Pakistan’s top religious advisory body on Friday declared that the use of virtual private networks to access blocked content on the Internet, i.e. VPN services, is against Sharia and Islamic law.
Pakistan’s top religious advisory body on Friday declared that the use of virtual private networks to access blocked content on the Internet, i.e. VPN services, is against Sharia and Islamic law.
As the Voice of America writes, such a statement was made in a situation where the authorities of this Islamic country are deploying a nationwide firewall and forcing users to register VPNs with the state media regulator, which is done allegedly to strengthen cyber security and fight terrorism.
«Using a VPN to access blocked or illegal content is against Islamic and societal norms and is therefore unacceptable under Islamic law. This falls under the category of «supporting sin», — said the head of the organization, Raghib Naimi, in a statement.
The so-called Council of Islamic Ideology said the technology was being used in Pakistan to access content prohibited under Islamic principles or prohibited by law, including «immoral and pornographic websites or websites that spread anarchy through misinformation».
Critics of the decision domestically argue that such government measures increase online surveillance of its own citizens, limit freedom of expression and harm e-commerce.
Earlier in the day, the country’s interior ministry had sent a letter to the independent media regulator, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, asking it to block all «illegal» VPNs, and claiming that terrorists were using the cyber tool.
«Terrorists are increasingly using VPNs to facilitate violent acts and financial transactions in Pakistan», — the letter said.
The ministry also pointed to the use of VPNs for viewing pornography.
«Pakistan is also considered to be one of the leading countries in terms of the number of people accessing porn sites using a VPN. However, these trends require banning unauthorized VPNs to combat critical threats», — the document added.
It will be recalled that many Pakistanis also use VPNs to access the X platform, which remains largely inaccessible after the general elections in February.
On the other hand, in Russia, as we wrote earlier, another absurd situation has arisen: state authorities have increased spending on VPN by 683%, while at the same time they are going to spend $500 million on blocking it for the population.
