Hate speech, crime glorification to be punished under cyber law

ISLAMABAD: Hate speech and glorification of a crime on social media will be a serious offence under the draft cyber law, approved by the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information Technology as the persons committing these offences could be jailed for five years and fined for Rs10 million.
According to a finalised draft of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (PEC) Act, 2015, supporting terrorism and activities of proscribed organizations, advancing religious and ethnic or sectarian hatred and glorifying an offence or the person accused or convicted of a crime through any information system or devise shall be punished with five-year imprisonment and heavy fines.
The draft explains that glorification of crime includes “depiction of any form of praise or celebration in a desirable manner.”
The draft law has been approved by the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication and it is expected to be presented soon before the lower house for final approval.
Right groups have criticised the draft law for vague definitions of terms and activities and restricting freedom of information and speech. However the Minister of State for Information Technology Anusha Rehman has termed the bill necessary to prevent cyber crimes and implement National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism.
Under the “Cyber Terrorism” section of the proposed law, any person found guilty of creating panic, sense of fear and sense of insecurity in the government, public, a section of public, or community or sect through illegal use of an information system or devise will be punished with up to 14 years of imprisonment and a fine up to Rs50 million.
The law calls for the establishment or designation of a dedicated investigation agency to probe cyber crimes and also calls for formulation of computer emergency response teams to respond to any threat against critical information infrastructure or important national data.
According to the draft law, the federal government will formulate rules for the appointment of the officials of Cyber Investigation Agency. These officials will be trained in digital forensic, information technology, computer science and other related areas.
Under the law, a computer emergency response team may comprise of technical experts from private or government sector and officers of any intelligence agency. “A computer emergency response team shall respond to a threat or attack without causing any undue hindrance or inconvenience to the use and access of the information system or data as may be prescribed,” the draft says.