Pakistan delays ban on indecent text messages

Pakistan delays ban on indecent text messages

Telecommunication companies in Pakistan have denied direction of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to block indecent text messages.

Recently, PTA gave the list of almost 1,700 words to all mobile operating companies, directing them to ban all text messages that include any of these words in English or Urdu.

However, the mobile operators have refused to adhere by the request of PTA, saying that such implementation will deteriorate the quality of sending messages and will cause high inconvenience to their customers. Furthermore,
they have demanded further elucidation to clear the matter.

The list of PTA banned words included quickie, fairy, Jesus Christ was issued to the mobile operators and they were given seven days to abide by the instructions. The list also included words like “monkey
crotch”, “athlete’s foot”, “idiot” and “damn”, “deeper”, “four twenty”, “go to hell”, “harder”, “looser” and “no sex”.

While addressing the issue, Omar Manzur of Mobilink told AFP, “Obviously there are concerns and we have some reservations. This regulation will be implemented only after mutual agreement between the PTA and us. We should wait until the end of this
discussion.”

On the other hand, Telenor’s Sohaib Mustafa said to AFP that he was “not in a position to say when this (ban) will be implemented. If this is a regulation and a law then we have to implement it but so far we are in discussions.”

Moreover, PTA ignored the Monday deadline by saying that the duration will expire after two days.

“There were two weekly holidays on 19 and 20 November (the Saturday-Sunday weekend) and there are still two days left to complete this seven-day period,” Mohammad Younis Khan told AFP.

In addition, he articulated that the list of banned words is purely in the light of Pakistan Telecommunication Act of 1996, which directs the control of text messages that are “false,
fabricated, indecent or obscene”.

Nevertheless, a campaign group, Bytes for All view this as the violation of people’s right to free speech and privacy. They have also said that they will take the matter in court as such implementations
need not to be carried out.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=4298

Posted by Mursil Mehmood Butt on Nov 22 2011. Filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry