The Pakistani government on Thursday confirmed that it was upgrading its “web control technique” to deal with security threats after months of protests from online users and online rights campaigners.
As Pakistan implemented its much-debated nationwide network over the past few weeks to stop malicious articles, protect federal networks from attacks, and identify IP addresses associated with what it refers to as “anti-state propaganda,” internet speed has decreased by 30 to 40 %.
According to federal sources, telecom authorities had completed a second test run of the recently installed network. The second trial, which was conducted in July, led to a sluggishing of social media platforms.
The growth budget for the purchase and installation of this sorting system had been allocated by PM Shehbaz Sharif’s government to spend more than 30 billion Muslim rupees.
Netizens and electronic rights organizations criticized the negative effects of the network, who feared for the future of internet-based firms in Pakistan.
Federal officials had previously claimed knowledge about the web disruptions that were being caused by firewall installation and that telecom and internet service providers were to blame for connectivity issues.
Nevertheless, IT minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja claimed on Thursday that her government was responding to complaints of gradual internet, even though she did not attribute the issue to the cybersecurity router.
She told writers,” There have been issues of slow online and I have asked the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to offer information for the last two days to look at the data customers to find out the speed issue.”
The chancellor responded that installing a firewall was a security issue and that other nations were using the technology. There is a growing need for the position to improve its ability to prevent these problems, according to Khawaja, who stated that the government once managed the online method.
Countries like China, Iran, Turkiye, and Russia have employed national firewalls for years to regulate online information, saying they aim to identify and limit sources of advertising content.
The connection of internet service providers has attributed the slower internet speed and outages to increased security and surveillance. ” It’s a very upsetting situation for our customers. Many people are leaving the smaller ISPs because they can no longer maintain the subpar services quality. If this continues, we will see a large migration of businesses from Pakistan”, read a statement issued by services providers.
