After the video and photos of singer Rabbi Pirzada were shared on social media, many users are asking the question, is their data secure, or can anyone access it? This question is also important; what happens if your data goes into the wrong hands? Is your phone safe? Are there laws in Pakistan about data protection, and if so, what?
And what about the notion that your photo is safe while you have it? Don’t you want to have such pictures taken? There is a divided opinion.
Read more: Top 4 Common Security Threats and Mistakes
Bad news for you if you shared your personal photos and especially photos with someone that you are sure that they could get into a third person’s hands. Because the arrow is now out of the bow.
But here we will look at how you can avoid such sophisticated and complex problems in the Internet era and protect yourself and your data.
Data does not disappear from ‘Restore Factory Settings’
One thing digital rights expert say, in a few hidden words and some openly, is that if you get a new phone, smash or handle the old phone.
The main reason is that the data deleted from all phones can also be retrieved at some level, and the technology has evolved so that it is now easier than ever to do so.
In 2014, digital security company Avast purchased twenty Android phones from eBay website and retrieved their deleted data, which included several pictures of a man who was probably the former owner of the phone.
Interestingly, the company has not done much to it. That is, data from the ‘Restore Factory Settings’ does not disappear and can be returned with special software.
Read more: Cyber Hygiene: The Basics in Data Protection
Cybercrime law and punishment for ‘sharing’ illegal content
How much legal responsibility do you have if you receive or share such photos?
First of all, keep in mind that as long as this content has been sent to you without your consent, you have no control over it. But when you share this content with anyone else, then the issue is catchy.
There are many provisions in Pakistan’s cybercrime law of 2016 on the basis of which such things can be captured.
The law says that if found guilty of promoting or sharing inappropriate or obscene photographs of an individual, the punishment could be up to five years in prison and up to five million fines or both.
If someone is maliciously accessing your data without your permission or in other words hacked, it could be punishable by up to three months in prison, a fine of up to five million or both.
If someone builds an information system, software or device to impersonate or avenge or hate or blackmail the reputation of a neutral person, he could be fined up to five million imprisonments up to five years, or both.
Hacking someone’s email or chasing or harassing a phone can carry up to three years in prison and a fine of up to Rs 1 million or both.
If you copy and transmit data from someone’s flash drive, SIM card, mobile or computer, you could be fined up to six months and fined Rs 100,000 or both.
How much are you responsible for if something is shared with you? That is, are you responsible if such content comes from your phone or computer?
Read more: Do You Know Your Risk of Cyberattack?
Difficulties in complying with the rules
Keeping these rules in mind, it can be said that there are many ways in the law that one can use to get a rope, but once again, I will say that the ground truth is that with the arrows It’s gone, sir!
The reason is that despite so many laws, citizens face many difficulties in the courts.
And in response to the problems they face, law expert Reema Omar said to BBC Urdu that ‘Pakistan’s cybercrime law is new and it has yet to be interpreted. But under this law, it is possible to get a majority of such crimes. It also contains the provision to attack the dignity of women.
Prosecutors who prosecute harassment and such cases against women say that such cases are neither properly investigated nor properly presented and therefore decided. It takes the court a long time, and the case moves very slowly, and by the time a verdict is reached, it is too late.
But where experts and investigating personnel emphasizes the need to interpret the law and improve the judiciary’s training process, there is the talk of improving the police and FIA’s ability to investigate and the workforce.
