ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited has blocked approximately 200,000 links containing obscene material over the internet, reveals a report submitted to the Supreme Court.
A two-member bench of the apex court comprising Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and Justice Qazi Faiz Isa on January 12, 2016 while hearing suo motu notice and various petitions had sought report from PTA regarding blocking obscene material from the internet. The report said due to large number of websites (URLs), the operators required reasonable time in this regard, adding the websites that contains offensive material will be analysed, which were reported through PTAs helpline toll free number, fax, post/web from the dedicated e-mail as per law. It said the PTA Web Analysis Cell will continue to take effective measures regarding the access to these objectionable links/websites available on the internet.
The report further submitted that technically 100 per cent blocking containing offensive material is not possible on the pretext that numerous proxy sites are being built every single day.
The PTA said lots of new websites are also being made uploaded on a daily basis, adding that Virtual Private Network (VPN) and proxies are also used to access these websites, despite blocking.
