Guys, have any of you read the actual bill? Read it here.
https://content.bytesforall.pk/sites/default/files/PECA2015.pdf
There may be some problems but this is not a big deal. No business is going to be shutdown because of emails, texts or newsletters because, the bill clearly states that any business which is recognized by the law will not be affected by the spam law punishments so businesses like czone etc. need not fear.
Yes the govt can take down any content it deems immoral or unethical but I doubt its new. Life will go on just like this. People will find more proxies and vpns to bypass some of these law but it will not affect the average person. More like journalists would find obstacles but there are already services available for journalists and whistleblowers and world terrorists which encrypts all your data, damn NSA would have a hard time decrypting all of it.
So chill, this is disappointing but this is standard procedure anywhere in the world, I am actually a little relieved that this bill is being introduced, while it may sound harassing, it will do good as well. Imagine all the fraudulent websites and online businesses which could be shut down. Cleaning house a little.
It also means that if another 911 happened that we pakistanis will not go on social media and congratulate each other. And it also means that terrorists which are increasingly using online systems and are not too bright at covering their tracks to counter act our govt. mobile bans can be easily targeted and ratted out.
That retaining data clause actually is very telling. It means if someone used a system to transmit a message of hate or terrorism and then deleted their data etc, means they can still be traced.
Terms like intelligence and information systems are technical terms and I doubt it means what the newspapers are saying, I think its blownup, out of proportion just to scare stiff the average person.
No matter what anyone think, it has good points too, especially so because in my opinion it is more of an effort to root out terrorism which has made his roots in this society, we have people who will do a namaz e janaza for OBL, who congratulate Qadri and who congratulated each other when 9/11 happened.
For a society like ours, privacy has been abused and used for terrorist means and things need to be transparent for a while. I hate the notion myself that all of my activity COULD be monitored but I am also glad that no fuckin terrorist can do his job the easy way now too.