Definitions of CYBER CRIMES

1:criminal activities carried out by means of computers or

the Internet.
2:Cybercrime is a term for any illegal activity that uses a
computer as its primary means of commission. The U.S.
Department of Justice expands the definition of cybercrime
to include any illegal activity that uses a computer for the
storage of evidence.
3:Cybercrime is defined as a crime in which a computer is
the object of the crime (hacking, phishing, spamming) or is
used as a tool to commit an offense (child pornography, hate
crimes). Cybercriminals may use computer technology to
access personal information, business trade secrets, or use
the Internet for exploitive or malicious purposes. Criminals
can also use computers for communication and document or
data storage. Criminals who perform these illegal activities
are often referred to as hackers.
Cybercrime may also be referred to as computer crime.

Preamble of Bill
1. Short title, extent, application and commencement.- (1) This Act
may be called the Protection of Cyber Crimes Act, 2014.
(2) It extends to the whole of Pakistan.
(3) The provisions of this Act applies where(a) an offence under this Act was committed in Pakistan;
(b) any act of preparation towards an offence under this Act or
any part of the offence was committed in Pakistan or
where any result of the offence has had an effect in
Grenada;
(c) an offence under this Act was committed by a Pakistani

national or a person resident or carrying out business in

Pakistan or visiting Pakistan or staying in transit in Pakistan;
(d) an offence under this Act was committed in relation to or
connected with an electronic system or data in Pakistan or
capable of being connected, sent to, used by or with
an electronic system in Pakistan; or
(e) an offence under this Act was committed by any person, of
any nationality or citizenship or in any place outside or
inside Pakistan, having an effect on the security of
Pakistan or its nationals, or having universal application
under international law, custom and usage.
(4) It shall come into force at once.

Excessively harsh or need of hour? As usual as with

everything else in Pakistan, the pundits are divided on the
Pakistan Cyber Crime Bill 2015. After in-depth study of this
bill, it seems that it will only strengthen virtual moral policing
in the country by authorities instead of eliminating Internet
crime in Pakistan.

The bill is lengthy and full of legal jargon. It seems that they
have gone through cyber law books, archaic laws in Western
world and then have amalgamated it with the religious
restrictions and social taboos of this motherland. This is what
this new Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill 2015 is all
about.

There are 5 main points from summary of

this new bill:
It will be a crime to send text messages or photos to

anyones email address or phone without the recipients

consent.
The police or FIA or any other agency wont need a warrant
to search, seize or make arrests.
Under sections 17 and 18 of the new bill, the political
criticism and political expression in the form of analysis,
commentary, blogs, cartoons, caricatures and memes has
been criminalised. Authorities will decide what is moral and
what is immoral.
Under section 31, government can block or remove access to
any website or online source if it deems it inappropriate.
Under section 26, the ISPs, restaurants, malls, hotels, offices,
airports bus stations and anywhere with Internet facility will
be required to hold data record for 3 months.
IT industry and the online social media users are terming the
bill as senseless, draconian, punitive, arbitrary, and utterly
far from reality.

Objections on Bill

ISLAMABAD: National Assemblys Standing Committee on

Information Technology approved on Thursday a
controversial legislation on cyber terrorism and has referred
it to Parliament for final approval.

The parliamentary panel adopted the Cyber Crimes Bill 2015

without considering objections as serious or merited.

A majority of members failed to turn up at the meeting,

paving way for Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)
legislators to surpass those critical of the legislation,
including the media, internet service providers, NGOs and
members of civil society.

State Minister for Information Technology Anusha Rehman

told The Express Tribune it was incorrect to say that the
legislation is non-transparent and non-consultative.

Safeguards have been ensured against any expected

misuse, and there is no substance in the criticism on the
legislation, she assured.

She further argued that once the legislation is passed,

Pakistan would succeed to convince Google to launch
YouTube.com.pk a local version of the YouTube.

Read: Cyber crime legislation: Independent agency proposed

in final draft

Bolo Bhi Director Farieha Aziz said the draft bill in its current
form will seriously impact internet users, the ICT industry,
print and electronic media, academicians, researchers, the

legal community and the educated youth as well as ordinary

citizens of Pakistan.

MNA Talal Chaudhry said we should trust that our institutions

will not misuse this new legislation, while Major (retd) Tahir
Iqbal termed the bill a perfect legislation, saying one out 100
officers may misuse the law.

Meanwhile, arguing against freedom of speech and in favour

of the legislation, Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar said
there is no concept of freedom, except the one that is
defined in Quran and Sunnah.

Read: Legislative bungling: In a bill about cybercrime, MoIT

inserts clauses legalising censorship

The only legislator not part of the PML-N at the committee

meeting was Syed Raza Abedi of the Muttahida Qaumi
Movement. He raised objections regarding the various
sections of the proposed legislation. However, the PML-N
members seem in a hurry to approve the draft of the bill.

On a lighter note, Abidi commented that such a mechanism

for social media would help contain the online brigade of
the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

What the Bill entails

- In Sections 17 and 18, political criticism and political
expression in the form of analysis, commentary, blogs and
cartoons, caricatures, memes, has been criminalised.

- As per Section 19, any person who tests system security

will be an offender

- As per section 20, obscene or immoral messages on

Facebook, Twitter, and other social platforms, have been
made offenses without defining obscenity or immorality;
thus, giving sweeping powers to investigating agencies to
implicate anyone on these charges.

- Section 20 also states posting of photographs of any person

on Facebook or Instagram, without their permission is an
offence.

- Under Section 21, sending an email or message without the

recipients permission will become an offence.

- In Section 26, the definition of ISPs and telcos has been

expanded to now include any place that offers the public

access to internet, i.e. restaurants, malls, hotels, offices,
airports, stations.

- Section 31 gives the government/PTA unfettered powers to

block access or remove speech not only on the internet but
transmitted through any device, limiting the medias
freedom and citizens right to expression.

Stepping on fundamental rights

Fundamental principles of law, such as requiring intent,
especially malicious intent, to be established for conviction,
have not been followed; in fact, the requirement has been
omitted from the modified version of this bill.

This is true even for offences such as Cyber Terrorism, which

carries a penalty of 14 years imprisonment. There is grave
danger of white-hat hackers, hobbyists, people who hack for
academic purposes to identify security flaws in systems, or
teenagers who for recreation (albeit wrongly) deface
websites, could end up getting convicted as cyber terrorists.

Meanwhile, checks and balances on investigation agencies

and its officers have been removed. For instance, requiring
an investigation officer to obtain a warrant from court for

search, seizure or arrest on the basis of a list of qualifications

he/she was required to present before court, making clear
reasons why the warrant should be issued, no longer exists.

Similarly, other safeguards that were previously built in, such

as protection against self-incrimination and an accuseds
right to know the charges against him/her, have also been
omitted.

FIA VS CYBER CRIMES

CYBER CRIME
Any activity commissioned via computer, digital devices and
networks used in the cyber realm, and is facilitated through
the internet medium. It can include the distant theft of
information belonging to an individual, government or
corporate sector through criminal tress-passing into
unauthorized remote systems around the world. It includes
from stealing millions of rupees from online bank to
harassing and stalking cyber users.

Cyber Crime also includes sending viruses on different

systems, or posting defamation messages. Commission of
cyber crime can be:

The computer as a target-attacking the computers (e.g

spreading viruses etc)

The computer as a weapon-to commits fraud or illegal

gambling
The computer as an accessory- to store illegal or stolen
information

CYBER CRIME: THE FACTS

Cyber crime has now surpassed illegal drug trafficking as a
criminal moneymaker
Somebodys identity is stolen every 3 seconds as a result of
cyber crime
Without a sophisticated security package, your unprotected
PC can become infected within four minutes of connecting to
the Internet.

MAJOR ONLINE ACTIVITIES

In Pakistan, internet users range from 10% to 16% of the
overall population

Social networking
Online banking
Internet surfing
Audio & video communication
Entertainment
Online shopping
Map directions / GPS
Online education
Online auction

Information sharing
Medical assistance
Online games

CYBER CRIME CATEGORIES

Hacking
Identity theft
Cyber Bullying
Cyber Stalking
Financial fraud
Digital Piracy
Computer viruses and worms
Malicious Software
Intellectual propertyrights
Money Laundering
Denial of Service attack
Electronic Terrorism, Vandalism and Extortion

Role of FIA in controling CYBER CRIMES

FEDERAL INVESTIGATION AGENCY
NATIONAL RESPONSE CENTRE FOR CYBER
CRIME

CYBER ALERT SERVICE

Cyber Alert Service (CAS), an effort of NR3C-FIA, serves to
spread public awareness about Cyber Crime via SMS. It
delivers preventive tips / measures to counter electronic
crime, which has hit the society like a menace. Messages
sent through this service advise the general public not to fall
prey to fake/fraud lottery scams, online banking frauds. This
service also disseminates tips, which are useful in
safeguarding your personal devices and online accounts
such as Facebook, E-mails and Twitter. The service has been
appreciated by the general public as it leverages them to get
hold of the Cyber Crime preventive tips over an SMS.

Other Services
1:COMPUTER FORENSICS
2:MOBILE FORENSICS
3:VIDEO FORENSICS
4:NETWORK FORENSICS
5:TECHNICAL TRAINING

Conclusion
From all above the study we conclude the advantages and
disadvanteges of the Bill of Cyber Crimes 2015 in Islamic
Republic of Pakistan.We conclude thath after a careful study
Govt should apply this bill but only for the defend of

Polititions but for the controling of crime.