for the government to introduce any nationwide website filtering system. While welcoming the ruling, which penalizes the lack of transparency in the PTA's past website blocking, Reporters Without Borders calls for vigilance because the PTA could try to circumvent it by devising a constitutional procedure based on the anti-blasphemy law and national security provisions. '"
Our guys have been asleep at the wheel for the last 10 years. I'm pretty sure at this point that most of the U.S. Justices don't even know there *is* a 4th Amendment, much less what it says.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
And don't forget about being the one's who come up with the terrorist plots in order to foil them.
Actually that's pretty inaccurate. I'm going to ignore the obnoxious racism in your comment and just address the freedoms issue. No major government body in the US is trying to block fifty million websites, and if they did, the entire Supreme Court would tell them no. And the US rejected any form of blasphemy laws as unconstitional quite some time ago. Pakistan still allows the execution of people for blasphemy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasphemy_law_in_Pakistan. Shabaz Bhatti http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahbaz_Bhatti was assassinated just for trying to lessen the penalties on the blasphemy laws. As to the matter of grope sessions to fly planes- Pakistan has essentially close to almost no equivalent of Fourth Amendment protections. The US and Europe are not in great shape right now, and there's no question that human rights have been getting better in Pakistan in the last few years (especially post-Musharraf), but let's not lose perspective here on overall which is set of countries is doing better for human rights.
The government can't be seen offending their own people. They're more progressive than they let on. Because of the threat of violence from the religious fundies, the progressives often disguise their actions or appear to be "arguing for" something they are actually against.
All of the institutions in Pakistan have to walk lines between the progress the lawyers and intellectuals and professors want to see happen and what the religious fundies will tolerate. It's not that different in the US. as the etch-a-sketch positioning in the Republican primaries reveal. You can't alienate that much of your (stupid) electorate and expect to get or stay in power.
The government and most of the military in Pakistan hates the Taliban as much as anyone and was as glad as we were when we did bin Laden Of course they had to act outraged.
Pakistan is chock -o-block full with highly intelligent forward looking progressives who aren't drinking the Kool-aid. That's why the drone program is a great thing. The religious head cases in Waziristan are hated by many Pakis as much as they're hated by us, and both the Pakistan government and its military smile every time a fundie gets dished out to him what he earnestly sought to dish out to civil society.
Just like with any other country, you can't understand the international headlines unless you have at least a basic grasp of the domestic politics.
We must demand a Constitutional amendment that clearly defines personal privacy and Internet usage as an inalienable right. The days of hoping your representative Democracy will work for you are sadly over.
You're right. I'll contact my representative to demand he get the amendment process moving and- oh, wait...
People are trained from kindergarden onwards to think that if someone tries to do something privately or in secret, they must be doing something that breaks the rules. We are also trained from kindergarden onwards to think that the rules are sacred and must not be broken, so people wind up thinking that anyone who wants privacy must be doing some immoral.
What, you want to have privacy? What are you trying to hide?
Palm trees and 8
And the price tag.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
in the USA they are still stuck at the 'watch him long enough and eventually he'll commit a crime' stage.
FTFY. Here in the US, we get around the "well you can only arrest people who break the law" by creating so many laws and such a complex legal system that almost everyone is guilty of something.
Palm trees and 8
No major government body in the US is trying to block fifty million websites
I guess lobbyists from the MPAA and RIAA are not technically part of the government; they only pad the wallets of politicians and draft legislation for them.
the US rejected any form of blasphemy laws as unconstitional quite some time ago
While simultaneously making other classes of speech illegal. Just because we violate free speech rights differently than the Pakistanis would does not mean that we are not violating free speech rights.
As to the matter of grope sessions to fly planes- Pakistan has essentially close to almost no equivalent of Fourth Amendment protections
So on the one hand, Pakistan has no privacy laws, and on the other the US simply ignores its privacy laws and publicly humiliates its citizens. Here is the question you were trying to answer, but failed to: does Pakistan grope its citizens en masse, the way the United States does?
there's no question that human rights have been getting better in Pakistan
Here is what you left out: human rights have been getting worse in the United States, and are worsening at an accelerating pace. Freedom of speech? Only if you do not bother the important people with it. Privacy rights? Only if you never travel or communicate electronically. The right to live a free and happy life? Only if you are not a member of the world's largest prison population, which in case anyone has forgotten is the prison population of the United States.
To put it another way, is it the US or Pakistan that has paramilitary police forces that shoot innocent people with assault rifles and add personal assets to their budgets, with the approval and encouragement of the government?
Palm trees and 8
Actually, ISPs in the US don't block copyright infringing websites
Up until the point where the US government seizes domain names.
As to your claim that other areas of free speech are restricted in the US, exactly what speech are you talking about?
How about praising terrorists:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/a-dangerous-mind.html?ref=terrorism
Or publishing articles with controversial views about terrorism:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_churchill
Or publishing books about making drugs (note that Shulgin lost his license to do research -- including research on drugs that he discovered):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pihkal
Or recording the police:
http://cryptogon.com/?p=22744
Some of these things are illegal; some are legal in theory but restricted in practice. Or publishing information about breaking DRM systems:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA
Or publishing cartoon descriptions of child abuse:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_Act_of_2003
Or speaking outside of designated free speech zones:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_speech_zone
I guess you could say that these things are not as bad as outright bans on criticisms of the government. Yet we do have a whole lot of restrictions on free speech, both in the law and in practice.
In the US one is subject to such searches if one is going on a plane
This amounts to millions of people subjected to searches, in a systematic and humiliating way.
Any violation of this sort in Pakistan is actually orders of magnitude worse than the US
[citation needed]
Palm trees and 8
"Mouth-off to an EU policeman and he or SHE will beat the living crap out of you in public with no fear of reprisal".
You, dear Sir, are completely bonkers.
"Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
+1 Insightful
Most people don't realize that we have such maze of laws that the average American breaks three laws a day, often without even knowing it.
I missed the part of the Constitution that said "All provisions and amendments of this document are to be suspended during any period when the President says the country is at war."
Especially, when it seems your nation is always at war with someone or something.
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit