Pakistan

Reports and Analysis

A blurred photo of a journalist and a notepad

Case Study

"Betrayed by an app she had never heard of" - How TrueCaller is endangering journalists

The story of an investigative journalist highlights shows the concrete risks that call-blocking apps like TrueCaller present for people in vulnerable situations.
TrueCaller is an app particularly popular in India and Sub-Saharan Africa. TrueCaller identifies the numbers calling you, so you can filter out undesirable phone calls and make sure you pick up a call you have been expecting, even if you have not previously registered the number.
Every time a user makes or receives a phone call from a number not already in the TrueCaller database, TrueCaller offers the user the option to “tag” the number so it can be entered in the TrueCaller database, under the name entered by the user.

Long Read

online gender based violence a privacy issue

#IWD2019 Online gender-based violence: a privacy matter?

For International Women’s Day 2019, Privacy International looks at some of the key themes around the intersection of gender rights and the right to privacy and we review the work we and our partners have done on those topics. When dealing with cases of non-consensual sharing of intimate images

Long Read

Data Privacy Week: Privacy in Public Spaces

The Privacy International Network is celebrating Data Privacy Week, where we’ll be talking about how trends in surveillance and data exploitation are increasingly affecting our right to privacy. Join the conversation on Twitter using #dataprivacyweek. In the era of smart cities, the gap between the

News

14th August 2018

Punjab Government’s Safe Cities Project: Safer City or Over Policing?

9th February 2018

Online surveillance becomes a priority for the Human Rights Council, as Pakistan joins the wrong side of the debate

1st December 2017

As Senate prepares to discuss PEC Bill, civil society reiterates their concern

1st December 2017

Universally Unpopular: Pakistan’s ‘Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill’ passes National Assembly

21st November 2017

Surveillance as a Feminist Issue

2nd August 2017

Clear And Universal – The Right to Privacy at the 120th Session of the Human Rights Committee

Examples of Abuse

Want to know how this translate in the real world? Here is the latest example in the news.

Pakistani government uses unclear criteria to direct SMS alerts

After Pakistani residents queried whether messages labelled "CoronaALERT" sent out via SMS were legitimate, telecom authorities confirmed that it was authentic, being sent to selected individuals at the request of the Ministry of Health under the Digital Parkistan programme. Individuals were chosen

See more examples of abuse

Our Advocacy

Personal Data Protection Bill in Pakistan: it’s important to get it right!

We welcome the effort by the Pakistani Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications to regulate the processing of personal data in Pakistan, and take measures to guarantee the right to privacy as guaranteed under Article 14(1) of the Constitution: “[t]he dignity of man and, subject to